Reuters Soccer Blog

Can Shakhtar Donetsk gatecrash western Europe’s party?

Shakhtar Donetsk’s impressive 3-2 win at AS Roma in their Champions League last 16, first leg match was perhaps overshadowed by Arsenal’s unlikely comeback against Barcelona on the same night, but it will have nonetheless reverberated around Europe.

It would be audacious to expect Shakhtar to appear in the final at Wembley in May, but the Ukrainian champions appear to have one foot in the last eight after a textbook display of counter-attacking football at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

It came after equally inspired performances in the group phase of the competition, where they finished top of their pool ahead of Arsenal to reach the knockout stage for the first time.

Shakhtar’s rise from relative obscurity started in 1996 when wealthy Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov became the club’s president, but they had to wait until 2002 to lift their first league title.

Years of investment and team-building quickly began to pay dividends as Shakhtar dismantled traditional rivals Dynamo Kiev as the country’s flag carrier in Europe, winning another three league titles in just four seasons before they captured the UEFA Cup in 2009.

Having won their fifth league title last season, Shakhtar look assured of adding a sixth as they enjoy the cushion of a whopping 12-point lead over Dynamo at the winter break, while breaking into Europe’s elite on a long-term basis is also a realistic possibility.

Unlike most eastern European clubs, Shakhtar are not forced to sell their most talented players to stay afloat and building the five-star Donbass Arena, which opened in 2009, epitomised their financial muscle and the ability to compete with more familiar Champions League names.

Euro 2012 qualifiers – live

We’re following all tonight’s Euro 2012 qualifiers live. Join us here for updates, comments and pix … and details of all the goals as they go in.

Euro 2012 qualifying draw throws up England v Wales

The Euro 2012 qualifying draw in Warsaw got off to a mixed start with a less than tuneful performance from a Polish boyband.

However, when we finally reached the main event, those famous coloured balls did not disappoint with Andriy Shevchenko (who surely should have been voting in Ukraine’s election) helping dish out some fabulous encounters like England v Wales. Germany, Turkey and Austria are in the same group while Denmark, Norway and Iceland will also all meet.

Here’s the full draw. What do you reckon? England in the group of death? Interestingly, Armenia were switched from the same group as Azerbaijan on political grounds.

Group A: Germany, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan

Group B: Russia, Slovakia, Ireland, Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra

Group C: Italy, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands

France break Irish hearts to seal World Cup slot

France ensured the likes of Franck Ribery, Karim Benzema and Thierry Henry will be at the World Cup in South Africa next year after winning through with a goal that has left Irish fans seething.

There was nothing wrong with the finish from William Gallas, but Thierry Henry admitted using his hand to keep the ball in play and commentators and Irish supporters are already talking of “The Hand of God II” and “The Hand of Henry” in reference to Diego Maradona in 1986.

“Yes, there is handball but I am not the referee,” Henry told reporters. “I’m in the box, there are two defenders in front of me. The ball bounced off my hand, the referee did not see it and I played on.”

Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni called the goal a “great mistake” by Swedish referee Martin Hansson but he chose not to accuse Henry of cheating.

“I told the referee that it is possible to make great mistakes,” Trapattoni told a new conference after the game at Stade de France. “It is a bitter evening.”

Trapattoni said he felt the referee should have talked to his assistants and to Henry before awarding the goal.

World Cup live blog

From 1730 GMT.************

Lesser lights may yet shine at this World Cup

Depending on the results of the second legs of the UEFA World Cup playoffs on Wednesday, next year’s tournament in South Africa could contain rather too many of football’s lesser lights for some fans out there.

Portugal, France and Russia, could all perish and the tournament, which is supposed to be the pinnacle of the game, could have a cast list including Honduras, New Zealand, North Korea, Slovakia, Bosnia and Slovenia.

Some fear the absence of world stars like Portugal’s Real Madrid playmaker Cristiano Ronaldo, Russia’s magician Andrei Arshavin and France’s mercurial Frank Ribery would de-value the tournament.

But would it be such a bad thing?

Some would suggest that Europe’s top nations should be guaranteed entry into the World Cup finals with a few token places for the also-rans.

But where would that leave the likes of Bosnia? Who could deny them their place on the biggest stage for the first time if they overturn a 1-0 deficit against Portugal in Zenica.

While that would leave Ronaldo kicking his heels on some beach next year, it would open the way for new names. Bosnia striker Edin Dzeko may not have much of a profile yet outside his home country and the Bundesliga where he plays, but after scoring 10 times in qualifying few would begrudge him his chance.

Usual suspects will be at the World Cup, but would we have missed them?

So now we know which European teams are in the World Cup playoffs and we have a pretty good idea of the seedings, though FIFA’s updated rankings out at the end of the week will provide confirmation ahead of Monday’s draw.

It looks like Russia, France, Greece and Portugal will be the seeded teams with Ukraine, Ireland, Bosnia and Slovenia playing them. After Argentina’s qualification in the final match against Uruguay, it looks increasingly likely that all the big teams will be there in South Africa.

But four days on from my blog on Sunday, the decision to seed the Euroepan teams in the qualifiers doesn’t look any fairer.

Doctor Mario, in a comment on that blog, said seeding was a reward for credits earned but it will take a long time for a new nation like Slovenia to earn enough credits to start a qualifying campaign on a level playing field.

That’s one of the reasons why it tends to be the same old faces making it to the finals. If you are Italy, France, Germany or Spain you know that in your qualifying group will have no other “elite team”, just a couple of second or third tier nations and some also-rans.

If you are someone like Wales, Israel or Finland you know you will have to pull off a series of upset wins even to finish second in your group. And if you do it your reward is to be seeded in the bottom half again in the playoffs.

You can still watch Ukraine v England on TV … you just have to come to Croatia

A quick look around the blogosphere suggests that for many England fans the idea of watching the World Cup qualifier against Ukraine in front of a computer screen at the mercy of an ISP, or at a crammed cinema, sounds about as appealing as making the long trip to Dnipropetrovsk.

But do not despair, England fans, because there is an option for those of you determined to watch it on telly.

Croatia’s HRT 2 state television, also viewable in Serbia on cable, is showing the game live, so here is your chance to combine a bit of light football watching with an autumn dip in the Adriatic somewhere along Croatia’s mesmerising coast, or an evening spent sampling Belgrade’s unique and vibrant nightlife, epitomised by boat-bars and clubs along the Danube.

And fear not that the Croatian faithful might have a go at you after their team’s recent 5-1 drubbing at Wembley. They will be praying for an England win that would leave their boys in the driving seat for a runners-up spot in Group Six.

PHOTO: A subscription page is shown on a laptop computer at a cafe in central London October 5, 2009. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Will UEFA be haunted for good by Euro 2012?

Yet again I find myself asking the question: why did UEFA award Euro 2012 to Poland and Ukraine?

Questions marks have again been raised over the decision by European soccer’s governing body after it was yet again forced to set another deadline for Ukraine to meet is criteria for a number of its venues.

So has anything changed since I wrote a blog from the UEFA crunch meeting in Bordeaux last September when both countries were given a final warning over their lacklustre preparations for European soccer’s top event?

Poland seems to have made steady progress on its stadiums at least but UEFA sources say the related infastructure such as transport links and accommodation are still questionable.

Ukraine, reeling from the impact of the worst financial crisis in nearly 80 years, is still way behind and has been warned they risk losing the right to stage the final in Kiev if they don’t get their act together before November 30.

How many warnings does a country need before delivering upon its promises? Does UEFA have a plan B if the Kiev government fails to meet the deadline?

Eastern Europe’s UEFA Cup love affair still burning

What have the UEFA Cup and the Eurovision song contest got in common?

A) Some people don’t take them as seriously as they could.

B) They give lesser known participants the chance to appear on prime-time TV.

C) East European countries have started to dominate them

And the answer, I’m starting to think, is C … because of A and B.

This year will be the third year in the past six that an ex-Soviet team plays in the UEFA Cup final after victories by Russian sides Zenit St Petersburg last year and CSKA Moscow in 2005.