Striker Andriy Shevchenko is set to fly to Belgium for additional medical tests this week as the Ukraine squad touches down in the Turkish town of Belek to continue pre-tournament preparations.
Ukraine's preparations for their maiden FIFA World Cup appearance have been dealt a significant blow after FC Dynamo Kyiv defender Serhiy Fedorov was ruled out of the tournament with a hip injury.
Coach Oleh Blokhin has not yet decided whether or not to replace Fedorov but as his party are currently down to 18 players, he may chose to. Shevchenko is still in Italy recovering from injury, while Dmytro Chigrinskiy, Andriy Pyatov and Artem Milevskiy are on duty with the Ukraine Under-21 side.
The centreback has been a crucial presence in qualifying, and the experience of his 12 years in top-flight football was expected to provide a key presence in the Ukraine camp. However, Dynamo coach Anatoliy Demyanenko has confirmed Fedorov will be out for three months with a hip injury, ruling him out of the reckoning for Germany.
Story of the World Cup
England 1966: In 1966 it was England's turn to host the World Cup. The FA organized the tournament in an exemplary manner and the stadiums used were probably the best overall selection of stadiums used for any World Cup celebration upto that date. The attendance figures were amongst the best ever recorded. But the teams of this 1966 tournament failed to produce the excitement and skills of some of the past great teams.
The final: Host nation England met West Germany for this eighth World Cup final in 1966. It was to be perhaps the most dramatic of them all. England's victory was sealed in the dying seconds of the game when Geoff Hurst ran away from the German defence and completed his hat-trick to make the score 4-2. Thus, England became the third team to win the World Cup on home soil.
Fact-o-file:
Sending offs/Red Cards in World Cups:
| Year | Host | Games | Sendings off | Average |
| 1930 | Uruguay | 18 | 1 | 0.05 |
| 1934 | Italy | 17 | 1 | 0.05 |
| 1938 | France | 18 | 4 | 0.22 |
| 1950 | Brasil | 22 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 1954 | Switzerland | 26 | 3 | 0.11 |
| 1958 | Sweden | 35 | 3 | 0.08 |
| 1962 | Chile | 32 | 6 | 0.19 |
| 1966 | England | 32 | 5 | 0.16 |
| 1970 | Mexico | 32 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 1974 | West Germany | 38 | 5 | 0.13 |
| 1978 | Argentina | 38 | 3 | 0. 08 |
| 1982 | Spain | 52 | 5 | 0.10 |
| 1986 | Mexico | 52 | 8 | 0.15 |
| 1990 | Italy | 52 | 16 | 0. 31 |
| 1994 | USA | 52 | 15 | 0.29 |
| 1998 | France | 64 | 22 | 0.34 |
| 2002 | Korea, Japan | 64 | 17 | 0.27 |
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