Ukraine thrash Andorra away to seal playoff spot

Published: 6:44AM Thursday October 15, 2009 Source: Reuters

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Ukraine secured a place in the playoffs for the 2010 World Cup finals when Andriy Shevchenko scored to set up a 6-0 thrashing of Andorra on Thursday.

England had already qualified for South Africa as Group Six winners and Ukraine sealed second place with 21 points from 10 matches, one ahead of Croatia who won 2-1 in Kazakhstan. Andorra finished bottom of the group with 10 defeats in a row.

Former AC Milan and Chelsea striker Shevchenko, now back at Dynamo Kiev, exchanged passes with Oleg Gusev in the 22nd minute and smashed the ball high into the net from a tight angle to set Ukraine on their way.

They took their foot off the gas once they had the lead but a quickly-taken free kick in the 61st minute released Gusev and he rifled home past Andorra goalkeeper Josep Gomes.

Andorra had defended bravely against the Ukrainian onslaught but Ildefons Lima was caught out in the 70th minute and diverted the ball past Gomes into his own net.

The floodgates opened and Ukraine added three more goals in four minutes through Yaroslav Rakitsky, Yevgen Seleznov and Andriy Yarmolenko.

The eight best runners-up across the nine European qualifying groups enter the two-legged playoffs to take place on Nov. 14 and 18.

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