Several Macedonian internationals were in action during today’s Ukrainian Cup matches with the biggest story being Goran Popov and Dynamo Kyiv getting eliminated from the competition by Shakhtar Donetsk.

The heated rivals Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk were drawn to face one another in the 1/8 finals of the Ukrainian Cup.  Dynamo Kyiv was the home team but they suffered a 3:2 loss and were thus eliminated from the competition.  Goran Popov started at LB for Dynamo Kyiv and played all 90 minutes in the loss.  Popov was not at fault on any of the three goals by Shakhtar and also attempted one powerful shot in the 17th minute but it went just wide of the goal.

Vance Sikov and Volyn recorded a dramatic 3:2 victory over Dnipro to advance to the quarter-finals of the domestic cup.  As usual, Sikov started at CB and played the entire game for Volyn who overcame a 2:1 deficit with 10 men.  In the 34th minute, with Volyn leading 1:0, the keeper received a straight red card for a bad foul in the box.  Dnipro converted the penalty to tie the game at 1:1 plus they had an extra player.  Several minutes later, Dnipro made it 2:1 but Volyn kept on battling and was able to score the equalizer in the 81st minute.  That forced the game to go into extra time where Volyn was awarded a penalty of their own in the 93rd minute.  The spot kick was converted and Volyn was then able to hang on to the slim lead to advance to the next round of the competition.

Meanwhile, the teams of both Martin Bogatinov and Mario Gjurovski also advanced to the quarter-finals of the Ukrainian Cup.  Karpaty got past Metalist 1:0 but Bogatinov was not called up nor was Mario Gjurovski of Metalurh Donetsk who celebrated a 4:0 victory over Kryvbas.