COLOGNE, June 27: Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin was so nervous about his team's penalty shootout against Switzerland on Monday that he retreated to the dressing room and did not even know that his best player had missed one.

“I went into the changing room, I couldn't take it anymore,” Blokhin told reporters.

Ukraine won 3-0 in the shootout, earning a quarter-final against Italy, but started off badly when striker and captain Andriy Shevchenko had his shot saved.

Blokhin was blissfully unaware of this even after the game.

“Did Shevchenko score or not?” he asked reporters who wanted to know what he thought of the miss by Chelsea's new 30 million pounds ($54.62 million) signing.

“It's not a joke, I really didn't see it.”

Shevchenko also had a penalty saved in the Champions League final in 2005 when his side, AC Milan, lost to Liverpool.

It was a tight match with few chances for either side on Monday but Blokhin dismissed suggestions his team were tense and had played unattractive football.

“The main thing is that the team gets a result,” he said.“The teams were very equal. We just had more luck, like Russian roulette.”

Artem Milevsky, Serhiy Rebrov and Oleg Gusev made sure Ukraine went through as the Swiss missed three penalties to become the first team to fail to score in a World Cup shootout.

“It's not important who scored the goals it is the team that is playing,” said Blokhin. “Shevchenko is getting better game-by-game. He was the leader today.”

Shevchenko was relieved to go through to the last eight.

“I've shot a lot of penalties in my life and every once in a while you miss one,” he said.

“It's a big day for the whole team, a big day for Ukraine,” said the striker. “I'm thrilled to be on this great team. All the players fight for each other. The team has a giant heart.”

Goalkeeper Oleksander Shovkovsky was Man of the Match after saving penalties by substitute Marco Streller and Ricardo Cabanas with Tranquillo Barnetta hitting the bar in between.

“A penalty shootout is a very special thing,” he said.

“I try not to think too hard or too much about it while the action is going on. I just take it as it comes...”

But he declined to reveal the secret to his success, saying: “I am not going to give away how I saved the penalties”.—Reuters