COLONE
- Ukraine advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Cup on
Monday night
by eliminating Switzerland, 3- 0, in a penalty shootout
after a dire,
dreary 0-0 draw that neither team deserved to win.
Switzerland, whose few shots during the match had been marked by a
woeful lack of accuracy, continued in that vein in the shootout.
Pascal Zuberbühler, the Swiss goalkeeper, saved the opening kick
by Andriy Shevchenko. His teammates then squandered the initiative.
Oleksandr Shovkovskyi saved the first and third penalties from Marco
Streller and Ricardo Cabanas. Tranquillo Barnetta hit the second
against the bar.
Artem Milevskiy and Serhiy Rebrov put Ukraine ahead, 2-0, by the simple
expedient of kicking their penalties into the middle of the goal. Both
Rebrov
and Milevskiy had come on in extra time. Oleg Gusev was slightly
more daring, driving the match-winning shot low into the corner.
Ukraine had reached the quarterfinals in its first World Cup. That was
probably more than it dared to dream and certainly more than it dared
to try to achieve.
"The teams were equal and had equal chances to win," Oleg Blokhin, the
former Soviet star who manages Ukraine, told German television after
the game.
"We just had more luck. Like Russian roulette."
The Swiss were one of the youngest teams in the competition but they
played with the caution of an old man crossing a busy road. They were
eliminated from the tournament even though they did not concede a goal
in four games.
Youth at this World Cup is a relative concept. The Swiss are young
compared with other nations because they have regularly started two
players under the age
of 22 and none of the eight other outfield
players at the start on Monday have reached 30.
Indeed, the Swiss team got a little younger for this game. Philippe
Senderos, the strapping 21-year-old center back who had been one of the
young stars of the competition, dislocated a shoulder as Switzerland
beat South Korea to end on top of its group in the first round.
Senderos had already scored with a powerful header.
His place was taken Monday by Johan Djourou, who is almost two years
younger. The two are club mates at Arsenal in the English Premier
League. Djourou, behind Senderos in the pecking order there, too, has
only appeared five times in the first team. He did not appear for long
on Monday.
"It was very hard to see a good friend and teammate for both club and
country go down with such an injury," Djourou told FIFAworldcup.com
before the game.
"But after shaking that off, for me it's just great.
"I am very happy, but at the same time I am sad for my friend."
Ukraine's more experienced defense was torn apart by Spain in its
opening game. In the next two games it frequently looked shaky against
the weak Saudi
Arabians and mediocre Tunisians.
The Swiss rarely looked troubled and rarely shown any sign of flair as
it won its group with methodical efficiency.
On Monday, the Swiss sliced easily through the buttercup-yellow
Ukrainians at the start. Yet the Swiss could not exploit their chances.
Hakan Yakin, who had three shots in the first 15 minutes, was the most
wasteful
At the other end, in the only unbreached defense in the World Cup,
Djourou showed his inexperience. After 21 minutes he was caught out of
position on the wing and brought down Andriy Voronin from behind.
As the free kick swirled into the Swiss goalmouth, Djourou found
himself a step behind Shevchenko. He got away with shoving the former
European player of the year to the ground, but almost paid for a graver
sin. While Djourou was focusing on the man, he may have forgotten the
ball. In the tangle of arms and legs, it struck him and almost
deflected into the goal. The ball bounced up and onto the bar.
A minute later, Alexander Frei curled a free kick onto the face of the
Ukrainian bar. It was the fifth Swiss shot of the game and the first of
any menace. Barnetta restored normal service at once. He smashed the
rebound very high and very wide.
After 34 minutes, the 19-year-old Djourou's World Cup ended. The
youngster did not appear injured as he went off. On trudged the
27-year-old Stephane Grichting, experience replacing potential.
Perhaps the growing suspicion that the Swiss could not shoot straight
was calming the Ukrainian defense. By half time it was holding the
Swiss attack far more comfortably.
The Ukrainians did allow Ludovic Magnin the time and space to finish
the half with a curling flourish. The Swiss defender carefully lined up
a shot from 25 meters and swerved it 15 meters wide.
By the start of the second half the two teams were simply canceling
each other out.
The game lacked events of any kind.
On the night after the Dutch and Portuguese shared 16 yellow cards,
Benito Archundia, the Mexican referee who was working under the gaze of
the FIFA president, seemed reluctant to blow the whistle except for
blatant assaults. The only caution came in the 60th minute when
Barnetta fouled Andriy Nesmachnyi.
Sepp Blatter, the president of the governing body, who is Swiss, was in
Cologne. Earlier in the day he had said of the Portugal-Netherlands
game: "I think there could have been a yellow card for the referee."
That game, in between the fouls and fights, offered lively and creative
attacking play by both teams.
Monday's game offered little of either. The difference may have been
that the teams were allowed to clutch, grab and manhandle each other.
Or it could be that the Swiss and Ukrainians do not have the talent of
the Dutch and Portuguese.
Midway trough the second half, the crowd started making its own
amusement. There were waves, conga lines and chants of "Lukas
Podolski," the German World Cup hero. Those fans still watching the
game spent most of their time whistling, jeering and groaning. Small
Swiss triumphs, such as a throw in, would draw a disbelieving roar of
approval followed by a short-lived burst of "Hop Schweiz" or "Allez!
Allez!"
Shevchenko flashed a shot wide and Voronin and Andriy Gusin both headed
wide for Ukraine. But the second 45 minutes did not contain a single
strike on goal.
The Swiss perked up at the start of extra time. After one high cross
into the goal mouth, the ball dropped to Johann Vogel, who drove a low
shot straight at Shovkovskyi.
After that the game settled back into a sterile stalemate. A
quarterfinal at the World Cup would represent success for either team.
Maybe both were happy to settle for the 50-50 chance offered by a
penalty shootout. But even if that was not what they wanted, neither
team seemed to have any idea of how to avoid it.
In the end Ukraine easily won the lottery and their prize is a meeting
with Italy in the last eight on Friday.
After Italy's 1-0 victory earlier in the day there are worrying signs
that the knockout rounds are settling into the cautious sterility that
often blights the later stages of World Cups. Allowing for the two
extra times, after six games the scoring rate in the knockout round is
1.2 goals per 90 minutes.
While the neutral fans may not have enjoyed themselves Monday night,
the Swiss seemed happy.
"We put in a good performance and I hope all of Switzerland is still
behind us," Magnin said. "Football is sometimes hard but we gained a
lot of experience for Euro 2008 in our own country."