Ukraine (7)* v (7) Italy

*Won on a penalty shoot-out

By Daniel Wood

UKRAINE remains undefeated at the top of Group of A after beating Italy in a intense, tightly-matched battle at the Melbourne pitch.

Ukraine overcame the Italians in a penalty shoot-out after the scores were locked at seven apiece.

The Italian goalkeeper, Diamande, saw the first piece of action in this match with a great save in the first 3 seconds of play.

At 20 seconds in, Passio of Italy scored the first goal of the match. Within seconds, Passio followed up with a near identical goal bringing the score to 2-0.

Ukraine started to fire up as Gandziuik delivered a lightning fast strike from mid-pitch that shot right past Italy's keeper,. Gandziuik came at the keeper again and produced a shot so powerful that, even after the keeper got hand to it, the ball kept on moving forward.

The Italian keeper, Diamande, found his feet and started to get his whole body behind Ukraine's thumping power strikes.

Ukraine kept dominating possession to score two more goals before half-time, despite some very vocal Italian supporters attempting to rally their team from the sideline.

Italy's Ferrente produced a much needed goal early in the second half, making the score 5-3.

Italy continued to push forward with another goal, bringing the margin to one. Leotta drove a long shot home to equalise for the now powering Italian side. The match soon became a hotly contested, tit-for-tat exchange of shots that brought both teams to a 7-7 deadlock in the closing minutes of the match.

Ukraine converted their first attempt in the shoot-out with Italy responding in kind. Niktin comfortably scored on Ukraine's second attempt whilst Italy's second shot only just bounced on the wrong side of the bar, a matter of millimetres being the margin of defeat for this strong side.

Photos: Photoworx