Ukraine players recovering from mystery bug
Reuters - Wednesday 06 June 2012, 11:53
Ukraine expect all of their players
struck down by a mystery stomach bug to be fit for the co-hosts
opening game at Euro 2012 against Sweden on Monday, the national
team spokesman said.
The illness swept through the squad on Tuesday and almost
led to the cancellation of last night's 2-0 friendly defeat
against Turkey but team spokesman Oleksander Glyvinsky said the
affected players were now on the road to recovery.
"They were out running this morning, so we would expect
that they will all be fine for the opening game against Sweden,"
he told Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
Ukraine's team doctor Leonid Myronov told the Sport Express
newspaper that the first symptoms occurred on Monday afternoon
when the team masseur felt ill.
"He could barely finish his work with the team. At 4am [on
Tuesday] Denys Garmash came to me with the same trouble.
"A bit later Taras Mykhalyk, Andriy Voronin, Artem Milevsky,
Andriy Shevchenko and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk (pictured) all complained of
feeling indisposed," he said.
Midfielder Garmash was included in the starting lineup
against Turkey despite his illness, desperate to prove himself
after being dropped from friendlies against Estonia and Austria.
"He was in the roughest condition, he was vomiting
violently and we had to try to clean his stomach using all
available methods of detox. He was extremely eager to play and
said before the game he felt OK," added Myronov.
Ukraine, who are co-hosting the finals with Poland, suffered
a second successive friendly defeat in the loss to Turkey after
a 3-2 reverse against Austria last Friday.
After kicking off their campaign against the Swedes at the
Olympic Stadium in Kiev, they face France and England in Group
D.