Assistant coach Bal to stand in for Ukraine
Saturday, October 6, 2012
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Andriy Bal will lead Ukraine in their upcoming qualifiers versus Moldova and Montenegro after Oleh Blokhin, due to step down after the games, was admitted to hospital.
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Andriy Bal will take charge of Ukraine's forthcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Montenegro in place of Oleh Blokhin, who was admitted to hospital on Friday suffering from hypertension.
The Group H matches in Chisinau and Kyiv were due to be Blokhin's last at the helm of the national team following his decision last month to accept FC Dynamo Kyiv's offer to be their coach.
However, the 59-year-old will now spend the coming week recovering in hospital, meaning Bal, the UEFA EURO 2012 co-hosts' assistant coach, will be in the dugout on 12 and 16 October. Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU) president Anatoliy Konkov said: "I met Bal and his assistants and they said they would give their all to prepare the team in the best possible way."
Blokhin, who on Wednesday guided Dynamo to a 2-0 UEFA Champions League victory against GNK Dinamo Zagreb, will miss Sunday's game at FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk as the Bilo-Syni strive to reduce FC Shakhtar Donetsk's seven-point lead at the top of the Ukrainian table.
