Ukraine owe victory to Voronin
Wednesday, 30 March 2005
[1] Ukraine moved a step closer towards their first FIFA World Cup finals with a victory which left Denmark's own qualification hanging in the balance.
Denmark fall
[2] A second-half strike from Andriy Voronin was enough to seal the win for the Group 2 leaders and move them eight points clear of a Danish team who slipped to down to fourth place after Turkey's win in Georgia today. Greece, 2-0 winners against Albania, are second.
Three changes
[3] Denmark coach Morten Olsen made three changes from the side that defeated Kazakhstan 3-0 on Saturday. Thomas Gravesen and Per Krøldrup returned from suspension in place of Daniel Jensen and the injured Martin Laursen, while Dennis Rommedahl replaced Peter Møller despite the veteran scoring twice on his comeback at the weekend.
Early chances
[4] Andriy Shevchenko was still missing for Ukraine because of a fractured cheekbone, and Denmark took the early initiative. Martin Jørgensen went close from 14 metres in the eighth minute and soon after Jon Dahl Tomasson's darting run caught out the Ukraine defence but his strike was cleared off the line by defender Andriy Rusol.
Husin close
[5] The visitors continued to pose problems with their pace and in the 27th minute a clever ball forward from Jørgensen put Christian Poulsen in space to make a shot which Ukraine goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy did well to tip around the post. Five minutes later Ukraine finally caught a glimpse of the Danish goal with Andriy Husin's free-kick. But although his shot cleared the wall, the ball skimmed over the crossbar much to the disappointment of the Kiev crowd.
Ukraine recharged
[6] That chance appeared to have the desired effect as the home side came out after the interval with a greater sense of urgency. However, it was Jørgensen who continued to have the best of the openings and after 64 minutes another shot from distance flew narrowly wide. Denmark would come to rue their missed chances three minutes later when Ukraine grabbed what proved to be the winning goal. A powerful shot from Oleh Gusev came back off the post but only as far as Voronin, who fired a low shot into the corner.
Victory sealed
[7] Jørgensen kept up the pressure on the Ukraine defence and tried his luck with several more efforts, but fortune was not on his side. Ukraine next meet bottom team Kazakhstan on 4 June, four days before they go to Greece and Denmark play Albania.