Scotland To Host Ukraine

Scotland will welcome group rivals Ukraine to Glasgow this weekend in what should be a very tough qualifying match for the Euro 2008 Football Championships.

Scotland are riding on a wave of confidence after a string of victories, including a 1-0 win over France, has left them in pole position in their group. Ukraine are eight points adrift of the Highlanders, and occupy fourth place after France and Italy.

The Scots certainly won't be taking any chances against their visitors, who reached the World Cup quarter-finals in 2006 and inflicted a 2-0 defeat on Scotland this time last year in Kiev. Ukraine certainly boast the biggest name on either team sheet, Andrei Shevchenko (who is rumoured to be returning to Dynamo Kiev) and the Scots first priority will be to contain the world-class striker.

With Ukraine counting down to Euro 2012, it seems the whole nation has gone football crazy and indeed Ukrainian politicians are even getting in on the act with two planned charity matches against Polish politicians, designed to promote the two countries joint effort to host the Championships in five years time. The first leg has already taken place in Kiev, with the return match to take place in the Wisla Stadium, Krakow.