Viva Ukraina! Let's Celebrate Ukraine’s Greatest Sporting Moments
I don't want to officially combine sports and politics but what I would like to do is share my support and compassion for Ukraine. Nothing brings us together better than sports and I will do that by sharing Ukraine's best recent sporting moments in their history over the next few days. Let's kick it off with a Ukranian chant that is used at footballing matches; Viva Ukraina. You can take a listen to the chant here.
VIVA, VIVA, UKRAINA, VIVA, VIVA, UKRAINA!!!
The 2006 World Cup is personally my favourite of all-time and likely because I was a teenager and it was the peak of my footballing passion. Ukraine had been a part of the Soviet Union team throughout it's history but following the split off the USSR, Ukraine would become independent and became a FIFA member in 1992.
For the first and only time in their history to date, Ukraine qualified for the World Cup in 2006 by topping their qualifying group. They surprised most people by qualifying ahead of Turkey, Denmark and Greece who were current reigning European champions. Ukraine was the lowest ranked European team ranked 45th in the world, and only Trinidad and Tobago, Ghana and Angola were ranked lower. There's wasn't much expectation on the team.
Ukraine was spearheaded by their superstar striker Andriy Shevchenko, the AC Milan striker at the absolute prime of his career. He was supported by Bayer Leverkusen forward Andriy Voronin but with the exception of two other players, the rest of the squad played their football in the Ukrainian Premier League.
Spain absolutely smashed Ukraine in their opening game 4-0. How did Ukraine respond? They belted Saudi Arabia 4-0 after opening the scoring four minutes after the opening whistle.
In their final group game against Tunisia a draw was good enough to progress. A 70th minute penalty earned Ukraine a win and a spot in the round-of-16, a favourable match-up with Switzerland earned after they surprisingly topped their group over France.
The round-of-16 match against Switzerland is regarded by many as the worst game in World Cup history. After 120 excruciating and uneventful minutes, the match went to a penalty shootout. Who cares that it was the most boring game in history, because Ukraine won the shootout 3-0 to make it to the World Cup quarter-finals with a team that had zero expectations before the tournament. VIVA UKRAINA!
Switzerland would exit the tournament without conceding a single goal but they could not convert any of their penalties in the shootout. Ukraine's reward was a match-up against Italy. Ukraine went behind in the sixth minute before a Luca Toni brace finished Ukraine's World Cup campaign and they would be eliminated at the quarter-final stage.
Ukraine can hold their heads up high, as they lost to the eventual World Cup champions. Shevchenko would move to Chelsea after the World Cup and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk would move to Bayern Munich via Zenit St Petersburg and would be voted Ukraine's greatest player in their history in 2011.
Ukraine will play Scotland in a World Cup play-off this month after finishing behind France in their qualifying group. The winner will play either Wales or Austria for a spot in Qatar. I think it's fair to say that the entire world - apart from the Scottish - will be willing on the Ukrainians to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
...I'll be back tomorrow to celebrate another amazing moment in Ukrainian sporting history.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Wolfgang Sport started in 2017 as a way to connect my passion for American and British sports. Today it's evolved into a blockchain sports blog pushing the boundaries into the crypto world and embracing Web3 technologies.
I still remember and hear tales of how great shevchenko was in that tournament, happy to see him doing well as a Coach.
Hope for a better solution in the aspect of the recurrent crisis in Ukraine. Standing against the war is what makes a man humane and likewise I do judge people with these kind of attitude.
But, sorry to say some people has the tendency to only look after personal self and the worth.
Talking about Ukraine's sports, maybe football is what would come up first, with respect to popularity, I dont know much about it, maybe you could say better.
Good resistance with the words..
Let's all hope that Ukraine will be able to compete in the world cup! Cant even begin to imagine how it must be to go overnight from sportsmen to soldier!
Its crazy isn't it. And a lot of their national team plays either in Russia or the Ukraine so thats going to throw things around a bit
Shevy was such a spectacular striker honestly . His days in Milan were filled with awesomeness, such a lethal striker . My first time ever seeing him play was during the 02/03 CL final between Ac Milan and Juve , memories ..
Agreed he was absolutely devastating when in form. I remember him at AC Milan. Unfortunately didn't live up to expectation at Chelsea but this goal here was something else
him not replicating his form from Milan at Chelsea still remains a mystery to me . It is what it is anyway .. I remember this goal from this clip, that’s what Andriy is capable of doing!
I don’t honestly remember it but then maybe I have selective memory when it comes to goals against us.
TBH I remember him better when he was at Milan. Probably the best striker in the world at that point