The football from Ukraine has had its share of ups and downs. They were defeated at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany by Italy after making it into the ranks of the Last 16. Members of FIFA since 1992, the team has 
missed France 1998 and Korea/Japan 2002 by a couple of games and came in fourth at UEFA Euro 2008 behind France, Italy and coming in fourth place. Andriv Shevchenko, the team’s captain is hoping to keep history from repeating itself and wants to leas his team to South Africa 2010.
Ukraine’s strike is a born leader and is physically prowess on the pitch. He trains harder than most football players in the world and he’s hoping the combination of new coach Alexi Mikhailichenko, and players Andriy Voronin, Anatoliy Timoschuk, and Oleksandr Shovkovskyi will work well enough to lead them there with blazing glory. Shevchenko, the ‘undisputed leader’ of the team and its heart and soul, has gone into hard training to do so.
“I need to work hard to get back to where I was before,” says Shevchenko, knowing that he faces a fight to win a place in the starting eleven teams. “I’m putting my heart and soul into it but there are still a lot of instinctive aspects of my game that I need to get back. I don’t know if I can reach the same standard I was at in 2005 but I’m convinced I can still perform at the very highest level. I’m still hungry and I always want to play and run.”
With a Group 6 encounter coming on Saturday, October 11, 2008, everyone is hoping a win for the team will give them their FIFA World Cup finals run and piece of the football pie.
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