14/8/13 Ukraine 2 Israel 0




In the morning we had been on the beach on another scorching day in Kyiv, but as the day progressed the clouds started to gather and it looked like we might get some rain. However, when we met Sid at Krila it was still sunny and it looked like we might get away without getting a soaking. How wrong we were though. The skies opened and we were liked drowned rats by the time we got there.

Out on the pitch there was clearly a gulf in the difference in class between the two teams. Ukraine were playing a neat passing game and the Israelis were struggling to match them. Ukraine's next game will be against England in a crucial World Cup qualifier, it probably will be one of the best chances they will have of getting one over on England after their disappointment in the Euros. They will have to be less wasteful in front of goal though as they should have had a clear lead when Rotan broke the deadlock on 29 minutes.

It is was just a friendly though and the frequent outbreaks of torrential rain weren't exactly helping. We were reminded of the fact that it was a friendly as the second half started, as Ukraine took off most of their more established players. Off went Tymoshchuk, Devic and the rising star, Konoplyanka to be replaced by a fresher bunch of faces. Things didn't change that much though as Ukraine continued to pass Israel to death. Nevertheless, a well worked move by the visitors on 65 minutes when they seemed to have cleverly scored, but the linesman's flag was up. This seemed to wake the hosts up and after a wave of attacks that were as relentless as the rain Selezinov scored on 71 to give Ukraine a two goal lead. The foot was then taken off the gas and Ukraine closed out the game to register a 2-0 win.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Boca Juniors shirt history

Image
The first game that I will be at on Sunday sees Boca Juniors take on Paris Saint Germain. I have always wanted to go and see Boca Juniors and I can't see me getting over to Argentina any time in the near future, so I am going to have to make do with seeing them in North London. On my travels I have met plenty of Boca fans, but funnily enough they have all been Russian or Ukrainian. I am a bit disappointed that Martin Palermo has now retired, but I am still looking forward to it. Obviously to do justice to the club history of Boca Juniors I'd probably have to write a book, so here's a quick history of their kit and colours instead. When Boca were formed in 1905 they originally played in pink, but obviously came round to thinking that this was a bad idea and changed to a light blue colour later in the year. They didn't stick with this shirt for very long either and for the 3rd time in a year decided to change the shirt colour, this time to black and white stripes. The fol
Read more

shirt history AS Roma

Image
Roma were the club that I followed in Italy and although they are most famous for wearing red and yellow, hence the nickname giallo rosso the club didn't always wear those colours. AS Roma were formed in 1927 by a merger between SS Alba-Audace and Fortitudo-Pro Roma SGS with Italo Foschi being the driving force behind the merger. AS Roma could also trace their lineage back to FBC Roma who were formed in 1901 and who wore red and yellow, but the first shirts they wore took the red, white and blue of Fortitudo-Pro Roma. Roma soon established themselves at the top table of Italian football and in 1931 finished runners up to Juventus and by now had settled on red and yellow as their colours. However, you'll have to take my word for it because the picture below shows Attilio Ferraris in black and white. In 1942 Roma went one better and won their first Scudetto with Amadeo Amadei scoring 18 goals to help them secure the title. Pictured below he is wearing the change shirt with a repl
Read more

Sud Tribune, Dortmund

Image
The Sud Tribune at Westfalen is famed for the noise and support that it gives the BVB team. They started up early and carried on until well after the match had finished despite the poor result. At the end the team looked suitably disappointed when they thanked the fans. Nobody apart from the Hannover fans probably expected 96 to win. Hopefully better times for the Sud Tribune are just around the corner.
Read more