Ukraine Advances to World Cup Quarter-Finals

Supporters of Ukraine’s soccer team around the world exuberantly celebrated Ukraine’s win over Switzerland in the World Cup match on June 26.

The victory paves the way for Ukraine  to advance to the quarter-finals on June 30 in Hamburg, where they will face Italy, who defeated Australia 1-0 with a penalty shot.

The Ukraine-Switzerland game ended with a 3-0 score for Ukraine earned in a penalty shoot-out, after 30 minutes of overtime failed to break the 0-0 draw.

Switzerland, a team that did not concede one goal during the World Cup, missed three spotkicks in the game, but Ukraine’s Artem Milevskiy, Serhiy Rebrov and Oleh Gusev put the ball into the net and sealed their side’s victory.

The first penalty shot for Ukraine, taken by Ukraine’s international soccer star Andriy Shevchenko, was stopped by Switzerland’s goalkeeper Pascual Zuberbuehler.

“Our goalkeeper has very strong nerves,” Ukraine's coach Oleh Blokhin said of Oleksander Shovkovsky.

In Toronto, soon after the game ended, cars festooned with Ukrainian flags cruised up and down Bloor Street, one of the city’s major arteries, grinding traffic to a halt, while fans lined the street. Fans noisily celebrating well into the evening.

In Kyiv, where it was nearly 1:00 a.m. local time when the match ended, team supporters erupted in celebration, spilling out of bars shouting “Ukraina!” and honking their horns. Thousands of fans poured onto the Maidan, Kyiv’s main square on Khreshchatyk Street, cheering wildly and waving flags.

In other cities and towns in Ukraine, the scenes were similar and equally joyous.

President Yushchenko congratulated the national soccer team on reaching the World Cup quarter-finals and said the Ukrainian players had showed the world they could fight and masterfully defend their goal.

The President thanked the players and coaches for the spectacle they presented to their fans. He added that their victories were a wonderful present to Ukrainians before the fifteenth anniversary of the country’s independence.