In Turkey, on Wednesday, November 17th, there were supposed to be two celebrations. The first was the end of the Muslim religious holiday - Ramadan, but the second - a victory over the Ukrainian national team - was not to be... If before the match with Turkey some Ukrainian fan had declared that the Ukrainian national team would defeat the Turks in Istanbul with a score of 3:0, he would have been called either a fervent supporter of the blue-and-yellows or mentally ill.
However, this is not a dream but reality. Having beaten the Turkish team in Istanbul, Blokhin's charges end 2004 as the sole leaders of Group 2. Moreover, they do so confidently, and so far Blokhin's promises have not diverged from deeds.
There was plenty of anxiety on the eve of the game with the Turks. First of all, it was connected with the injuries of Tymoshchuk, Venhlynskyi and Rotan. Checher, Zotov and Zakarlyuka added fuel to the fire, as they were expelled from the national team for violating discipline.
It is no secret either that Blokhin himself, in the game against Turkey, was counting primarily on not losing. True, the appearance on the field in blue-and-yellow shirts of three nominal forwards - Shevchenko, Vorobey and Voronin - spoke of something entirely different.
Let us give Blokhin his due - for the game against the Turkish team he chose the most optimal tactical option. Having saturated the midfield with players of a destructive type and having built a clear defensive game, the speedy Voronin, Vorobey and Shevchenko time and again left the hosts' defenders behind, fully utilizing fast counterattacks after long passes from their own half of the field.
Already in the 4th minute of the game, the Ukrainians' attack ended with a foul against Shevchenko, who struck the wall from a free kick. A minute later the Turks should have scored, but the Ukrainian goalkeeper intercepted Nihat's one-on-one exit against Shovkovskyi.
After failing to score, the Turkish national team players pressed more vigorously toward the Ukrainian goal, but mostly shot from distance and inaccurately at that. The fact that the Turkish national team has the biggest problems in defense was put into practice by Andriy Voronin. The Bayer forward received a heel pass from Vorobey at the corner of the penalty area and, having closed in on the goalkeeper, sent a pass to the 11-meter mark to Shevchenko, but the ball whistled past the Milan forward and reached Husiev, who with a shot from about 19 meters into the corner of the goal opens the scoring in the match - 0:1.
Eight (an auspicious number for the Ukrainian national team in this game) minutes later, Shevchenko already made the stadium rise in fury. And again the assistant was Voronin, who sent a pass to "Sheva," who, having entered the Turkish team's penalty area and with a shot into the far corner of the goal, makes the score 0:2. In the 23rd minute of the game, the Ukrainians could have finally buried the Turkish team's hopes for a positive result already in the first half, but Vorobey's pass to Shevchenko and Voronin was blocked by a defender.
The Turks never gave their answer to the two goals of the Ukrainian team in the first part of the match, as in general throughout the entire encounter. Shovkovskyi handled shots from distance without problems, and he also played very successfully on exits after numerous corners near our goal. The 35th minute became another unused opportunity for the Ukrainians to score. After a pass from their own half of the field, Voronin was already going one-on-one with Rüştü. The Ukrainian collided with the goalkeeper outside the penalty area and the goalkeeper fell, and Voronin, picking up the ball and shooting from about 20 meters into the empty goal, but hit the crossbar...
A little later, Karadeniz only miraculously failed to hit Shovkovskyi's goal, though he was shooting from an acute angle. Just before the whistle for the first 45 minutes, another counterattack by the Ukrainian team could have ended in a goal. Voronin and Vorobey played a "one-two" and the legionnaire from the German championship burst at speed into the hosts' penalty area, but his shot into the near corner was parried by Rüştü.
The second half took place with the global dominance of the Turkish national team. In the 47th minute, only Shovkovskyi's excellent reaction saved the Ukrainian national team from a goal after Karadeniz's shot from a few meters. True, there were not that many dangerous moments near the Ukrainian team's goal. The Turks, who were not allowed to play their short passing game and were left without space near the Ukrainians' penalty area, looked somewhat helpless and tried to score from medium distance, but their shots were prey for Shovkovskyi, or for the ball boys.
In the 60th minute, Blokhin surprised for the second time. True, this time with a substitution. Instead of the active Voronin, who played perhaps the best match of his career for the Ukrainian national team, Rykun came on. However, we must admit that Oleg Volodymyrovych did guess right with the substitution.
However, before the third goal into Rüştü's net, Shevchenko had another chance to score. After Rykun's pass, Shevchenko went one-on-one with the goalkeeper, beat him, but a moment before the shot, Rüştü still robbed the Ukrainian, however, he did so with a foul that the referee did not see. But Shevchenko did score his goal. In the 88th minute (about the magic number), Rykun crossed from the right post to Shevchenko, who with a shot in a fall makes the score 0:3. After that, bottles flew onto the field, of which there were especially many behind Shovkovskyi's goal, and one even reached the center of the field... So, a rout of the Turkish national team and the biggest victory of the blue-and-yellows over a team that is part of the elite of world football. By the way, in the 90th minute "Sheva" could have also completed a hat-trick. Seeing that Rüştü had come far out of his goal, the forward shot from about 45 meters, but Rüştü with his fingertips turned the ball from under the crossbar onto a corner. With this optimistic game, 2004 ended for the Ukrainian national team, and ahead is already February 9, 2005, when the Ukrainian national team will go to take on Albania.
Turkey - Ukraine - 0:3 Goals: Husiev 8, Shevchenko 16, 88 Turkey: Rüştü, Tolga, Servet (Şanlı 28), Emre, Ümit Özat, Okan, Nihat, Fatih, Karadeniz (Baştürk 54), Deniz, Hüseyin (Necati 66) Ukraine: Shovkovskyi, Yezerskyi, Rusol, Fedorov, Nesmachnyi, Husin, Shelayev, Husiev, Vorobey (Dmytrulin 75), Shevchenko (Nazarenko 90), Voronin (Rykun 61).
Tournament standings: 1. UKRAINE – 11 points (5 matches). 2. Denmark – 6 (4). 3. Turkey – 6 (5). 4. Albania – 6 (4). 5. Greece – 5 (4). 6. Georgia – 5 (4). 7. Kazakhstan – 0 (4).