World Cup Soccer News - ukraine

Platini soothes growing pains of Ukraine

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:46:57 +0000

Michel Platini has said he is at last confident Ukraine can host Euro 2012 . After several 'last chance' warnings over the past three years, the UEFA boss can tear a few fewer hairs out now the four stadia do seem to be on track for next summer. "A year ago, we were deciding whether to leave four or two cities," Platini told reporters on a tour of Kharkiv. "And today we have four cities." "There are no serious problems in preparing for Euro 2012," he continued, "but there are many minor tasks and problems that need to be solved." For Platini, a successful Euro 2012 is crucial to his reputation as an organiser of big soccer tournaments as he continues his silent campaign for the FIFA Presidency at some point in the future. The Frenchman has found the two hosts' lack of infrastructure and slow construction progress compared to western European nations an ongoing headache, and has constantly had to threaten them with being stripped of hosting rights. Spain was the first nation touted as a replacement back in 2008, when World Soccer's Keir Radnedge boldly announced neither Poland nor Ukraine would host Euro 2012. Then Germany entered the picture, either as sole host or as joint organiser with Poland. Now it is clear UEFA is not turning back and is throwing its cards on the table with the two unknown East European hosts. By rights the tournament should have been Italy's, but the calciopoli scandal and an upsurge in high-profile hooliganism let the duo in through the back door. It promises to be a unique European Championship, a foretaste perhaps of the 2018 World Cup in neighbouring Russia. The cheap transport promised to fans facing extraordinarily long journeys between venues (Gdansk to Donetsk is 933 miles/1502km) yet to materialise. Next month Platini visits Poland to inspect their venues, with the opening date of Warsaw's new arena still up in the air. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile UEFA EURO 2012 8th June -1st July 2012 VENUES Poland Warsaw 58,224 (opening game and semi-final) Gdansk 44,636 Poznan 43,090 Wroclaw 44,416 Ukraine Kiev 63,195 (semi-final and final) Donetsk 50,055 Kharkiv 35,721 Lviv 34, 915 Qualifiers Poland, Ukraine, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Italy and ten others to be decided. Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

England & Ukraine finish even

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 01:17:05 +0000

UEFA U21 Championship Group B England 0:0 Ukraine Att: 3,495 England and Ukraine su rvive after a goalless but entertaining clash here in Herning, but both now face do-or-die showdowns with the Czechs and Spanish respectively after they failed to find the net in Jutland this evening. With Spain on four points and the Czechs on three, England on two and the Ukraine with a point know that nothing less than victory will do on Sunday. With both teams hungry for a win, a fast-paced opening duly arrived and it was the yellow jerseys of the Ukraine, backed by a noisy support from the ranks of Jutland's expat agricultural workers, who bared their teeth first. Denys Garmash, the attacking midfielder from Dynamo Kyiv who has gained some admiring glances already, won a corner deflected off Phil Jones with a snapshot on the edge of the area in the seventh minute. Soon afterwards the Ukrainians confirmed their attacking desire when Yevhen Konoplyanka let rip with a 20 yard missile which Frank Fielding dove quickly to parry away. The Dnipro midfielder was the chief protagonist , dribbling at speed, switching positions and shooting from distance. England needed to stand firm as the yellow shirts attacked with alacrity, and some of their stratospheric clearances betrayed their nerves at being on the back foot. Familiar failings were to the fore again for Stuart Pearce's men, who looked unlikely to threaten the Ukrainian goal in the first half hour, ruining a number of moves with yet more hopeful but dispiriting pumps upfield. But suddenly a spark of hope came in the 33rd minute. Michael Mancienne threaded a pass through the middle to Daniel Sturridge and the Chelsea striker let fly on the half-volley from fully 30 yards out and whacked the crossbar with the goalkeeper flailing. England finished the half the stronger, with left-flanker Danny Rose obeying Pearce's vocal exhortations to take on Ukraine's pedestrian right-back Bohdan Butko. Ukraine resumed their dominance after the break, though Daniel Welbeck, under pressure eight minutes into the half, almost snatched the lead from a route one chase chipped wide of goal. Instead of passing through the Ukrainians, England seemed to b e seeking the spectacular. Mancienne, still exploring his unfamiliar midfield anchoring role, tried his luck from 30 yards out rather than prolong a promising move on the deck. England were out of ideas in the middle again, and unlike against Spain, failing to make headway on the wings. Pearce had seen enough, hauling off Rose and the disappointing Jack Rodwell three minutes before the hour mark. The yellows sought a second wind, and coach Pavlo Yakovenko took the reins and pulled his ball wizard Konoplyanka off in the 65th, his high-octane motor having run out of petrol at last. Four minutes later Garmash drew a diving save from 20 yards out and striker Roman Zozulya came on for the ineffective Artem Kravets and glanced a header a couple of yards wide soon afterwards. A nil-nil looked likelier as the clock counted down, until Ukraine got a stroke of luck eight minutes from time. Garmash ran at the England centre-backs a nd his through-ball caromed off Jones into the path of Zozulya, whose snapshot was blocked by an alert Fielding. Along with the old head on young shoulders that was Phil Jones, the Derby custodian was England's best performer. England sub Henri Lansbury rifled an effort a yard wide three minutes later at the other end, confirming it was not yet game over. Sturridge aped him in the 86th, before Welbeck's header from a Lansbury corner brought a goalline save. No more chances emerged and the two nations tripped off knowing they will have no more excuses over 90 minutes on Sunday. For England, a stout defence provides hope of avoiding defeat once more, but a fragmented outfield with midfield and attack rarely in unison and a conf used attacking policy which relies too much on ineffective hit-and-hope balls do not hint at progression. The Ukrainians by contrast will have to find a plan B after their energetic attacking, however fine it is to behold, ran out of steam in the second half and failed to spring a watertight backline. England (4-1-2-3) - Frank Fielding, Michael Mancienne (Fabrice Muamba 89'), Ryan Bertrand, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Jordan Henderson, Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Kyle Walker, Jack Rodwell (Henri Lansbury 58'), Danny Rose (Scott Sinclair 58') Ukraine (4-2-3-1) - Anton Kanibolotskiy, Bohdan Butko, Yevhen Selin, Yaroslav Rakiskiy, Yevhen Konoplyanka (Andriy Yarmolenko 65'), Oleg Golodyuk, Serhiy Kryvtsov, Maxym Biliy, Volodymyr Chesnakov, Denys Garmash, Artem Kravets (Roman Zozulya 70') Total shots - Ukraine 10, England 15 Ball possession - Ukraine 52%, England 48% Cautions - Ukraine 4, England 2 Sunday 2045 : England v Czech Republic (Viborg), Spain v Ukraine (Herning) Group B standings Spain pld 2 pts 4 Czech Rep pld 2 pts 3 England pld 2 pts 2 Ukraine pld 2 pts 1 (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

UEFA U21 Championship 2011: England v Ukraine

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:18:54 +0000

Group B - England v Ukraine 20:45 MCH Arena, Herning, Denmark Both teams enter tonight's clash in Herning in need of points. Ukraine lost their opening clash 2-1 to the Czech Republic, while England scraped a 1-1 draw with Spain with Danny Welbeck's late leveller. England coach Stuart Pearce insisted his side had been more skilful in training than they were against Spain, but must have been worried by the lack of guile in midfield. Starting with Jack Rodwell might alleviate some of those worries, but work needs to be done on the movement and first-touches of the strike Daniels Sturridge and Welbeck. The Three Lions were penetrative on the flanks, particularly from their man of the match Kyle Walker, but a dearth of accurate crosses may push Pearce into fielding Aston Villa winger Marc Albrighton, who impressed in the Premier League this season. Ukraine, rated by Pearce as one of the top three teams in the tournament, will be desperate to avoid defeat and tournament elimination tonight. They pulled a goal back again st the unbeaten Czechs in their opener late on after a spirited fightback but the two-goal deficit proved too much in the end. Ukranian football is still feeling confident after Shakhtar Donetsk made it to the last eight in the Champions League this year, and with Euro 2012 imminent in their homeland. Ukraine won the U19 version two years ago and two of those winners now play in the Under-21s , who topped a qualifying group including Belgium, France and Slovenia before edging out the Netherlands on away goals for a place in Denmark. Their entire squad is domestically based and little known outside Ukraine, but expect to see more of some of these starlets at next season's European Championship fina ls. After their first outing ended in defeat they suffered a double blow with the injury to skipper Taras Stepanenko, who will probably be replaced by Shaktar defender Yaroslav Rakitskiy. Other match (18:00 Viborg - Czech Republic v Spain) Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

Shahtar or Shakhtar

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 12:38:16 +0000

Why it is that the Russian and Ukrainian sound /h/ (like in Hull or Harvard) is (mis)represented in English by the letters "kh"? It's been bugging me somewhat. So, it should be Shahtar, not Shakhtar; also, Harkov, not Kharkov (or Harkiv, as the name is in Ukrainian). Even funnier, some geniuses determined that the Ukrainian sound /g/ (almost like in Galloway or Glasgow, just a bit softer) should be transcribed into English with the letter "h"! Thus, English transcribes the Ukrainian word Liga (League) as Liha (!), but Shahtar as Shakhtar. And naturally, 99.9% of English speakers will mispronounce both words... So weird. Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

UEFA Euro 2012 Qualifying Draw

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:33:19 +0000

UEFA EURO 2012 Qualifying Draw (top seeds in bold) Group A: Germany , Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan Group B: Russia , Slovakia, Eire, Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra Group C: Italy , Serbia, N.Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands Group D: France , Romania, Bosnia-Hrzg., Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg Group E: Netherlands , Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova, S an M arino Group F: Croatia , Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta Group G: England , Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales, Montenegro Group H: Portugal , Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland Group I: Spain , Czech Rep., Scotland, Lithuania, Liechtenstein The nine group winners and best runner-up qualify automatically . The eight remaining second-place teams play-off to decide the final four qualifiers. Ties take place between September 2010 and November 2011. PALACE OF CULTURE & SCIENCE, WARSAW - Like Georgia & Russia, Armenia & Azerbaijan could not be drawn against each other for political reasons, so it was a humorous moment when Polish soccer legend Zbigniew Boniek kick-started the afternoon by drawing the Caucasian neighbours against each other. Boniek picked the teams along with compatriot Andrzek Szarmach and Ukrainian legends Oleg Blokhin and Andriy Shevchenko. Little stirred amongst the watching press pack and UEFA blazers until the final pot containing Europe's big guns was opened. Germany will renew acquaintances with two familiar countries it knocked out of Euro 2008 - Austria and Turke y. The clash with Turkey is sure to be hot one given the huge Anatolian expat presence in Germany; Belgium will hope to sneak in behind these neighbourly disputes as it seeks to become one of the major Euro pean footballing nations again, as it was in the 1980s. Group B's drawing provided the biggest sighs in the hall as all neutrals were p raying for a repeat of France against the Republic of Ireland. Russia were drawn instead and wil l be eager to bounce back after missing the boat for South Africa; Slovakia, the only World Cup qualifier among them, provide the m ain opposition to those two. Italy's Marcello Lippi chose to stay at h ome, leaving Angelo Petruzzi to answer questions, and Lippi will be pleasantly surprised, although World Cup qualifiers Serbia and Slovenia will provide real tests for the Azzurri awa y from home. France in reality got lucky with a kind draw: Romania and Bosnia-Herzegovina are far from the worst teams they could have faced. Group E should be no trouble for the Netherlands, while Sweden and Hungary renew acquaintances after their mutually unsuccessful World Cup qualifying attempts. Sweden also have a Scandinavian border derby wi th Finland to look forward to. Euro 2004 winners Greece have an even chance of r eturning to the finals having been drawn into a balanced-looking group containing Croatia, Israel, Latvia and Georgia, while England will be confident of topping Group G ahead of Switzerland. Fabio Capello's men also have a mini return to the days of the Home Championship with Wales to play twice. Winning Group H looks tough for Portugal, who struggled in the World Cup qualifiers; Carlos Queiroz is surely hoping the local derbies between Denmark and Norway end in two ties. Finally, reigning champions Spain should have safe passage from Group I where the Czechs and the Scots will battle it out for second place. Europe's middle-ranking nations still provide the occasional shock such as Ukraine's quarter-final finish in the 2006 World Cup or Turkey's semi-final run at Euro 2008, but there do not seem to be enough sleeping giants to call any of the groups a group of death. As of now, the lineup for 2012 right now looks like being the cast of usual suspects. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags Soccer News football

A whole lotta bother on Platini's plate

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:22:49 +0000

WARSAW, EURO 2012 Qualifying Draw As if worrying about Ukraine's hotels, roads and airports was not enough, UEFA President Michel Platini had other questions to answer in his press conference on the eve of the European Championship qualifying draw. Depressingly, four separate English journalists asked him the same question in different wording about John Terry's sex scandal, speciously implying a parallel with the one in 1982 when France sent Jean-Francois Larios home from the World Cup after he had been seeing Platini's wife. Thankfully the French legend was made of stronger stuff than to lower himself to those hacks' baiting, but seemed to lose patience eventually by replying 'I really don't care', which was met by applause by some non-Anglo writers. Platini did deflect a question about misbehaving rich stars by alluding to his plan to ban insolvent clubs from UEFA competitions. "What annoys me are the clubs who pay these high salaries when they don’t have the money," he made a point of telling the hall. Platini had started the press conference by referring to the continued uncertainly over the host nations' suitability in many eyes. "We are working on it...these things will develop," he semi-reassured the gathered media, whose experience of snowbound Warsaw has probably been a shock after the effortless charm of Vienna in the summer of 2008. After many deadlines, the eight venues are now at last "final" according to Platini, but o ne journalist still asked if Krakow, with its tourist infrastructure, might not yet replace one of the Ukrainian venues: The UEFA President said that was a matter for the national associations. The spread of stadia still looks daunting. In the media guide, train journey times are listed with the transfer between Gdansk and Donetsk taking a whopping 30hours at best... Then came the question of extra referees, with Platini defending his preference for more referees over more use of cameras. "I'm really a fan of the human method (of refereeing) rather than the technological method," he explained, adding he didn't want to let cameras run the officiating and noting that basketball had added extra officials over time. This led inevitably to Thierry Henry and Platini was quick to defend the referee in question from opprobrium: " The ref could not see a hand," he said. "It was a problem of refereeing rather than the referee – he is not to blame, though you could all see it on television." A rematch between the French and Irish in the qualifiers is one he would welcome, however. "Yes, I would love that," Platini smiled. In reality that would not produce anything like the sort of tension which led UEFA to extraordinarily add two political caveats to tomorrow's draw: Old enemies Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot meet each other and neither can Georgia and Russia, following their military fracas two years ago. The introduction of what he called "geopolitics" into football was interesting. Russia's looming presence as former guardian of Ukraine and the controller of Europe's gas supplies has allegedly been the reason Ukraine kept its hosting prize when it looks in no shape to be ready in time. "To avoid political problems, we don't want to mix sport up with politics," explained Platini, in self-conscious equivocation. What was that draw caveat if not political then? Platini has a lot on his plate all right, but seems well able to manage. Shortly having taken over the job from Lennart Johansson, Platini confessed, "I quickly realised I was dealing with different mindsets and different philosophies, from Siberia all the way to Portugal." 53 nations' coaches will assemble tomorrow in the Palace of Culture and Science, although Italy's Marcello Lippi will apparently not be there because he wants to watch Serie A games. Unusually, some qualifiers will be played on Fri/Tues instead of Sat/Weds for 2012, but otherwise the format is familiar with six graded pots of teams to select six groups of six and three of five. The nine group winners and best runners-up qualify automatically and the remaining eight runners-up have playoffs to decide four teams to go through. Poland and Ukraine qualify automatically as hosts. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags Soccer News football

Euro 2012

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:41:35 +0000

Poland and Ukraine will host the 2012 European Championships. Poland and Ukraine's joint bid beat out favorites Italy and the joint Croatia and Hungary bid. Despite a recent match-fixing scandal in Poland, 3rd favorites Poland and Ukraine's joint bid got the nod from UEFA in a major shock. The 2012 tournament will be played in four Ukrainian cities (Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kiev and Lviv) and among four of six possible Polish venues (Gdansk, Krakow, Poznan, Warsaw, Wroclaw and Chorzow). Kiev's Olympic Stadium with a capacity of 80,000 will be the venue for the final.