Milevskyy the man for Ukraine

By Mark Chaplin at the Kleinfeld stadium

Reigning European Under-19 champions Italy have suffered a disappointing blow in their efforts to hold on to the trophy, a single-goal Group A defeat against Ukraine in Kriens tonight severely compromising their chances of reaching the closing stages of this year's competition.

Milevskyy winner
FC Dynamo Kyiv front-runner Artem Milevskyy grabbed the only goal of a tightly-contested game just after the hour to give the efficient and skilful Ukrainians a hard-earned win. Italy face a real battle to stay in the tournament. Qualification for next year's FIFA World Youth Championship as the third-placed team in their group might now be the Italians' only consolation from their final game against Belgium in Aarau on Sunday.

Changes made
Italian coach Paolo Berettini made two changes from the team that drew 1-1 with Switzerland on Tuesday, centre-back Andrea Masiello and midfield man Simone Bentivoglio replacing Michele Canini and Lorenzo Carotti. Meanwhile, Ukraine coach Pavlo Yakovenko bought in defender Maksym Trusevych and striker Oleksandr Sytnyk for Oleksandr Yatsenko and Oleksandr Aliyev after Tuesday's goalless stalemate with Belgium.

Galoppa denied
Italy were the first to show, midfield player Daniele Galoppa curling a 20-metre free-kick over the bar, but Ukraine soon retaliated in an end-to-end start, Italian goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano diving to save a low Milevskyy drive from long range. The Italians went close to breaking the early stalemate after 14 minutes, speedy forward Tonino Sorrentino stretching but failing to get a conclusive touch on Riccardo Montolivio's deft cross. At the other end, Konstyantyn Kravtchenko lashed wide and Sytnyk mis-kicked in a promising position.

Good work
The industrious Ukrainians began looking the more dangerous team as the interval approached, the strong Milevskyy driving a close-range effort across goal after good work by livewire right-winger Dmytro Vorobey, and half-time arrived with a tight game needing the fillip of a goal. It almost came for Italy immediately after the break, Sorrentino prodding just wide from Montolivio's low centre. Defender Andrea Coda then hammered a free-kick centimetres past the post, and Montolivio shot over.

Constant menace
Nevertheless, the small, rapid Vorobey remained a constant menace to Italy's defence, and he raced clear in 51 minutes after a sweet three-man move only for Viviano to block his fierce shot and foil Ukrainian hopes of taking the lead. The hour mark came with little to choose between two evenly-matched teams. But it was the more robust Ukrainians who finally broke through a minute afterwards.

Holders rattled
Milevskyy burst into the area, his shot was blocked by Viviano, and the ball looped into the air and into the net despite Devis Nossa's attempts to clear. The title-holders were rattled by the setback, substitute Aliyev driving forward to shoot just over the crossbar in another swift Ukrainian raid.

Vorobey impressive
The Italians almost achieved an equaliser on 77 minutes when Ukraine keeper Bohdan Shust made an excellent reflex save to deny substitute Liborio Bongiovanni, but the excellent Vorobey nearly punished Italy a second time when he fired across goal following a mazy run into the area.