Questions abound as Ukraine′s "Hloptsi" start Euro
Ukranian lynchpin: Andriy Yarmolenko. Picture: Sergey Dolzhenko
“There is just a mass of unanswered questions,” said Artem Frankov, editor of Football! Magazine and a well-known sports commentator. “And we are only going to find out the answers when the team begins actual play in the tournament.”
Many sports observers in the former Soviet republic have singled out attacking midfielder Andriy Yarmolenko as a probable lynchpin of the Ukrainians’ hopes.
A left-footer and one of the most prolific scorers at his club Dynamo Kyiv, Yarmolenko has been described in local media as “A new Andriy Shevchenko” for his pace, powerful strikes and game vision.
Yarmolenko already is considered one of the most talented players of his generation, and on Saturday, two days before Ukraine plays its first game against Sweden, Ukrainian sports media was reporting AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani had arrived in the Ukrainian capital to negotiate the Ukrainian’s transfer to Shevchenko’s old club for some 17.5 million dollars.
But youth teams aside, the 22-year-old has never played in an international championship nor – like more than half of his team mates – even participated in a top-level international qualification campaign.
Ukraine as a host nation along with Poland qualified for Euro 2012 automatically.
Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin has frequently positioned Yarmolenko on the right flank in an attacking role, and placed behind him Dynamo Kyiv’s Oleg Gusev, 29, who was a key force in the East European’s surprisingly successful campaign at the 2006 World Cup.
Gusev’s experience, powerful crosses and ability to force the tempo of a match have made him a regular starter at his club and in the national team when he has been healthy. But knee injuries and their after-effects put his career on hold until 2011.
Observers have said Gusev’s long absence from the national team has weakened coordination and reaction in the Ukraine midfield – and the Ukrainains’ strong suit has long been the fast counterattack. Blokhin has said Gusev is fully fit.
Football observer Viktor Leonenko pointed to Shevchenko and Dynamo Moscow striker Andriy Voronin as another pair of Ukrainian question marks. Neither is a regular starter at his club and, if the Ukrainian national team can field a reasonably solid middle line, it sorely lacks effective strikers.
These two veterans’ lack of recent game time only makes the problem worse, he said.
“When half of the team sits in reserve at their clubs, it’s difficult to do anything,” Leonenko said, in comments to the Novy Poglyad newspaper.
Blokhin at a Thursday press conference frankly admitted his team lacked a top level forward, and blamed defensive tactics popular in Ukraine’s league, where in the 2011-2012 season’s top scorer, Evhen Seleznyov from Shakhtar Donetsk, netted only 14 goals.
Seleznyov told reporters on Friday the Ukrainian attack would be up to the challenge of Europe’s best defences, and that a flexible midfield, teamwork and ball movement would produce goals.
“I think that we have a very good, well-honed side, and this should give us an advantage,” he said.
But the Ukrainians’ ability to shut down the likes of Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, France’s Karim Benzema and England’s Wayne Rooney in group D matches is more grounds for doubt, observers said, because of defenders simply too young to have ever played against such international stars, or only recently returning to the national team from long-term injuries.
“I would call an advance from our group a success. If we get to the semi-finals – that would be a huge success. If we were to get to the final, I don’t know, that would be a miracle and ‘Thank you Lord, that you have blessed Ukraine’,” Frankov said.