Ukraine, England tie the game

England and Ukraine played out 0-0 draw in World Cup qualification match in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Mykhailo Fomenko once again surprised with the team line up. Yaroslav Rakitski was left on the bench, replaced by Oleksandr Kucher, who in turn was give the captain's armband, while the captain Anatoliy Tymoschuk was sitting on the bench as well. The full team included Pyatov; Fedetskiy, Khacheridi, Kucher, Shevchuk; Edmar, Stepanenko; Yarmolenko, Gusev, Konoplyanka; Zozulya.

Ukraine started brightly and nearly carved out a chance in the opening minute.

Yevhen Konoplyanka, who was dangerous on Ukraine's left flank throughout the match, crossed into the middle for Roman Zozulya, who was felled by England goalkeeper Joe Hart in the box. The referee ruled for a corner, and England escaped an early penalty.

Moments later, though, England generated a few chances of their own. Captain Steven Gerrard curled a shot over the bar from long distance before Theo Walcott's poked shot was saved. Defender Gary Cahill then directed a header over the bar from a corner. 

Ukraine continued to threaten on both flanks, with Artem Fedetskiy causing danger down the right. Hart, who recently made high-profile errors for club and country, looked shaky in an early exchange with Gerrard, but the pace quickly dropped for the rest of the half.

In the second half, Ukraine continued to push for a winner with no success as England offered little going forward. In the 58th minute, Konoplyanka crossed for Andriy Yarmolenko, who played a no-look pass to Zozulya.

Instead of shooting, though, Zozulya attempted to return the pass to Yarmolenko and the move collapsed.

Konoplyanka saw his curled shot deflected just wide of the post in the 72nd minute. Then he picked out Fedetskiy with a corner two minutes later, only for Fedetskiy to direct his header straight at Hart. Till the end of the match Ukrainians were pressing on England's goal, but failed to defeat Hart. 

England stay top of the group with 16 points from eight games. Ukraine and Montenegro have 15 from eight. If England win their last two games, at home to Montenegro and Poland, they will win the group, the Telegraph reports.