Football. No result, will the game come?

The match with the Slovaks became the last before the game with the national team of France, which will take place on June 6 in Paris. In light of this event, the composition of the national team of Ukraine for the game with Slovakia was supposed to be a trial run. In principle, that is what happened. Oleh Blokhin embodied all his talk about "Dnipro" as the base team for the national team of Ukraine precisely in the game with the Slovaks. On the field of the "Dynamo" stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskyi, in the "blue-yellow" shirts, seven players from Dnipropetrovsk came out at once. However, it seems that Blokhin will not succeed in making "Dnipro" the base club. Of this wonderful seven, only Rotan, Shelayev, Nazarenko and Venhlynskyi justified the advances given. Rotan played especially well, and was without a doubt the best player in the Ukrainian team's lineup.

In general, the match with the Slovaks turned out to be not very spectacular for the spectators, and moreover, the dangerous moments over 90 minutes of play can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The first attack in the game succeeded for the guests, which ended with a header by Mikhalyk, after which the ball went not far from the post. The Ukrainians' counterattack caught the Slovak defense by surprise, and Venhlynskyi, who came out one-on-one with the goalkeeper, calmly beat Konig and opened the score in the game 1:0 in favor of the national team of Ukraine.

Closer to the end of the first half, Venhlynskyi could again come out face-to-face with the goalkeeper, but let the ball go too far. In the 39th minute of the match, instead of Oleh Husiev, who was having his worst match of the current season, Serhiy Rebrov came out. And perhaps there has been a lot of criticism directed at the Fenerbahce player lately, but one thing you cannot take away from him. Coming to the Ukrainian team, Rebrov "plows" the entire match, and the game with the Slovaks was no exception. In one moment, Serhiy could even have scored, but he shot from about 9 meters next to the post. The only pity is that Rebrov, who was a wonderful forward, has been made into a player of a more defensive than attacking nature...

The second half began more briskly than the first 45 minutes, and football became a bit more interesting. In the 58th and 59th minutes, Oleksandr Shovkovskyi saved the national team of Ukraine twice. In one episode, the Dynamo goalkeeper pulled a dangerous shot by Mikhalyk out of the corner, and in another he did not let the ball fly into the top corner of the goal after a shot from about 10 meters by Kisel. Despite everything, in the 65th minute the guests managed to equalize. In the 65th minute, after a corner kick, Yezerskyi and Rusol lost the battle to Varga, who finished off the cross, equalizing the score in the game - 1:1. A minute later, the Slovaks had a chance to take the lead. After a wonderful pass from the flank, Vittek shot at an empty goal from about 12 meters, but hit the crossbar...

As for the dangerous moments produced by the Ukrainians, there were almost none in the second 45 minutes. The main danger near the Slovak national team's goal came after two free kicks. In one of them, Tymoshchuk shot from about 23 meters right into the corner of the goal, but the goalkeeper saved his team. Closer to the end of the game, Kalinichenko also took a free kick, but the Spartak player's shot went next to the post. Oleksandr Kosyrin, who came on as a substitute instead of Venhlynskyi, did not add particular sharpness to the attacking actions, although he also tried...

Judging by the desire of many players to fight for a place in the national team of Ukraine's lineup, the team has prospects. All the more so, there are footballers who can and want to play in the Ukrainian national team. The thing is different: already in the fourth match, Blokhin and company are unable to mold something more or less resembling a team of like-minded people. Of course, at moments the national team of Ukraine demonstrates the football we all expect, but with these episodes alone it will not be possible to roll into the final part of the 2006 World Cup.

Friendly game.

Ukraine - Slovakia - 1:1 Goals: Venhlynskyi 13, Varga 65 UKRAINE: 1. Shovkovskyi, 2. Checher, 3. Radchenko, 4. Tymoshchuk, 5. Yezerskyi, 6. Rusol, 7. Rotan, 8. Rykun (Shelayev 46), 9. Nazarenko, 10. Husiev (Rebrov 39), 11. Venhlynskyi (Kosyrin 60). SLOVAKIA: 1. Konig, 2. Hreshko, 3. Hanek, 4. Kratokhvil (Reiter 60), 5. Varga, 6. Karkhan, 7. Zabavnik, 8. Nemet (Klimpl 86 (Urban 91)), 9. Mikhalyk, 10. Vittek (Davydovych 84), 11. Mintal (Kisel 46).