Making Ukraine tick

Early this season, the Swiss watchmaker JB Blancpain opted to make an honorary award to Italian champions AC Milan.

The good and the great, the shakers and makers of the Milan club were assembled at the club's Milanello training ground for a series of presentations to those players who had figured prominently in last season's championship winning campaign.

Men like Croat midfielder Zvonimir Boban, team captain Paolo Maldini and Liberian striker George Weah. The watches in question were, of course, handmade little miracles of engineering genius which retail at anything from IR £3,000 to £250,000.

Watching the presentation from the sidelines was Milan new boy, Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko. The former Dinamo Kiev player, obviously, had played no part in last season's achievements, having joined the club this summer (for $22 million dollars).

He might not have played last season but Shevchenko was interested in a watch, immediately inquiring of team-mate Alessandro Costacurta as to whether he too might be presented with a nice little freebie or, if not, how much would it cost to buy one.

Shevchenko (22) has arrived in the big time and already his performances have shown that he intends to seize every opportunity, big or small, that comes his way. Already top of the Serie A goalscorer's chart on seven goals, Shevchenko's impact has been explosive.

So far, this autumn would have been just about perfect for Shevchenko, were it not for one thing. AC Milan's humiliating elimination from the Champions League by Turkish champions, Galatasaray, has deprived Shevchenko of a major international stage on which to strut his stuff.

Tomorrow night in Kiev, at a time when Irish minds will be concentrated on events in Turkey, Shevchenko will be doing his best to ensure that he does not lose out on a second consecutive international tournament in the space of a fortnight when he leads the Ukraine attack in their second leg play-off against Slovenia in a match which starts on a 2-1 scoreline in favour of Slovenia following last Saturday's first leg in Lubiana.

True to his current outstanding form, Shevchenko has already struck oil, having scored the vital away goal in Lubiana that may be enough to see this former Soviet republic earn a first ever qualification for a European Championship finals tournament. For a long time on Saturday, it seemed that Shevchenko's brilliantly struck, 33rd minute goal would decide the match. Slovenia battled honestly and hard, proving full value for their 53rd minute equaliser from Olympiakos striker Zlatko Zahovic.

However, even the Slovenians hardly expected to win the game with a 60-yard lob from Red Star Belgrade substitute Milenko Acimov in the 83rd minutes, which caught a distracted Urkaine goalkeeper, Olexander Shovkovskyi, off his line immediately following his kickout.

Speaking after his side's surprise win, the Slovenia coach and former Sampdoria player, Srecko Katanec, confessed that Shevchenko's goal and the possibility of a repeat performance in Kiev tomorrow night worried him, adding: "I am all too aware how narrow a victory this is . . . This is only the first half, and even if we played well today, we must keep our feet firmly on the ground".

Katanec's opposite number, Josef Szabo, although gracious in defeat, was sounding far from disconsolate as he looked forward to tomorrow night's return, saying: "Slovenia absolutely deserved to win . . . We didn't play as well as we can because of injured players missing but we hope we can put on a better show in Kiev. That is a match I can hardly wait for."

With men like Shevchenko, his former Dinamo Kiev partner Sergij Rebrov, AIK Solna's Oleg Luzhny (doubtful for tomorrow), Werder Bremen midfielder Iouri Maximov and Dinamo Kiev's experienced Vasyl Kardash, Ukraine have the potential to make an impact on next summer's championships. Remember this is the side which missed France '98 only when beaten 3-1 on aggregate by Croatia in a play-off.

This time, Ukraine and Shevchenko should go one better.