Berlin - AFP
The 2012 European championship's co-hosts Ukraine slumped to a 2-0 loss to Turkey in their last warm-up match ahead of the European Championships at Ingolstadt in Germany on Tuesday. Fenerbahce midfielder Erkin Caner and Besiktas forward Mustafa Pektemek scored one apiece for Turkey to upset Ukraine with just a week remaining before their opening encounter at Euro-2012. Turkey, the Euro-2008 semi-finalists, roared on by locally-based support, looked more focused from the start, while Ukraine, who fielded an experimental line-up, sat back in defence, relying on counter attacks. In the 28th minute Turkey went into the lead through Caner, who received a precise left-wing cross from Pektemek just into the area and slotted the ball into the net past Ukrainian 'keeper Andrei Pyatov. Shakhtar defender Yaroslav Rakitsky had a chance to level two minutes before the break but his 11-metre header from Alexander Aliev's well-struck freekick was saved athletically by Fenerbahce goalie Mert Gunok. After the interval Ukraine's manager Oleg Blokhin brought on veteran forward Andriy Shevchenko in an attempt to boost his team's attacking prowess but the Turks still dominated play and kept Ukraine defence under pressure. In the 70th minute Pektemek made it 2-0 for Turkey, firing in from close range following Tunai Torun's cross from the right to clinch the win. In the closing stages Shevchenko missed a clear scoring opportunity as his close-range shot rebounded off the crossbar with five minutes to go.