Ukraine beats Cyprus 1-0 in soccer friendly

Ukraine secured a 1-0 win over Cyprus in an international friendly match at the Chernomorets stadium in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa on Thursday night.

The game was a warm-up for the Euro 2016 European Football Championship to be played in France from June 10 to July 10, but despite its friendly status, the match was interesting and spectacular.

From the very beginning of the game Ukraine's head coach Mykola Fomenko fielded the first-choice players, who put the Cypriot team under strong pressure, creating frequent goal-scoring opportunities.

Despite the pretty strong game in the centre of the field, the Ukrainian team was unable to convert their chances into a goal at the start due to the poor attacking performance.

The hosts have managed to turn their dominance into a lead only at the 40th minute after Taras Stepanenko sent the ball into Cyprus's net with a follow-up strike after Constantinos Panayi excellently repealed the Roman Zozulya' s header.

Ukraine has also dominated the start of the second half, but after 70 minutes into the game, they had changed to a lower gear, giving the initiative to the visitors.

In the dying minutes of the match, Cyprus pressed Ukraine into defence and Pieros Sotiriou tested the net of Denis Boyko twice, but he failed to score an equalizer.

On March 28, Ukraine will face Wales at the Olympic stadium in Kiev for another international friendly. Endit