Ukraine defeats Saudi Arabia 4-0, hopes to advance to next round

HAMBURG, Germany - After a humiliating 4-0 defeat by Spain on June 14 in its World Cup debut, Ukraine won its June 20 match against Saudi Arabia, also 4-0. The convincing win set Ukraine back on track to make it to the next round of the monthlong international soccer competition.

Ukraine's goals were scored by Andriy Rusol, Serhiy Rebrov, Andriy Shevchenko and Maksym Kalinichenko.

"We really gave it our all today because it was our last chance. It was either win or go home, and none of us wanted to do that," said Ukrainian striker Andriy Voronin, according to Agence France-Presse. "We can play better and we showed that here. We played in a more attacking way than against Spain when we were a bit too defensive."

After the loss to Spain, the Associated Press reported that Coach Oleg Blokhin had commented: "We were playing like the worst team in Europe." The coach apologized to fans for "the embarrassment" and condemned the "laziness" of his players.

On the eve of the Ukraine-Saudi Arabia match, Shevchenko said, "We still have a chance, so we'll play each of our games like it's the last one." The AP quoted him as saying: "The match against Saudi Arabia is our last chance and we are preparing for that game with that in mind."

As The Weekly goes to press on Friday morning, June 23, Ukraine will face Tunisia, the last of its opponents in Group H of the World Cup.

Blokhin told The Independent on June 22 that his main task is to prevent his team from being overconfident after the win against Saudi Arabia.

"This game gave us a big boost mentally, but we have to re-establish the mental basis for victory after this, and it will be harder to motivate the players this time because we won," he explained.

Ukraine has to win or tie Tunisia to advance. Tunisia must beat Ukraine to qualify for the next round.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 25, 2006, No. 26, Vol. LXXIV

| Home Page |