When Ukraine achieved independence in 1991, the opening line of its new national anthem perfectly captured the backs- to-the-wall determination exhibited by its otherwise very ordinary football team in their first ever World Cup. "Ukraine is not dead yet," said the stirring ditty of the former Soviet republic. Unfortunately for football fans everywhere the same can be said for its team which now only has to beat the under-performing Italians to bizarrely find itself in the semi-finals of the World Cup.

While the country may have thrown off the shackles of Soviet rule, the football team is still slavishly devoted to an outmoded collectivist style of play that relies primarily on an iron defence that was supposed to be as impenetrable as a division of T-62 battle tanks in the heyday of the Cold War.

The flaws in the system were crudely exposed by Spain in an opening game 4-0 defeat. But the battling Ukrainian comrades have since managed to grind out the needed results against the footballing giants of Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and now Switzerland; even with their talisman Andrej Shevchenko misfiring like a badly tuned Lada.

Star system failure

Shevchenko's only goal so far came from a penalty against Tunisia - and the generally uninspiring play from one of the world's most expensive footballers is symptomatic of a surprising lack of inspiration from the supposed stars of this tournament.

Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho has yet to get his name on the scoresheet or even produce a truly memorable piece of play. The English superstars can best be described as superflops, while Argentine wonderkid Lionel Messi can't even get in to the first team on a regular basis. Czech maestro Tomas Rosicky shone in the first game that sank into anonymity, while Italian playmaker Francesco Totti's best contribution was not missing a dubious last-kick penalty against Australia.

Old guard still rule

There are still eight games to go from the quarter-finals on for a player to stamp his authority on the tournament and write his name among the list of soccer greats.

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