Fuente : UEFA (English)
http://www.uefa.com/

FIFA World Cup: Ukraine pay the penalty

/noticias.info/ Ukraine 0-0 Israel (Israel win 5-3 on pens)
Israel will play Poland in the final of the third annual Valeriy Lobanovskiy memorial tournament after defeating hosts Ukraine on penalties following a 0-0 draw in Kiev.

Test of nerve
Oleg Blokhin's team will contest the third-place play-off against Serbia and Montenegro, the under-strength Ukrainians having finally succumbed to their more composed visitors 5-3 in a shoot-out.

Venhlinskiy denied
Despite the return of Serhiy Rebrov, Ukraine felt the absence of the unavailable Andriy Shevchenko and Andriy Voronin and struggled to impress in attack. Even so, it was Oleh Venhlinskiy who came closest to breaking the deadlock only for the late intervention of Israel defender Tal Ben Haim to deny him.

Resolute defence
Indeed, the Israelis – missing playmaker Yossi Benayoun but giving debuts to David Revivo, Salim Toema and Moshe Biton - defended resolutely. They were happy to sit back until the closing stages when some quick counterattacks culminated in Ukraine keeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy saving well from Abbass Swan from ten metres.

Keise clincher
After the 90 minutes ended goalless, Shovkovskiy was outdone by his opposite number Nir Davidovitch, and the latter's team-mates Shimon Gershon, Toema, Swan, Alon Harazi and Adoram Keise who all converted their kicks. Keise's penalty proved the winning one after Andriy Husin saw his effort come back off the crossbar. notas_de_prensa_archivo