Ukraine need maximum points from their two remaining matches, against England and Andorra, to be sure of reaching the play-offs from FIFA World Cup qualifying Group 6 and coach Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko is sure his team are up to the task.

Chasing Croatia

Ukraine are two points behind Croatia but have a game in hand − Saturday's visit of group winners England to Dnipropetrovsk. With Croatia ending their fixtures on Wednesday in Kazakhstan, whose only points have come against Andorra, Ukraine know that nothing less than victory is required against England, who have a perfect record from eight games but are already assured of first place.

No let-up

"We're approaching an extremely tough match and we shouldn't comfort ourselves with the fact our opponents have already done their job in the group," the former Rangers FC player said. "I know the British a bit. They only play for victory, so on Saturday we have to rely on ourselves, especially if we're aiming to get a decent result at the World Cup. The England match will be a great test for our lads and I'm not ruling out possible debuts."

Caution

Team changes are inevitable in view of injuries to key defenders Dmytro Chygrynskiy and Andriy Rusol and the suspension of right-back Vitaliy Mandzyuk. That has meant first call-ups for 22-year-old FC Dynamo Kyiv defender Yevgen Khacheridi and FC Shakhtar Donetsk's Rakitskiy Yaroslav, 20, and Mykhaylychenko is planning a cautious approach despite the need to win. "In this qualifying campaign we have lost only once, in England, where we conceded late on," he said. "It would have been tough to win there, but we could have avoided defeat. We won't rush forward in gung-ho style in Dnipropetrovsk. Only an intelligent approach from the whole team will bring us the result we need."

Suppport

Mykhaylychenko certainly has the nation behind him as Ukraine look to emulate their maiden qualification for the World Cup in 2006. "The whole country is up for this match," he said. "Each one of the players feels this atmosphere through talking to their friends and relatives. Every person who has met and recognised me in the street in the last few weeks just wished me luck. People understand and feel the level of responsibility that sits on me and my team."