The rain rain rain came down down down
Ukraine Vs. France, Euro 2012: Halftime Score 0-0 After Long Rain Delay
In rushing, rising riv'lets,
'Til the river crept out of it's bed
And crept right into Ukraine's!
Poor Ukraine, they were frightened,
With quite a rightful fright.
And so, in desperation
The players they took flight.
The big story in Donetsk right now is that the first half ended up suspended for almost an hour after lightning, thunder and a flooding pitch forced referee Björn Kuipers to temporarily abandon the game. If that hadn't happened, however, we'd be talking about what a good match this is. Ukraine have been far more impressive against France than England were, routinely putting them under major pressure, but that means a very open match with opportunities at both ends.
It's still scoreless, but that's only because both goalkeepers are on fire - Hugo Lloris has stopped a lovely half-volleyed effort from Andriy Shevchenko and Andriy Pyatov has managed to keep out tries from both Jeremy Menez and Phillippe Mexes. Neither keeper has been helped out by their defences, who are routinely making pretty poor msitakes, possibly thanks to the conditions.
France have looked more likely to score, of course - they are the better side after all - and they did manage to get the ball in the net via Menez’s low shot, but he was several yards offside and barely bothered to celebrate before the referee waved it off. The longer this stays 0-0 the more likely Ukraine are to make one of their attacks count. They’re generating chances and causing havoc, so you’d have to imagine that they’re pretty happy with their performance so far. That’s less true for Laurent Blanc’s side, who probably should have scored by now.
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