Compulsory Program: Fourth Round
Tomorrow the Ukrainian national will have perhaps the most important meet with the Greek national team in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. This match on the European champion’s home turf may well answer the question, “Will we ever see our team among the world soccer finalists?”
For the national teams hoping to get there the qualifiers schedule has two parts that can be described, using the gymnasts or figure skaters’ parlance, as a compulsory and a free program. The former includes meets with teams with lower standings, yet beating them isn’t always easy because for a small-time team even a draw game is an historic event for the sake of which they will spare no effort. In the previous qualifiers the Ukrainian national team always lost points during matches with teams standing closer to the bottom of the table. Those points were what the Ukrainian team lacked to make it to the finals even once. The victorious meet with the Kazakh team — which seemed an easy job — was part of the compulsory program; without such matches getting in the 2006 finals is out of the question.
MINIMUM EMOTIONS, MAXIMUM POINTS SCORED
Some may be disappointed with the Ukraine vs. Kazakhstan meet, saying teams like the Kazakh one should be defeated with a score 5:0. Probably, if such was the task of the Ukrainian national team. Yet did our team really need it?
Unlike their immediate adversaries, Greek and Turks, the Ukrainian lads haven’t lost a single point in the meets with outsiders. They scored 9 points in the games with the Kazakh, Georgian and Albanian teams, being thus placed first. Statistics show that same result in the repeat matches with the same teams guarantees the Ukrainian team the second place in the finals, but we want to come first, lest we depend on the “coin toss” in the “butt” matches. This takes carrying out also the optional program — i.e., beating the Greek and the Turkish team.
Skeptics shouldn’t have worried. Oleh Blokhin’s national team has exerted precisely as much effort as was required under the circumstances, scoring 3 points for beating the Kazakh team (2:0). Even if the score were 7:0, there would be 3 points anyway, but more body injuries and cards flashed by the referee. All the 18 players under the national coaches’ command have a clean bill of health and are getting prepared for the next meet tomorrow, which is extremely important if not crucial.
Actually, the Ukrainian fans have nothing to complain about after watching the national team’s confidently attacking performance, with the bombardier and team captain Andriy Shevchenko scoring the first goal and demonstrating some of his outstanding soccer mastery.
VICTORIOUS HABIT
People tend to quickly get used to good things. The Ukrainian national team’s fifth consecutive victory in the qualifiers is already regarded as a matter of course. We want only the first place in the qualifiers, but also a spectacular performance in the next year’s world finals. Does our national team have the potential?
In terms of team technique, the Ukrainian national can hardly be considered superior to the Greek, Turkish, and Danish teams. However, the strength of a national team is measured not by the cost of contracts made with individual players but by that teams skill at winning games. In this sense our lads are so far taking the lead among the European national teams playing in the qualifiers. Let’s hope they’ll keep it that way.
2006 World Cup Qualifiers.
Group 2
Ukraine vs. Kazakhstan: 2:0
Turkey vs. Greece: 0:0
Albania vs. Georgia: 3:2
1. Ukraine 8 6 2 0 14:3 20
2. Greece 8 4 3 1 12:6 15
3. Turkey 8 2 4 1 13:7 13
4. Denmark 7 2 3 2 10:7 9
5. Albania 8 3 0 5 6:13 9
6. Georgia 7 1 2 4 10:16 5
7. Kazakhstan 6 0 0 6 2:15 0
Games scheduled for June 8
Greece vs. Ukraine
Denmark vs. Albania
Kazakhstan vs. Turkey
