year for the national team was led by his assistants Mykola Pavlov and Leonid Tkachenko. Euro 96 qualification (Bazylevych) Ukraine appointed another head coach, Oleh Bazylevych, who made his debut with the national team in the spring of 1993 in Odessa during a friendly against Israel, a 1–1 draw. Less than a month later Ukraine finally won, in Vilnius in an away friendly against Lithuania. During the summer they lost 3–1 to Croatia; Ukraine was later seeded in Group 4 of the UEFA Euro 1996 qualification. Ukraine was defeated by Israel in March 1994, and drew Bulgaria and the United Arab Emirates. On 7 September 1994, the national team started its first official qualification campaign with a surprising home loss 2–0 to Lithuania. Following the defeat and a weak performance in preceding friendlies Bazylevych was fired and on the tour to South Korea the team was led by the Bazylevych assistants Pavlov and Muntyan as a temporary replacement until Federation signs a contract with Valeriy Lobanovsky. on 24 September, the Football Federation of Ukraine appointed Yozhef Sabo as an acting manager until the end of the year after Lobanovsky signed a contract with Kuwait. With the new manager, their next home game against Slovenia ended goalless and they then beat Estonia 3–0 gaining their first win in official competitive game. At the beginning of the year Football Federation confirmed Anatoliy Konkov as the new head coach on 5 January 1995. With Konkov the team started with away losses 4–0 to Croatia and 3–0 to Italy. After that there was a three-games winning streak including a home victory against Croatia and theoretical hopes which were abruptly cut after loss to Slovenia and the team finished at the fourth place in its first qualification campaign behind Lithuania. 1998–2004: near misses Following expiration of a year-long contract with Konkov, in 1996 the Federation appointed Sabo as a head coach and received a preliminary agreement that Lobanovsky will become available following his contract with Kuwait. Ukraine participated in 1998 World Cup qualification, where the team was drawn into Group 9. Ukraine took second place, only behind Germany and ahead of Portugal but was defeated in a play-off stage 3–1 on aggregate by Croatia. The qualification campaign became notable as a beginning of international career for Shevchenko as well as more play time for some other players such as Oleksandr Shovkovsky and Serhiy Rebrov. In