Thursday, February 10, 2011

Sweden, Ukraine, win in Cyprus tournament


NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - First half goals from Tobias Hysen and Markus Berg gave Sweden a 2-0 win over Cyprus, while Ukraine beat Romania 4-2 in a penalty shootout in a friendly tournament on the east Mediterranean island on Tuesday.
The four-nation event, which continues on Wednesday, is being used by teams as preparation for next month's Euro 2012 qualifying matches.
Hysen put Sweden in front in the 26th minute when he headed in a curling Martin Olsson cross at Nicosia's GSP stadium. An unmarked Berg added the second on the stroke of halftime when he latched onto a through ball from Pontus Wernblom from 10 meters.
The Swedes could have added a third in the 64th minute.
A pass from midfield split the Cypriot defense and Hysen ran through, only for his pass across the goalmouth for Olsson to be intercepted by a Cyprus defender. Cyprus came close to pulling a goal back in the 75th minute when Andreas Avraam's shot from inside the box was kicked away by Sweden goalkeeper Johan Wiland.
The Cypriots missed another opportunity 10 minutes later when captain Ioannis Okkas dribbled into the box and passed to the unmarked George Efrem, who botched his shot. In Paralimni, two saves by veteran goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy in the shootout secured victory for Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine after the match ended 2-2 in regulation time.
Ukraine took a 2-0 lead with goals from Yaroslav Rakitskiy, whose 25-meter free kick in the 23rd minute eluded Romanian goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon, and Artem Milevskiy, who finished off a one-two inside the box in the 32nd minute.
But Romania battled back and drew level before halftime thanks to goals from striker Dan Alexa.
The Ukrainians had an opportunity to score in the 45th when a Marco Devic drive rattled the crossbar.
Sweden and Ukraine meet in Nicosia in Wednesday's first-place match, while Cyprus takes on Romania in Paralimni.
  

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