Swiss Miss Three, Ukraine One in 3-0 Shoot-Out Win
June 27, 2006
The game started in a physical, end-to-end manner that could have been the harbinger of an close match, if it wasn't punctuated with imprecise passes. Both teams clamed their nerves with passes between defenders and began to build from the midfield some 10 minutes into the game.
Ukraine, playing in their first ever World Cup, claimed an excellent chance on goal in the 20th minute when star striker Andriy Shevchenko flagged down a free kick and sent his header into the crossbar. Not to be out down, under two minutes later Alexander Frei fired a free kick into the bar for Switzerland.
That, for the most part would amount to the sum of the two teams' dangerous attempts on goal in a match where Germans in the stands drowned out Swiss and Ukrainian chants with songs exalting the host team as well as national team hero and former Cologne striker Lukas Podolski.
Teams get same advice at the break
Oleg Blokhin's Ukraine and Koebi Kuhn's Switzerland must have got the exact same instructions when they were in the locker room: Hold back and don't give up a goal. Both sides did just that in the second 45 minutes in a show of defensive play that would make an Italian coach smile.
There was, however, a spark of creativity in the 67th minute when Shevchenko brought the ball down -- with his arm admittedly, but the referee missed it -- and turned Ludovic Magnin inside out before lashing a shot just wide of the post.
The teams needed 155 minutes before either of them could make a mark on the score board. So set in the ways of not giving up a goal, Ukraine's Shevchenko and Switzerland's Marco Streller had their teams' initial kicks blocked before Artem Milevsky put in the first goal for Ukraine.
It would turn out to be the game winner as Tranquillo Barnetta and Ricardo Cabanas would later have their shots saved and missed, respectively, for Switzerland. Serhiy Rebrov and Oleg Gusev put the game on ice for Ukraine with their spot kicks.
Italy coach Marcello Lippi will be the next coach to stand opposite the Blokhin's team, which will meet Italy in the quarter-finals. Count on Ukraine picking up the level of their play or being systematically picked apart by the Azzuri.