Fan of the Day: The Ukrainian who dislikes Shevchenko

By Andres Burgo Jul 5, 2006, 2:06 GMT

Berlin - Bohdan expresses his opinion on Ukraine with an explanation, a wish and a criticism. He explains that not all things can be solved in a year, asks for patience in order to complete a true revolution and criticizes his country's star player.

'We know the international community are following attentively the outcome of the Orange revolution of 2005 with great hope,' says young Bohdan, whose expressionless face gives nothing away. 'Not everything has gone according to plan.

'Actually just a few months ago the government of Yulia Timoshenko fell from power. There's a lot of tension at the moment between the orange coalition, the party in power, and the Blues in opposition, the party of the regions. But this could have been foreseen - not all Ukraine's problems could be solved within a year.

'We are a young country, only 15 years ago we became independent from the USSR. We need patience, like we had in football. Up until now, we've always been close to qualifying for the World Cup, losing out at the last for 1998 and 2002. Now, not before, was the time for us to shine and we reached the last eight because we had patience.'

All very sensible, but then came the bombshell.

'We had patience despite (Andriy) Shevchenko,' he adds firmly. 'I don't like him. He plays better for Milan than for Ukraine. And don't think I'm crazy saying that - I'm not the only Ukrianian who thinks so.'

Patience, it seems, can eventually run out.