Pirès silences Donetsk media

Local journalists in Donetsk have been receiving some stern footballing lessons from their French and English counterparts, but with a number of former senior internationals being fielded against them, that is no great surprise.

With Ukrainian reporters enjoying the presence of the world's media in the mining region, it seemed like a great idea to set up a series of friendly games against their French and English counterparts at the finals. However, the matches played at the home of local second division side FC Olimpik Donetsk  proved to be somewhat one-sided – no great shock given the personnel involved.

The France team included, for starters, the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO 2000 winner Robert Pirès, now working as a pundit on French television. At 38, he has not lost his touch – he scored two and set up four more in a 12-4 win against the Ukrainians (in which 50-year-old OGC Nice coach Claude Puel hit a hat-trick), having laid on five more assists in a 6-1 victory against England.

"Ukraine have a good team, but of course we are much stronger," said Pirès, putting false modesty aside. "I think everyone has enjoyed this opportunity to play, and that is the meaning of friendlies like this."

Ukraine might have called on current international Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, who has worked as a TV commentator, but found that the FC Bayern München midfielder was somewhat unwilling to take time out from his day job during the group stage. As it was, they could call on no star turns in their 3-0 defeat by England, in which 1990 World Cup semi-finalist Chris Waddle scored the opening goal, with former Liverpool FC and Aston Villa FC forward Stan Collymore proving more than decent as a playmaker.

"Unfortunately, we haven't had a lot of opportunities to play together on such a big pitch," said Ukraine goalkeeper Denys Sobolev after his side's chastening experience. "And it would be nice to have been ten years younger."