News As Of October 9th, 2006

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SHEVCHENKO SET FOR UKRAINE RETURN

Andriy Shevchenko has returned to training with Ukraine and is expected to take his place in the starting line-up for Wednesday's Euro 2008 Group B qualifier against Scotland in Kiev.

The Chelsea striker missed his country's 2-0 defeat to Italy on Saturday with a virus but he took part in a practice session with the rest of the squad on Monday evening and should make the Scotland game.

However, the Ukrainians will be without Shevchenko's fellow forward Oleksiy Byelik, who has been withdrawn after injuring his leg during the match in Rome, while defender Oleh Romanchuk (virus) is also sidelined.

Midfielder Anatoliy Tymoschuk took a knock on Saturday but he is likely to be fit for Wednesday while Andriy Gusin, who missed the Italy game through injury, is back in training and should be available.

Volodymyr Yezerskyi picked up his second yellow card in qualification in the clash with the Italians and is suspended

Ukraine's UMC stops providing NMT-450 mobile services

KIEV, Oct 9 (Prime-Tass) -- Ukraine's second largest mobile operator Ukrainian Mobile Communications, or UMC, has ceased providing mobile services in the NMT-450 standard, the company said in a press release Monday.

The move follows the Ukrainian government's ruling on June 9 to classify the standard as outdated and to force operators to stop providing NMT-450 services in the country, UMC said.

Earlier this year the company obtained a CDMA-450 mobile license that allows offering mobile and high-speed data transfer services in the same frequency range as NMT-450.

UMC is currently holding a tender to buy CDMA-450 equipment and plans to start testing CDMA-450 services by the end of the year, UMC said.

The company earlier offered its NMT-450 subscribers to switch to the company's GSM services retaining their phone numbers.

Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems, or MTS, owns UMC. The Ukrainian company's network covers more than 87% of Ukraine's territory, which is inhabited by 93% of the country's population.

UMC's subscriber base totaled 15.5 million users as of July 31, or 16.3% up since January 1 and 52.6% up on the year, according to the company's earlier reports.

Italy 2 - 0 Ukraine

Scorers: Oddo (71) pen, Toni (79)

FOLLOWING in the footsteps of Marcello Lippi as coach of Italy was never likely to be easy for Roberto Donadoni.
After lifting the World Cup in Berlin in July, the only way was down for the Azzurri and wily Lippi realised as much, taking the prudent decision to stand down from his role. Combine that with the continuing fall-out from "Moggipoli" - the match-fixing scandal which engulfed calcio in Italy - and a tough qualifying group and whoever fulfilled the vacancy left by not only Lippi's coaching skills but also his personality was likely to be in for a tricky introduction.
That the void was filled by Donadoni, a man with only a short - if successful - spell at Livorno adorning his coaching cv came as a surprise, even amid a summer as tumultuous as the one that the Italians have experienced. And until Saturday evening, his tenure seemed set to be a short one, with the Italian sports press already questioning his appointment.
However, a 2-0 victory over a combative Ukraine side who were ultimately impotent in attack ensured a first win since the final in July and eased the growing pressure on Donadoni after a draw with Lithuania and a comprehensive loss to the French in Paris in their opening two Group B fixtures.
It took 71 fraught minutes, though, before the hosts finally managed to puncture the solid resistance of the Ukrainian defence and the tension around the Rome arena. Even then, it took a spot-kick from Massimo Oddo to do so but it settled the nerves and Luca Toni's goal eight minutes later secured a vital three points in the quest to catch Scotland.
Despite finding themselves a staggering five points adrift of Walter Smith's side after three matches, the world champions appear relatively relaxed about their qualification prospects. And given that there are still nine group game remaining, that attitude is understandable.
Donadoni led the bullish chatter, insisting the nature of Group B was such that several teams would take points from each other. "I saw a great team spirit out there and the squad has character," he said.
"We weren't great in certain situations but we never stopped trying, never stopped fighting.
"It was the game we expected - tough and against a side that didn't do us any favours, but the players always believed in this result. We knew how to soak up pressure, even though Ukraine were only dangerous from distance and with set-pieces. In open play they never once got one-on-one in front of our keeper which was testament to the way we defended.
"Our path to Euro 2008 is a difficult one, but France lost in Scotland, proving it is a tough group. We have to pick up points wherever we can."
That continues in Tbilisi on Wednesday against Georgia and perhaps Donadoni will not be overly distressed by playing in Eastern Europe given the jeering that met his arrival in the stadium on Saturday night.
It was the first time since 2001 that the national side had played in the Olimpico and of the 60,000 spectators who were in attendance - including SFA scout Bobby Williamson - a section did make their feelings known about the slow start to the campaign. That seemed to affect the side, with a tentativeness evident in their play.
Indeed, their back four were breached on several occasions by a side missing both Andriy Shevchenko and Sergei Rebrov, and were indebted to Gigi Buffon for a string of saves.
The custodian, who proved his status as the best in the world in the summer, has stuck with Juventus despite their demotion to Serie B and seems torelish the opportunity to play in internationals even more.
He ensured the first clean sheet of Donadoni's tenure and was well aware of it's import. "I just did what I had to," Buffon said. "We knew it was going to be tough. It was a difficult match and if we hadn't won this time, it would have been a very negative result."
Had Oleg Blokhin been able to select his main two strikers, though, it could well have been different. Rebrov's ankle injury is a concern for Scotland's visit to Kiev while Shevchenko's ongoing troubles with a virus also threaten his participation in midweek, but without them, the Ukrainians look alarmingly inadequate in front of goal.
Anatoly Timoshchyuk, who Celtic were interested in during the summer, came close on two occasions, as did Oleg Gusev, but, in truth, any impression on the scoreboard would have been a little unjust.
Donadoni has bought himself time, but after their poor start in the group of death, a crisis is but one game away.

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Now, Please Reply

• Do you think Shevchenko likes Italy more since it is paying him?
• Do you find the mobile article as an investment or loss?
• I missed out on the soccer game and did not post an article about it untill not. This one is long. Anybody want to fill people in on importand events?