New Zealand have been beaten 2-1 by Ukraine in the second of their games at the Canadian Shield tournament in Toronto.
Despite the loss, the All Whites were always in the game against Ukraine, who are rated #25 in the current FIFA world rankings.
Ukraine went ahead early in the second half but the All Whites levelled a few minutes later through Marko Stamenic.
Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko came off the Ukraine bench to score his side’s winner with 15 minutes remaining.
Head coach Darren Bazeley made three changes to his New Zealand starting line-up from the side that beat Côte d’Ivoire at the weekend.
Winger Callum McCowatt (hamstring injury) was replaced by Matt Garbett.
Ben Waine took the place of Kosta Barbarouses in the forward line, while Michael Boxall dropped into the backline instead of Bill Tuiloma.
Both sides were reasonably cautious in the first half, with Ukraine having the slightly better of the first 45 minutes.
Goalkeeper Max Crocombe made an excellent reflex save in the 16th minute when he clawed a Oleksiy Hutsulyak header off the line.
Crocombe blocked a shot from Oleksandr Pikhalionok on the half-hour, and Oleksandr Zubkov sent the rebound sailing high and into the crowd.
New Zealand’s best chance in the first half came in the 38th minute when Eli Just raced down the right wing and crossed for Waine to meet the ball 10 metres out, but his header flew over the crossbar.
Ukraine took the lead in the 54th minute when they attacked down the left flank, and Bogdan Mykhaylichenko fed the ball to Oleksiy Hutsulyak.
Despite having four New Zealanders close to him, Hutsulyak was still able to turn, control and shoot from the edge of the penalty area, with the ball sneaking inside the post.
New Zealand responded almost immediately, winning a corner.
Captain Liberato Cacace curled the corner high to beyond the far post where Michael Boxall headed the ball across the face of the goal for Marko Stamenic to flick it into the net.
Crocombe was again needed to keep out Ukraine when he blocked a shot from Pikhalionok in the 68th minute.
Substitute Oleksandr Zinchenko gave his team the lead in the 75th minute when he finished a move with a well-taken strike from 12 metres, with his first touch of the ball.
With 10 minutes to go, coach Bazeley sent on his last three subs, including all-time leading scorer Wood as the side searched for an equaliser that would force the game into a penalty shootout.
But the Ukrainians stood firm, managing out the game and negating New Zealand’s attempts to finish the game at pace.
In stoppage time, Cacace fired a low shot from 25 metres that was taken by Ukraine’s keeper Andriy Lunin.
That was the last act in a game where New Zealand can take heart from their performance against a side rated 59 places higher in the FIFA world rankings.
READ MORE: New Zealand’s opponents Ukraine: 10 things you might want to know >>>>
Tournament format
The Canadian Shield tournament, which is planned to become an annual event, awards three points for a win, one point for a draw and two points for a shootout win.
All matches have a winner, and games go directly to penalties after 90 minutes (plus injury time).
All tournament games took place at BMO Field in Toronto.
BMO Field, Toronto. Photo credit: Pablopicassotoronto / Wikipedia. Licensed under Creative Commons deed.
Rankings
The latest FIFA men’s rankings for the teams at the tournament are New Zealand (#86), Côte d’Ivoire (#41), Ukraine (#25) and Canada (#30).
Result
Game played on Wednesday June 11, 2025 (NZT)
New Zealand 1 (Marko Stamenic 58′)
Ukraine 2 (Oleksiy Hutsulyak 54′, Oleksandr Zinchenko 75′)
Line-ups
New Zealand
Max Crocombe, Michael Boxall, Tyler Bindon (Francis de Vries 81′), Finn Surman, Liberato Cacace (captain), Joe Bell, Matt Garbett (Ben Old 66′), Marko Stamenic (Callan Elliot 81′), Sarpreet Singh (Alex Rufer 73′), Eli Just (Chris Wood 81′), Ben Waine (Kosta Barbarouses 66′).
Subs not used: Alex Paulsen (GK), Nik Tzanev (GK), Nando Pijnaker, Tommy Smith, Bill Tuiloma.
Cards: Joe Bell 65′ (yellow), Tyler Bindon 72′ (yellow).
Ukraine
Andriy Lunin, Bogdan Mykhaylichenko (Oleksandr Martyniuk 66′), Yevhen Cheberko (Maksym Talovierov 66′), Ilya Zabarnyi, Oleksandr Tymchyk, Mykola Mykhailenko (Viktor Tsyhankov 74′), Yegor Nazaryna, Oleksandr Pikhalionok (Mykola Shaparenko 86′), Vladyslav Kabaiev (Roman Yaremchuk 66′), Oleksandr Zubkov (Oleksandr Zinchenko 74′), Oleksiy Hutsulyak.
Subs not used: Anatoliy Trubin (GK), Dmytro Riznyk (GK), Valerii Bondar, Ivan Kaliuznyi, Heorhii Sudakov, Artem Bondarenko.
Cards: Viktor Tsyhankov 83′ (yellow), Oleksandr Tymchyk 89′ (yellow), Roman Yaremchuk 90+4′ (yellow).
Officials
Referee: Carly Shaw-Maclaren (Canada)
Assistant referees: Chris Wattam (Canada) and Gerard-Kader Lebuis (Canada)
Fourth official: Fabrizio Stasoll (Canada)
Fixture
Canada v Côte d’Ivoire
BMO Field, Toronto, Canada, 2.30pm (NZT)
This story was first published on June 11, 2025.
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