Ukraine take shoot-out route to Cyprus success

UEFA EURO 2012 co-hosts Ukraine won the Cyprus Tournament after successive penalty shoot-out victories against Romania and Sweden.

Sweden took second place in the four-nation competition, while Romania overcame hosts Cyprus – also on spot kicks – to claim third. In Wednesday's final in Nicosia, Johan Elmander fired Sweden into an early lead after collecting Zlatan Ibrahimović's chested pass, but Ukraine hit back soon after when Marko Dević tucked in a penalty after being upended by goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson.

Erik Hamrén's side enjoyed the majority of the chances thereafter but failed to convert any of them. They were made to rue such profligacy when the game ended all square, going down 5-4 on penalties with Emir Bajrami missing the decisive kick.

The day before, Yuriy Kalitvintsev's side had drawn 2-2 against Romania in Paralimni. All the scoring was completed before half-time with Yaroslav Rakitskiy and Artem Milevskiy giving Ukraine the early advantage before Dan Alexa struck twice. Not for the last time in the tournament, penalties would decide the outcome with substitute goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy saving twice to ensure Ukraine victory.

Three out of the four games were decided by spot kicks, with the sole outright success coming for Sweden against Cyprus – a 2-0 win in the first set of fixtures. Both sides would come unstuck in shoot-outs on Wednesday, though, with the hosts drawing 1-1 with Romania before going down 5-4 in the ensuing penalty competition.