Ukraine's Shovkovskiy sidelined for EURO 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
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Ukraine have suffered another goalkeeping setback ahead of UEFA EURO 2012 after it was confirmed that Olexandr Shovkovskiy is to have shoulder surgery, ruling him out of the finals.
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UEFA EURO 2012 co-hosts Ukraine have been dealt a blow with the news that goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy is set to undergo shoulder surgery this week, a procedure which will rule the veteran out of this summer's tournament.
The player's club, FC Dynamo Kyiv, have announced that the 37-year-old will travel to Munich on Wednesday for an operation on the injury he sustained during the Bilo-Syni's 1-0 Ukrainian Premier League victory at FC Volyn Lutsk on 22 April.
"I will have surgery and then a period of rehabilitation instead of preparing for the EURO finals," said Shovkovskiy, who has been capped 92 times. "The most important thing now is to have successful surgery. In that case I will need about three months to recover."
Shovkovskiy's unavailability leaves Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin with a goalkeeping dilemma to overcome with the co-hosts' first Group C fixture, against Sweden, a little over a month away.
With Andriy Dykan continuing to recover from the head injury he sustained while playing for FC Spartak Moskva on 31 March, Blokhin is likely to turn to Andriy Pyatov (FC Shakhtar Donetsk), Maxym Koval (Dynamo) and Oleksandr Goryainov (FC Metalist Kharkiv) to fill the goalkeeping berths in his 23-man finals squad.
