Match № 18

The match № 18, group stage, fifth tournament day

UKRAINE – AZERBAIJAN 2:0 (1:0)

January 9th, 2013, Saint-Petersburg, Peterburgsky SCC, 500 spectators

Referees: Artyom Chistyakov, Igor Sukharyonok, Alexander Rodionov

Ukraine: Sarnavskii (c) (Chizhikov, 90), Tkachuk, Shevchuk, Tankovskii (Polegenko, 82), Lukanov, Gabelok (Kravchenko, 46; Kacharaba, 69), Radchenko (Zaviiskii, 90), Miranjan (Jaremchuk, 73), Chumak, Sizii (Jastrub, 88), Sobol

Head coach: Alexander Petrakov

Azerbaijan: Aliev (c), Mammadov Sh. (Talybov, 72), Guliev, Badalov, Abdeullazada (Mamedov, 83), Aleskerov, Diniyev (Nagiev, 88), Alieyev, Nasirli, Karaev (Rzayev, 46), Jamaladdinov

Head coach: Arif Asadov

Goals: Miranyan (20), Sizii (59)

Yellow cards: Diniyev (30), Karaev (30), Aleskerov (30), Radchenko (31), Nasirli (32), Lukanov (38), Kacharaba (90)

Red cards: Lukanov (63, 2nd yellow card)

Best players: Artur Miranjan, Shamil Jamaladdinov

After match comments

Head coach of the team Ukraine Alexander Petrakov:

– I've never seen such a powerful team of Azerbaijan, although we keep in touch, and so do the guys, and we once played together at a tournament in Astana. Once they won, today we. We were playing on counterattacks; a scored draw would have been OK for us. And the guys were patient, they strived. It was only our striker who let us down: he was sent off in the second half. Neither has Gabelok done his task. He's a very technical player, he plays good on easy balls, makes passes, but he failed to play tight and to tackle. At that he is the captain of Shakhtar Donetsk. I substituted him to Kravchenko who was today playing his best; unfortunately he's got injured.

Head coach of the team Azerbaijan Arif Asadov:

– If we wanted to get the winning place in the tournament, today we had to play as good as possible. So from the very beginning we tried to fix our position at the opponent's side of the field. We managed to do this but we forgot that Ukrainian players were good at free kicks. And that was the first goal we let it. We had to go forward, to change the score and try to win. But we couldn't do this. Though, knowing that our forwards were fast and had good skills, I asked them to act faster, to outplay the Ukrainian sportsmen at the penalty zone. But Ukrainian team didn't let them do this. And that's a pity. However, I wish all the good luck to the Ukrainian team.