On Thursday, October 30, Ukraine could not be any closer to their first major female finals as they welcome Slovenia to Chernigov for the second leg of their UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009 play-off holding a 3-0 lead.
Commanding lead
Two first-half goals from Darina Apanaschenko and an Alla Lishafai strike in Davrograd on Sunday gave command of the tie to Ukraine, who only missed out on automatic qualification with a narrow 1-0 loss in Denmark earlier this month. Coach Anatoliy Kutsev is delighted that his team have the chance to seal qualification at the Yuri Gagarin Stadium, which is likely to be packed as admission is free.
Promotion in class
The current EURO campaign is the fifth consecutive one for Ukraine. In the EURO 1997 qualifying Serhiy Kachkarov’s girls managed to progress to the first division, as way back the teams were divided into first and second divisions. Four years later the ‘blue-yellows’ almost entered the final, but they couldn’t beat tough English in play-off.
Obtaining experience
It will be wrong to say that EURO 2005 qualification in which all Old World’s teams started in equal conditions was successful for Ukrainian footballers. But right then the collective that has brought not bad results in this round began to form. Iryna Zvarych, Olena Mazurenko, Lyudmyla Pekur, Tetyana Chorna, Vira Dyatel, Svitlana Fryshko, Alla Lyshafay, Olena Khodyryeva, Daryna Apanaschenko who’s coach at first was Mykola Lytvyn then Volodymyr Kulayev and Serhiy Umen are team’s leaders at the moment.
Coordinated squad
Anatoliy Kutsev who stood at the head of the team in January 2007 opportunely didn’t make any cardinal changes. The coach counted on the experienced footballers, but gradually he began to join young players such as Tetyana Romanenko and Olga Boichenko to the gatherings. Coordinated squad is one of the main trump card of ‘blue-yellows’. The reason for this is that five leaders of the team who determine its tactics are fellow-members of club and play for the best Russian club Zvyezda-2005 Perm.
Free vacancies
It should be mentioned that midfielder Lyudmyla Pekur who missed the match in Dravograd because of disqualification will be able to help her partners on Thursday. If Ukrainian footballers retain the advantage that they obtained in Slovenia, they will join the teams of England, Sweden, France, Germany, Denmark, Norway, who got to the final stage directly and EURO 2009 host Finland. The owners of other four permits will be decided in the next matches: Italy − Czech Republic (first match − 1:0), Netherlands − Spain (2:0), Russia − Scotland (3:2) and Iceland − Ireland (1:1). The drawing of lots of the deciding round, the matches of which are to be held next year from the 23rd of August to the 10th of September, will take place on September 16 in Helsinki.
