"After the sending-off, my players probably took it a bit too easy," said Blokhin.

"I was nervous until the very end. Now I'm very satisfied," he added.

Despite losing a man, Tunisia did not play conservatively in the second half.

A long free-kick was directed towards Tunisian defender Radhi Jaidi in the 50th minute but he was penalized for pushing.

On 66 minutes, Tunisian defender Anis Ayari's free-kick was struck well and landed on the top of the netting. It was the nearest either team came to break the deadlock.

The 84th minute saw a chance for Ukraine to double their lead but Oleg Shelayev, running on to a pull-back from the right flank, wafted the effort over the bar.

In injury time, a Tunisia free-kick was glanced on by substitute Santos but it flew narrowly wide.

Tunisia coach Roger Lemerre remained upbeat after the exit.

He said: "We share the disillusionment of the Tunisian fans but life goes on. We now have to think about qualification for the next African Nations Cup and the next World Cup."

"We had a plan to try to force the match if it was still 0-0 with 20 minutes to go but unfortunately Ukraine managed to score.

"We are going away with a lot of lessons, both the coaching staff and the players," Lemerre said.

Lemerre's side will depart Germany after having taken part in their third consecutive FIFA World Cup, but 2006 also represents the third consecutive tournament that they have failed to get past the group stage.

Ukraine are now looking forward to a second round tie against the winners of Group G in Cologne on June 26.