Ukrainian American Select soccer team plays in Mini-World Cup

RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Ukrainian American Select soccer team recently competed on Saturday, May 13, in a Mini-World Cup 7v7 tournament at Giants Stadium. The tournament was organized and run by the New York Red Bulls professional soccer organization in a format similar to that of the upcoming World Cup to be held in Germany as local teams were invited to compete and represent countries of their respective nationalities.

The Ukrainian men's team was placed in Group C with Brazil, Cyprus and Holland in what ended up being one of the toughest groups in the tournament.

Ukraine's first game was against Brazil, a team with very skillful players and great ball control. The game was very even, with both teams creating good opportunities to score. However, Ukraine's Misha Vyshnovsky got the only goal of the game on a counterattack, blasting his shot into the lower corner of the goal, past a diving Brazilian goalkeeper. Ukraine's goalie, Bogdan Protas, and the defense of Mark Howansky, Volodya Bryk and Misha Prokiv were strong in preserving the shutout.

Ukraine's next opponent was Cyprus, also a very organized and skillful team. The game proved to be extremely intense and physical as both teams knew that a win would send them to the next round of the tournament. Cyprus carried much of the play and, if not for the strong goalkeeping of Protas the result could have been a loss instead of a 0-0 tie.

Ukraine did create some counter-attack opportunities and Mykola Kucyna had a breakaway toward the end of the game but was pulled down by a Cyprus defender before he could get a shot off. After two games, Ukraine and Cyprus were tied for first with four points.

Ukraine's third game was against Holland, which lost its first two matches. Holland's tactic was obvious as players packed their defense, making it extremely difficult to penetrate their goal. Then, when Ukraine did get a shot on goal, Holland's goalie made some unbelievable saves to keep the game scoreless.

Ukraine's constant pressure and persistence paid off as Vyshnovsky scored his second goal of the tournament to put Ukraine up 1-0. The Ukrainians continued to press forward and eventually Mark Howansky scored the clincher to make it 2-0 to seal the game and send Ukraine to the quarter final round of the tournament.

As the tournament progressed, the Ukrainian team was gaining the respect of the fans and their peers as everyone was talking about how well the blue and yellow team with the Self Reliance logo on the front of its jerseys were playing and how this was a team to watch in the knockout stages of the tournament.

In the quarterfinals, Ukraine's opponent was England. Ukraine scored first on a goal by Ivan Kopychak as he drew the keeper out of his goal and dribbled around him slotting his shot into the open goal. England rallied quickly and tied the game on a deflection goal that changed direction, catching Protas leaning the wrong way. This was the first goal that Protas and the Ukrainian defense had allowed in the tournament.

Ukraine, however, would not be denied, as Kopychak scored his second goal of the game on a beautiful combination play by Kucyna, Vyshnovsky and Kopychak, who placed his shot past the English keeper. Ukraine was victorious and moved on to the semifinals against Poland.

The Poland-Ukraine game was intense with both teams giving all they had to have an opportunity to play in the final. Both sides had good opportunities to score, but neither team could break through to gain the win in regulation, and the game ended 0-0.

The game would be decided by a penalty kick shootout. The Polish team scored all three of its penalty kicks to Ukraine's two and advanced to the final against Germany.

Germany beat Poland in the final, 3-1, with team members hoisting the World Cup trophy in celebration.

"Overall, while disappointed, we were extremely pleased with how well we did in the tournament. We only gave up two goals in six games," stated team Coach Bo Kucyna.

"We won our group and were a penalty kick away from going to the final," added coach Walter Tkach.

Goalkeeper Protas was honored with the Most Outstanding Goalkeeper award, and a plaque was presented to him by World Cup and current Red Bull goalie Tony Meola.

The Ukrainian American Select team comprised players of Yonkers Krylati and Chornomorska Sitch, as well as independent players.

For more information about the Ukrainian American Select team e-mail [email protected].

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 4, 2006, No. 23, Vol. LXXIV

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