Switzerland have gone into half-time 0-0 against Ukraine in their first knockout match in the World Cup Finals, in a game that took some time to come to action.

The game started rather slowly, with both sides knowing before the match that the winner would meet Italy in the quarter-finals, and both sides tentatively testing each other out.

Switzerland had the first real chance at goal from either side in the 12th minute, with a long-range strike from Rafael Wicky being saved well by Oleksandr Shovkovskyi in the Ukraine goal.

A free-kick from Maksym Kalinichenko had a was met well by captain Andriy Shevchenko in the penalty-area, but his header bounced off the ground and hit the bar to give the Swiss a scare.

Minutes later Swiss striker Alexander Frei took a free-kick from a dangerous area that also hit the crossbar as the game came to life after a very slow opening twenty minutes.

Ukraine had another chance on goal after Shevchenko started a great break on goal, but the Swiss defended well to deny a clear shot at goal.

Johan Djourou was replaced by Stefan Grichting in the 33rd minute sfter the Arsenal defender took a slight knock as the game started to slow again, with some rash tackles coming in from both sides.

Switzerland were starting to show their dominance, with some great build-up play, but lacking the final shot, and always the threat of a counter-attack from Ukraine.

Philipp Degen, who had gone in hard on a few tackles, was lucky not to get carded after hacking-down Andriy Nesmachniy minutes before half-time as the game started to heat up again, with half-chances on both sides, but nothing to trouble either keeper.

The game went into half-time 0-0 with Switzerland having the better chances at goal, but with possession roughly equal.

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