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June 26, 2006

Ukraine beat Switzerland 3-0 in a penalty shootout to get to the quarter-finals of the 2006 Fifa World Cup after a goalless deadlock, Monday.

Both teams started the game knowing their round of sixteen opponents were not ranked in the Fifa top 10 and appeared determined not to make mistakes. Tackles went in quick and hard but no side took any risks to win the game.

The statistics suggest Switzerland had more shots but they arguably were the more defensive team as they had started with one forward, Alexander Frei, whereas the Ukraine had three.

Frei's single shot came from a first period freekick which shook Oleksandr Shovkovskyi's lintel. Ukraine's forward men amassed six shots; Andriy Shevchenko went closest on 20 minutes when his diving header came off the ground and onto the crossbar.

Ukraine did not play well and despite their more attack-minded formation were so wasteful with possession that they made statistically fewer chances than the Swiss with their 4-5-1 formation. Switzerland had 55 per cent of the ball in the game.

From a viewer's perspective the Mexican referee Benito Archundia added to a grotty fixture by being lenient with tough challenges. A game with 44 fouls - one every three minutes - might have been livened up with a few men sent off; instead it became a virtual black hole that sucked away two hours of primetime television in Europe.

The single yellow card was awarded on the hour to Tranquillo Barnetta for pushing a Ukrainian player as he ran toward the penalty area.

15 minutes each way for extra-time felt far too long; neither side attacked hard and in the second period there were no shots at all. Switzerland almost got one but Andriy Gusin blocked Marco Streller 12 yards from goal.

Ukraine took and missed the first penalty but won the shootout 3-0 after Artem Milevskiy scored first with a impudent chip down the middle. For the Swiss Barnetta hit the bar, and then Shovkovskyi made two saves low to his right and left to send Ukraine through to a quarter-final match against Italy.

Switzerland was eliminated from World Cup competition without having conceded a goal during the entire tournament (excluding penalty shootout goals), the first time this has happened in World Cup history.

• 1 Round of sixteen
• 2 Penalties
• 3 Formations
  • 3.1 Ukraine
  • 3.2 Switzerland
• 4 Officials
• 5 Related news
• 6 Sources

Round of sixteen

Match 54

Attendance: 45'000

Penalties

Notes are from the goalkeeper's view.

Formations

Ukraine