voldemort

Only Pride At Stake Here There are just a few matches to go in Group B, the one that was referred to as the Group of Death of these qualifiers from the beginning, but probably only the fans of Ukraine and Lithuania will be having their eyes on this one. For both teams, there is only pride at stake as they are both out of contention for a qualifying spot.
Nevertheless, Ukraine might yet have a say in who does qualify, as they will be facing France at home next Wednesday and if they win, Italy and Scotland will be through regardless of the result of the direct encounter in Glasgow, to be played a few hours earlier than this one.
The scenario is that if Scotland beat Italy, Ukraine need to beat France to “save” Italy after all, while if Italy win, Scotland would be out and Ukraine-France would become little more than a friendly. A draw in Scotland would mean France would be almost qualified anyway, though, as Italy have their last game at home against the Faroe Islands which will be a mere formality for the Azzurri.
Although Oleg Blokhin, Ukraine’s popular coach and former Golden Ball winner, announced he would leave after the recent 3-1 defeat in Scotland which meant Ukraine were out, he has not yet stepped down and will see out the team’s qualification campaign. After the loss in Glasgow, Ukraine put on an impressive display against the Faroe Islands at home, who were treated to a 5-0 beating in Kiev.
Considering the players at Ukraine’s disposal, they will probably be disappointed not to have made more of this qualifying campaign, especially after reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup on their first appearence in the tournament last year. While they were indeed placed in a very tough group, they were expected to be the main challengers to Italy and France, not Scotland.
In the end, Ukraine’s frailties away from home have cost them, as they failed to pick up any points from their travels to Italy, Scotland, or France, and were held to a fatal 1-1 draw in Georgia in one of their last matches.
Lithuania Keep Their Heads High
Even though Lithuania never looked like serious contenders in this Group B, nothing was expected of them, and they did give Italy a scare in their first match as they held the recently crowned World Champions to a 1-1 draw in Naples. If the Italians should end up getting knocked out, they will probably rue that result the most.
That was pretty much the highlight of their campaign, even though they always gave their opponents a hard time, never losing by more than two goals’ difference. Their only wins came against the two teams below them, Georgia and the Faroe Islands, who lost twice to Lithuania, albeit narrowly. In the last round Lituania even came close to holding France to a draw in Nantes before Thierry Henry scored two late goals (in the 80th and 81st minutes) to seal a crucial win for Les Bleus.
After this match against the Ukrainians, they will travel to Georgia in their final game, with that one probably determining who finishes fifth and sixth in the group.

FORM GUIDE
Lithuania
17/10 (Euro 2008 qual.): France-Lithuania 2-0
12/09 (Euro 2008 qual.): Lithuania-Faroe Islands 2-1
08/09 (Euro 2008 qual.): Scotland-Lithuania 3-1
06/06 (Euro 2008 qual.): Lithuania-Italy 0-2
02/06 (Euro 2008 qual.): Lithuania-Georgia 1-0
Ukraine
17/10 (Euro 2008 qual.): Ukraine-Faroe Islands 5-0
13/10 (Euro 2008 qual.): Scotland-Ukraine 3-1
12/09 (Euro 2008 qual.): Ukraine-Italy 1-2
08/06 (Euro 2008 qual.): Georgia-Ukraine 1-1
02/06 (Euro 2008 qual.): France-Ukraine 2-0

TEAM NEWS
Lithuania
Right-back Deividas Šemberas and Hearts winger Deividas Česnauskis are out of action for the Lithuanians. Saulius Mikoliunas is serving his suspension after that dive against Scotland, and joining him in sanction are Ksanavicius and Kučys.
Possible formation (4-4-2): Karçemarskas; Klimaviçius, Dedura, Skerla, Zvirgzdauskas; Kuçys, Ksanavicius, Kalonas, Morinas; Danilevicius, Jankauskas.
Ukraine
Defenders Olexander Kucher, Andriy Rusol, Andriy Nesmachniy and midfielder Maxym Kalynychenko are out injured.
Possible formation (4-4-2): Shovkovskiy; Yezerskiy, Grytsay, Chygrynskiy, Gai; Nazarenko, Tymoschuk, Gusev, Kalynychenko; Shevchenko, Voronin.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Edgaras Jankauskas (Lithuania)
This striker’s name might ring a bell with some football fans, as between 1999 and 2004 he played for such prestigious sides as Real Sociedad, Benfica, and Porto, winning the Champions League in 2004 with the Jose Mourinho-coached side. Since then the 32-year-old’s career has waned a little, and he’s scored just 11 goals over the last three years with sides like Nice, Kaunas, and Hearts. But he has nevertheless remained a mainstay with the Lithuanian national team.

Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine)
Ukraine’s greatest ever player will be easily the biggest star on the pitch, although he hasn’t been quite the same since joining Chelsea from AC Milan in 2006. It seems that after winning the Golden Ball in 2004, Shevchenko’s career already hit its peak and Chelsea might have decided to buy him at the wrong time. Still, the 31-year-old is always an exemplary captain for Ukraine, and over the last few years he has been the main reason they’ve been increasingly competitive.

PREDICTION
Lithuania-Ukraine 1-2

source:goal.com