World Cup Analysis

Ukraine crash out as heroes in a fairytale

By Olga Sellars ⋅ July 2, 2006 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Olga Sellars reviews Ukraine’s incredible World Cup campaign, which saw the debutants reach the last eight and the people of the country welcome back the squad as heroes.

Ukraine are out. The dream is over.

It will take days and weeks for Ukrainian football supporters and experts to analyse and deeply understand the extent of the success of their national team in Germany on their debut. Whatever is said about their display on the pitch reaching the last eight IS a success.

There have been times when performances have been far from being impressive and there has been an element of luck involved. Nevertheless it is a great success for the debutants - a team that cannot boast many top level players compared with the rest of the quarter-finalists. Ukraine squeezed through to the latter stages of the tournament playing with pragmatic and effective tactics which were best suited to the players.

It was clear two different leagues of nations were playing

Could they have done any better? I believe so. Not in the results and achievement but in the quality of their performances – a quicker pace and greater precision in the player’s passes could have resulted in more fond memories regarding the Ukrainian team in the eyes of the rest of the world. But football is a results business, and progress in Germany was not via great performances but by extracting results. It’s an objective for every participant to get through to the next stage. And from that point of view, Ukraine fulfilled its goal.

For the quarter-final tie, Italy were the clear favourite and, therefore, had added pressure to come through the game – and with ease. Both teams suffered pre-match losses of key players. For Italy, Nesta was ruled out due to an injury and Materazzi was suspended while Ukraine lost their “attacking engine” in Voronin as a result of a thigh injury. Milevskiy replaced him in the starting eleven playing in the hole behind his captain Shevchenko.

Italy started in confident fashion, exposing Ukraine’s defensive weaknesses. It was clear two different leagues of nations were playing. As a result, Zambrotta put Italy ahead in the 6th minute of the game. Ukrainian defenders allowed the man of the match to run unchallenged from the right and to shoot from 25 yards into the bottom corner of the goal. Some blame could be attached to goalkeeper Shovkovskiy’s positioning. As well as suffering an early Italian goal, things got worse for Blokhin when he had to substitute the defender Sviderskiy. In his place striker Vorobey came on in only the 18th minute. Blokhin was worried the defender could be sent off after receiving an early booking.

For the rest of the half Italy sat back allowing Ukraine possession of the ball and looking to counter-attack. All the Ukrainian tactical plans were finally broken just before half time when another defender, Rusol, had to be substituted due to a foot injury. With only one substitution remaining, Blokhin had few options left to choose from.

Yet the second half started with Ukraine on the attack, creating two opportunities to equalise before the 55th minute. First, Buffon made a desperate save when denying Gusin’s header at the foot of the post, and then a few minutes later Zambrotta only just managed to deflect Kalinichenko’s shot off the line.

Thousands of Ukrainian fans continued to show their support and appreciation to the national team after the final whistle - some with tears in their eyes but hearts full of pride

Immediately after, Ukraine conceded a crucial second goal. It seems to have been scored from an offside position, but credit goes to Luca Toni for his predatory instinct. This game will become a special memory for him – Luca scored his first World Cup goals!

Ten minutes later he turned one into two with an assist from the irrepressible Zambrotta. It should be said that Ukraine didn’t lose belief that they could a score, and the attacks continued until the end. But a lack of individual ability and saves by Buffon meant Blohkin’s men couldn’t even experience the satisfaction of a consolation goal.

The Ukrainian story in their first ever World Cup concluded in a 3-0 quarter-final defeat. In spite of that, the team returned home to a gracious welcome by their fans, celebrating new heroes. In those cities of Ukraine where big screens were installed, thousands of Ukrainian fans continued to show their support and appreciation to the national team after the final whistle - some with tears in their eyes but hearts full of pride.

None of those who adore their heroes will reproach them for the inability to go further or for the insufficiency in their performances. We should remember that the national team of Ukraine differs in class from those others who hold realistic claims to the trophy, and that breaking through into the top eight of the world is a great historical moment for the country.

Our boys made the whole nation live through a fairytale. But, as Blokhin said in his post-match interview, ‘A fairytale finishes some day’.

Tags: Ukraine

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