Ukraine 1 Tunisia 0
Andriy Shevchenko kept his cool to secure Ukraine a place in the last 16 of the World Cup.
Chelsea's £30million signing from AC Milan scored from the spot to beat Tunisia and ensure his side took the runners-up spot in Group H behind Spain.
Tunisia, hampered by the sending off of Zied Jaziri in the last minute of the first half, never looked likely to cause an upset.
It was an unexceptional but functional performance by Oleg Blokhin's Ukraine side with the emphasis very much on keeping out the Tunisians - and in this respect they succeeded.
As they showed in their opening match of the group against Spain however, too often Ukraine look predictable and over-reliant on their captain Shevchenko and they seem unlikely to progress to the quarter-finals.
They were almost handed an early goal after an embarrassing slip by Radhi Jaidi, when the Bolton centre-back had a backheel intercepted by Andriy Voronin but the Bayer Leverkusen forward failed to take advantage.
Jaidi then made up for his blunder with a decent interception to prevent Shevchenko having a shooting chance.
Jaziri picked up his first booking by Paraguayan referee Carlos Amarilla for a blatant dive when challenged by Andriy Rusol, then Adel Chedli fired high from 30 yards.
Rangers midfielder Hamed Namouchi struck a direct free-kick on target but Oleksandr Shovkovskyi was able to make a comfortable save.
The first real chance fell Ukraine's way in the 20th minute when the ball broke to Anatoliy Tymoschuk and he tried to beat Ali Boumnijel with power instead of setting up a certain goal by passing to Shevchenko, and the Tunisian goalkeeper saved.
Shevchenko tried an audacious volley but did not connect properly, then the Ukraine skipper broke through on goal and only Jaidi's tackle stopped him opening the scoring.
Oleg Shelayev forced Boumnijel to parry his long-range dipping shot then Jaziri felled Tymoschuk from behind in the dying seconds of the half and was shown a second yellow followed by red by Amarilla - as Graham Poll might have said, show me the way, Amarilla.
Tunisia's 10 men however took the match to Ukraine in the second half but were unable to achieve the breakthrough.
Rusol picked up a booking which will see him miss the next match and from the free-kick Anis Ayari curled a shot onto the roof of the net.
Ukraine needed something to calm their nerves and Shevchenko provided it, nipping in to rob Jaidi in the penalty area and then having his heels clipped by Karim Haggui.
The Ukraine striker took the spot-kick himself and never looked like missing it, placing the penalty coolly to the keeper's left.
Ajax defender Hatem Trabelsi, the pick of the Tunisia side with his surging runs from left-back, threatened a late equaliser but could only head straight at the keeper and then shoot past the far post after a mazy dribble.
As the match drew to an end, Ukraine had several chances to extend their lead but Oleg Shelayev blasted over and Boumnijel made two one-on-one saves in consecutive minutes to deny Voronin, who also saw a shot deflected wide in the final minute.
Chelsea's £30million signing from AC Milan scored from the spot to beat Tunisia and ensure his side took the runners-up spot in Group H behind Spain.
Tunisia, hampered by the sending off of Zied Jaziri in the last minute of the first half, never looked likely to cause an upset.
It was an unexceptional but functional performance by Oleg Blokhin's Ukraine side with the emphasis very much on keeping out the Tunisians - and in this respect they succeeded.
As they showed in their opening match of the group against Spain however, too often Ukraine look predictable and over-reliant on their captain Shevchenko and they seem unlikely to progress to the quarter-finals.
They were almost handed an early goal after an embarrassing slip by Radhi Jaidi, when the Bolton centre-back had a backheel intercepted by Andriy Voronin but the Bayer Leverkusen forward failed to take advantage.
Jaidi then made up for his blunder with a decent interception to prevent Shevchenko having a shooting chance.
Jaziri picked up his first booking by Paraguayan referee Carlos Amarilla for a blatant dive when challenged by Andriy Rusol, then Adel Chedli fired high from 30 yards.
Rangers midfielder Hamed Namouchi struck a direct free-kick on target but Oleksandr Shovkovskyi was able to make a comfortable save.
The first real chance fell Ukraine's way in the 20th minute when the ball broke to Anatoliy Tymoschuk and he tried to beat Ali Boumnijel with power instead of setting up a certain goal by passing to Shevchenko, and the Tunisian goalkeeper saved.
Shevchenko tried an audacious volley but did not connect properly, then the Ukraine skipper broke through on goal and only Jaidi's tackle stopped him opening the scoring.
Oleg Shelayev forced Boumnijel to parry his long-range dipping shot then Jaziri felled Tymoschuk from behind in the dying seconds of the half and was shown a second yellow followed by red by Amarilla - as Graham Poll might have said, show me the way, Amarilla.
Tunisia's 10 men however took the match to Ukraine in the second half but were unable to achieve the breakthrough.
Rusol picked up a booking which will see him miss the next match and from the free-kick Anis Ayari curled a shot onto the roof of the net.
Ukraine needed something to calm their nerves and Shevchenko provided it, nipping in to rob Jaidi in the penalty area and then having his heels clipped by Karim Haggui.
The Ukraine striker took the spot-kick himself and never looked like missing it, placing the penalty coolly to the keeper's left.
Ajax defender Hatem Trabelsi, the pick of the Tunisia side with his surging runs from left-back, threatened a late equaliser but could only head straight at the keeper and then shoot past the far post after a mazy dribble.
As the match drew to an end, Ukraine had several chances to extend their lead but Oleg Shelayev blasted over and Boumnijel made two one-on-one saves in consecutive minutes to deny Voronin, who also saw a shot deflected wide in the final minute.
posted by dgarden at 8:24 am
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