Ukraine banking on Shevchenko, says Voronin

Andriy Voronin says his old mate Steven Gerrard is one of the top players in Europe — and claims Ukraine need their own captain Andriy Shevchenko to be fit if Ukraine are to have any chance of beating England tomorrow.

Shevchenko is a major doubt for the crunch clash in Donetsk, having missed training last night with a knee injury, and a Ukraine official rated the country’s top scorer and national hero as doubtful.

Ukraine need to beat England to stay in the tournament they are co-hosting with Poland, who went out on Saturday. And former Liverpool midfielder Voronin knows how tough it will be against Gerrard and his England team-mates, who only need a draw to go through to the knockout stage.

“Steven Gerrard is one of the best players in Europe and one of the best players in the tournament and I will be very happy to see him on Tuesday,” he said.

“We need to win if we want to go to the quarter-final so we will try to do everything we can. I don’t know if Sheva will play but he has two days to be ready so we hope he can play. He is such an important player in every game for us, so everybody hopes he will come back.

“This is the biggest game in Ukraine’s history, there is still a little chance we can get to the quarter final and we will do everything to be there. It is very important not just for us players but the whole country.

“We know how important it is we don’t want to end up like Poland and go further. When we played against Sweden the whole country celebrated and it was an amazing atmosphere and we want the same thing after the game against England.”

Ukraine have never won in Donetsk, but they beat Sweden convincingly in Kiev last week before losing to France on Friday. “England is a very strong team but if we play how we did against Sweden then we have a chance,” added Voronin.

“England had a difficult game against Sweden but we know Rooney will be playing against us and he is a very important player for England.”

Like the Ukraine, England have an injury concern ahead of tomorrow’s clash.

Theo Walcott is a doubt after he pulled out of training yesterday following “a tightness in his hamstring”.

Manager Roy Hodgson confirmed the news yesterday and whilst it is not thought the damage is too serious, it may mean Walcott is not available to face the co-hosts.

“Unfortunately he had a slight setback in training,” Hodgson said. “Whether he is a real contender for a starting position will depend upon what the medical people can tell me and how much guarantee they can give me that if I do start him he won’t be leaving the field after five minutes, forcing us to have 13 men rather than the 14 I would rather count on.”