Sports / Soccer |
Henry and Shevchenko miss tussle for top spot(Reuters)Updated: 2007-05-31 17:19 PARIS, May 31 - Leading strikers Thierry Henry and Andriy Shevchenko will be missing from France's Euro 2008 qualifier at home to Ukraine on Saturday when both sides will be looking to take command of Group B. With both teams level with Scotland on 12 points at the head of the group, a win for either would put them top while the inactive Scots watch from the sidelines. The French are expecting to face a defensive Ukrainian team at the Stade de France and fear being caught out in a counter-attack. France have only managed to score one goal in three meetings with Ukraine, a last-gap Zinedine Zidane winner giving them a 1-0 victory in a Euro 2004 warm-up. "It is always difficult to play against very defensive teams. The risk is to get carried away and be surprised in a counter-attack," said coach Raymond Domenech. "In such a situation, you must not carry the ball, just pass it quickly. That is what is going to make the difference." Henry has been ruled out with a groin injury while David Trezeguet has been overlooked by Domenech, who is relying on Nicolas Anelka and Djibril Cisse for goals with uncapped Jimmy Briand an option from the bench. Midfielder and captain Patrick Vieira is also out through injury as well as right-back Willy Sagnol. Shevchenko is missing for Ukraine after undergoing hernia surgery earlier this month but that does not make Domenech any less wary of his opponents. "They will have a striker who will be out to prove that he can do as well as Shevchenko and who will be all the more motivated." Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin's attacking problems do not start and end with the unavailability of the talismanic Shevchenko. Also missing are Serhiy Rebrov and Artem Milevsky "while the other main striker, (Bayer Leverkusen's) Andriy Voronin, has been without match practice since the end of the Bundesliga season. That's almost three weeks," said Blokhin. Probable teams: France - 23-Gregory Coupet; 13-Francois Clerc, 15-Lilian Thuram, 5-William Gallas, 3-Eric Abidal; 6-Claude Makelele, 8-Jeremy Toulalan, 22-Franck Ribery, 10-Sidney Govou, 7-Florent Malouda; 39-Nicolas Anelka Ukraine: 1-Olexander Shovkovsky; 2-Andriy Nesmachny, 13-Dmytro Chigrinsky, 6-Andriy Rusol, 5-Volodymyr Yezersky; 9-Oleg Gusev, 17-Taras Mikhalik, 4-Anatoly Tymoshchyuk, 8-Oleg Shelayev, 19-Maxim Kalinichenko; 10-Andriy Voronin
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