Tymoshchuk saves Ukraine and Shevchenko's night

Anatoliy Tymoshchuk's late equaliser prevented Andriy Shevchenko's 100th appearance for Ukraine ending in defeat against Canada.

Trailing at the break in Kyiv to efforts from Simeon Jackson and Atiba Hutchinson, Ukraine gave themselves a glimmer of hope just before the hour when Artem Milevskiy turned in the rebound after Oleh Gusev's shot struck a post. Tymoshchuk completed the recovery ten minutes from time with a strike which extended the UEFA EURO 2012 co-hosts' unbeaten run to seven matches.

Having withstood a vibrant opening from Ukraine, Canada took the lead in fortuitous circumstances after 12 minutes when goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov lost his footing and was unable gather Jackson's cross-shot. The hosts fell further behind on the half-hour mark, Josh Simpson releasing Hutchinson to calmly round Pyatov, before Shevchenko failed to record the goal he and the crowd craved when failing to connect with a loose ball in the penalty area.

Yuriy Kalitvintsev introduced Oleksandr Aliyev, Gusev, Denys Oliynyk, Tymoshchuk and Milevskiy after the break, with the latter reducing Ukraine's arrears on the hour. Pyatov then thwarted Hutchinson in a one-on-one situation, a miss which was to prove costly for the visitors as Tymoshchuk finished off Aliyev's assist.