It would have been a tragedy had Andriy Shevchenko failed to take part in a World Cup. The great AC Milan striker and former European Player of the Year can now show his predatory skills for his country at the biggest stage.
Ever since parting their ways with Soviet Union, Ukraine have failed twice to qualify for the World Cup.
But in their third attempt, they avoided the play-offs by toping the group with impressive wins over 2004 Euro champions Greece and 2002 World Cup semifinalists Turkey.
Placed in Group H with Spain, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, it's quite likely that Ukraine would move to the second round. And then, with the great Shevchenko upfront, anything can happen.
COMPLETE SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Oleksandr Shovkovskyi, Bogdan Shust, Andriy Pyatov
Defenders: Andriy Nesmachnyi, Sergiy Fedorov, Volodymyr Yezersky, Andriy Rusol, Dmytro Chygrynskyy, Vladyslav Vashchuk, Vycheslav Sviderskyy
Midfielders: Anatolii Tymoschuk, Oleg Shelayev, Oleg Gusiev, Sergei Rebrov, Andriy Gusin, Sergiy Nazarenko, Maksym Kalynychenko, Ruslan Rotan
Forwards: Andriy Shevchenko, Andriy Voronin, Andriy Vorobyey, Oleksiy Belik, Artem Milevskyi.