Ten Ukraine players ill with stomach upset
Reuters - Tuesday 05 June 2012, 21:20
Ukraine have suffered a worrying illness
scare, just days before the Euro 2012 co-hosts play their
opening match against Sweden, with 10 players suffering from
stomach upset, coach Oleg Blokhin said after a 2-0 warm-up
defeat by Turkey on Tuesday.
Influential midfielder Anatoly Tymoshchuk is being treated
on a drip while striker Andriy Voronin is also ill.
"Tymoshchyk is still in bad condition, we have got him on a
drip. And this is not funny. We have to wait for the doctors'
verdict but the situation is far from funny," Blokhin told
reporters after the defeat in Ingolstadt, Germany.
"I do not know the reason for the illness because we all ate
different food. We have one week to recover... it's good that it
did not happen on June 11."
Ukraine, who suffered their second successive friendly loss
after a 3-2 defeat against Austria last Friday, begin their
Group D campaign against Sweden in Kiev on Monday.
Blokhin said defender Bohdan Butko and midfielder Denys
Garmash were also afflicted but were well enough to start
against Turkey.
"If Butko and Garmash refused to play I could have cancelled
the game because of a lack of players," he said.
Goals from Caner Erkin and Mustafa Pektemek were enough to
secure victory as Blokhin's hastily rearranged lineup failed to
gel.
Pektemek set up Erkin to score on the half-hour but Ukraine,
outplayed in the first half, improved after the break and Turkey
goalkeeper Mert Gunok was forced to parry Yaroslav Rakitsky's
header at full stretch.
Substitute Andriy Shevchenko then headed a clear chance wide
and also chipped against the crossbar.
Pektemek sealed victory for Turkey when he beat the offside
trap and lobbed keeper Andriy Pyatov on 69 minutes.