As the ball turns...

At the beginning of Ukraine's world cup experiences... They were creamed by Spain; 4 to 0.

Many theories were put forth on why Ukraine Lost to Spain. Some of them were very amusing.

Then Ukraine won 3 matches in a row.

• Ukraine beat Saudi Arabia 4 to 0.



• 
  Ukraine beat Tunisia 1 to 0.




• Ukraine beat Switzerland 3 to 0.

Ukraine won over Switzerland in a shoot out.

Ukraine's penalties win over Switzerland followed one of the most unambitious two hours of World Cup history.

From: Goals in short supply at World Cup

They played Italy on Friday and lost 0 to 3.

I noticed that the media tended to be very insulting in almost every article. It wasn't just one newspaper doing it. I have an explanation now. The Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin, treated the media badly and they returned the favor.

At World Cup press conferences it is the team's responsibility to provide an English-language translator. The Ukrainian team never provided one and Blokhin didn't see any reason to do so. Seems to have ticked the reporters off.

Ukraine's peculiar and surprisingly successful World Cup campaign is finally over. They went down swinging.

Europe's only debutant to the tournament, the Ukrainians insulted their hosts, picked fights with the media, declared FIFA a poorly-run organization, and ignored their fans. The soccer they showed was, arguably, the World Cup's least attractive.

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Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin, a former Soviet soccer great, made clear from the outset he had little interest in entertaining fans.

"Look at the scoreboard," Blokhin snapped, when asked his response to charges Ukraine's football style was as dull.


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Hard, cold, cash was the main motivator of the Ukrainian effort, with the Federation of Football of Ukraine (FFU) guaranteeing players whopping bonuses for winning every game past group.

Each member of the side, by the time of their defeat by Italy, will be due some 350,000 euros (US$438,000)



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From: World Cup: Ukrainians go down swinging against Italy

My friend Jannie shared her point of view on the match. She got to see it. I was just followed along as I could from the World Cup web site. She thought the Italian goal keeper was amazing. Poor Ukraine couldn't score at all.