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Shevchenko fighting to face Italy

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KIEV, Ukraine -- Striker Andriy Shevchenko is struggling to play in Ukraine's Euro 2008 qualifier against world champions Italy in Rome on Saturday, coach Oleg Blokhin said on Wednesday.

"Last night his temperature rose sharply to 38.6. The doctors believe it is possible he has a viral infection," Blokhin said at the team's base outside Kiev.

"If it continues for another day or two, he will not be in proper condition to play. It is therefore uncertain whether he will be in the line-up for Saturday's match."

Blokhin said doctors were keeping a close watch on the Chelsea striker, but wanted to avoid using particular medicines to abide strictly by anti-doping regulations.

Ukraine won their opening match in the qualifying tournament, defeating Georgia 3-2. Italy have so far earned only a single point from two matches against Lithuania and France.

As well as Shevchenko, Blokhin has injuries to Sergei Rebrov and Ruslan Rotan of Dynamo Kiev.

Ukraine were beaten 3-0 by Italy in the quarterfinals of their first World Cup finals appearance earlier this year.

However, Blokhin believes that defeat will not have a bearing on this match.

"After two matches, I can conclude that although Italy are strong we can take them on," he said. "Our 3-0 loss in the world championship does not reflect our relative strengths."

Perrotta problem

Italy's Simone Perrotta is also doubtful for the crucial clash after suffering a double injury in training.

The world champions host Ukraine before playing away to Georgia the following Wednesday.

Perrotta suffered a sprained left ankle and pulled his right hamstring after he went in for a tackle with Massimo Oddo in Wednesday's training session at the Azzurri's training camp in Coverciano, Florence.

"When he fell to the ground after the tackle, he sprained his ankle but also overstretched his right hamstring," said Italy medic Andrea Ferretti.

"We will evaluate his condition tomorrow or the day after. The fear is that he has torn his hamstring."

A tireless worker and tenacious tackler, Perrotta was one of Italy's unsung heroes in their triumphant World Cup campaign.

Left-back Fabio Grosso, scorer of the winning penalty-kick in the World Cup final shoot-out against France, has already been ruled out of both qualifiers after failing to recover from a right thigh strain.

Italy are desperate for positive results from their next two Group B matches having taken just one point from their first two games against Lithuania and France.

The 2008 European championships will be held jointly by Switzerland and Austria.

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