COLOGNE, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskyi was named Man of the Match after he kept a clean sheet for 120 minutes and then saved two penalties and watched another crash off the bar as Ukraine advanced to the quarter-finals via a penalty shoot-out.

    After a stunning 4-0 setback in their opener against Spain, the Ukrainian keeper has played five hours of World Cup football -- a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia, a 1-0 win over Tunisia, and now this scoreless marathon against Switzerland -- without seeing the ball hit the back of his net.

    Of all the saves he has made in that stretch, perhaps none was bigger than his first of this shoot-out, which came after Ukraine captain Andriy Shevchenko had missed the first spot-kick. Shovkovskyi's save from Marco Streller took the pressure off Artem Milevskiy who converted coolly to give Ukraine an advantage they did not relinquish.

    After Tranquillo Barnetta hit the bar with the second Swiss penalty, Shovkovskyi made his second stop from Ricardo Cabanas to help Ukraine run out 3-0 winners in the shoot-out.

    "The keeper saved two penalties in the penalty shoot-out," said FIFA Technical Study Group member Kalusha Bwalya. "This is very important at this stage of the game. After 120 minutes of football, you need concentration. And after Shevchenko missed his penalty, the keeper needed to save penalties." Enditem