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World Cup-Rebrov and Shevchenko back in old routine
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-06-20 09:46 HAMBURG, June 19 - After the nightmare in Leipzig last Wednesday when they lost 4-0 on their World Cup debut to Spain, a dream came true for Ukraine's fans on Monday.
It is a fair bet too that watching somewhere from a heavenly seat way up high, Valery Lobanovsky, the eminence gris of Ukrainian soccer who nurtured the young Blokhin in the 1970s and 1980s and was still involved with football until shortly before his death at 63 four years ago was also enjoying the occasion. Ukraine, who fluffed their opening night lines in Leipzig, came out and grabbed centre stage from the first whistle this time around. The Saudi defence was put under a barrage almost from the first kick and it was almost no surprise when Ukraine went ahead after only four minutes. Their first ever World Cup goal was not a 30-metre screamer, or a brilliantly taken header -- but they were coming. Instead it came off Andriy Rusol's knee following a corner by Maksim Kalinichenko, but as the old saying goes, they all count. REBROV CLASSIC Their second after 36 minutes was far more memorable and seemed to surprise Rebrov as much as anyone. The skilful little playmaker, whose career has stuttered since leaving Dynamo Kiev in 2000 for England, slammed in a speculative dipping shot that nestled in the back of the net after Saudi goalkeeper Mabrouk Zaid slipped. In the 1990s Rebrov and Shevchenko formed a dangerous scoring partnership at Kiev and their almost telepathic understanding helped Dynamo into the semi-finals of the Champions League in 1999. |
With Andriy Shevchenko and Serhiy Rebrov among the scorers and coach Oleg Blokhin in the dug-out, the three men still alive who are most synonymous with Ukrainian soccer over the last 30 years, all played a huge role at this first World Cup victory.