Team spirit and Shevchenko made key contribution to Ukraine's victory over Sweden, say experts

The key factors of Ukraine's victory over Sweden in the sides' first group match of the Euro 2012 European Football Championship was the team spirit and leadership of the team captain Andriy Shevchenko, experts told Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.

"We saw two different halves of the match. In the first half, the football players were nervous, and they could not complete their attacks in the way they wanted to. Their actions were not consistent enough. Starting from the second half, we saw a different game, especially after the goal [against Ukraine] they sped up. Andriy Shevchenko played the key role to change the game. This was, probably, his best match after his return to Ukraine. But the whole team also played very well. They missed only one shot. And he [Shevchenko] was not the only one who created the goals," said the coach of the U-16youth team of Ukraine, a well-known defender of FC Dynamo Kyiv in the past, Oleksandr Holovko.

"The team won a deserved and qualified victory. First of all, I would like to focus on the team game and the team spirit. There is a leader in the team [Andriy Shevchenko], but all players showed excellent commitment. They should try to preserve this mood and believe in successful results in the matches versus France and England," the senior coach of the Dynamo football school for children (Kyiv), honored coach of Ukraine, Oleksandr Ischenko, said.

Former coach of the national team of Ukraine (2002-2003) Leonid Buriak stressed that the match between Ukraine and Sweden was one of the best games of Oleh Balokhin's team over the recent time.

"Defence had certain problems, but midfielders played well. Emotions and mood played the key role, the fans were the twelfth player and constantly sheered up the team," he said.

On June 11, Ukraine's team defeated Sweden 2-1 in the sides' first group match of Euro 2012 and became the leader of Group D.