Ukraine drop Voronin for play-off
Reuters - Tuesday 03 November 2009, 19:36
KIEV - Ukraine coach Olexiy Mikhailichenko dropped experienced Liverpool forward Andriy Voronin when he named his squad for this month's World Cup playoff against Greece on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old Anfield striker has been out of favour since criticising Mikhailichenko in the media after Ukraine's Group Six qualifier against Croatia in October 2008.
"I don't want to be called up if I'm not going to play," Voronin told local media after that game in Kharkiv.
Despite playing regularly for his club, Voronin has seen a drastic reduction in his playing time for the national side.
His last appearance was as a late substitute in Ukraine's 0-0 draw against Belarus in September.
He was then not included in the squad for Ukraine's final qualifier in Andorra in October with Mikhailichenko saying Voronin was less than 100 percent fit, without giving precise details. The striker also declined to comment on the matter.
Mikhailichenko called up four strikers - Andriy Shevchenko and Artem Milevskiy from Ukrainian champions Dynamo Kiev, as well as Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk pair, Volodymyr Homenyuk and Evgen Seleznev - for the two games against the Greeks.
The two teams first meet in Athens on November 14 before the return leg in Donetsk four days later.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Andriy Pyatov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Rustam Khudzhamov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Stanislav Bogush (Dynamo Kiev)
Defenders: Dmytro Chygrynskiy (Barcelona), Vitaliy Mandzyuk (Dynamo Kiev), Evgen Khacheridi (Dynamo Kiev), Vasyl Kobin (Shakhtar Donetsk), Yaroslav Rakytsky (Shakhtar Donetsk), Oleksander Kucher (Shakhtar Donetsk), Vyacheslav Shevchuk (Shakhtar Donetsk), Andriy Rusol (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Hryhoriy Yarmash (Vorskla Poltava)
Midfielders: Anatoly Tymoschuk (Bayern Munich), Olexiy Gay (Shakhtar Donetsk), Olexandr Aliev (Dynamo Kiev), Oleh Gusev (Dynamo Kiev), Andriy Yarmolenko (Dynamo Kiev), Taras Mykhalyk (Dynamo Kiev), Ruslan Rotan (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Igor Khydobiak (Karpaty Lviv)
Forwards: Andriy Shevchenko (Dynamo Kiev), Artem Milevskiy (Dynamo Kiev), Volodymyr Homenyuk (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Evgen Seleznev (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk)