Euro 2012: Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin angry at goal-line call

Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin questioned the decision not to award his side a perfectly good goal as a 1-0 loss to England eliminated them from Euro 2012.

The co-hosts looked to have equalised when Marko Devic's shot looped inches over the line before being cleared.

But this was missed by the referee and his extra assistant behind the goal.

"There are five referees on the pitch and the ball is 50 centimetres behind the goal-line," Blokhin told reporters. "Write what you want. You've seen it."

Blokhin added: "Why do we need five referees if [Andy] Carroll plays with his elbows or [John] Terry fouls from behind?

"I do not want to talk about referees. But I would not like to [blame] everything on referees."

Ukraine had taken the game to England in Donetsk, in pursuit of the win they needed to qualify for the quarter-finals, but had fallen behind to a Wayne Rooney header soon after half-time.

Had Devic's equalising goal stood, Blokhin's side would have had momentum behind them in a Donbass Arena dominated by home support.

"We conceded a lucky goal. We were able to equalise, but they didn't give it to us," said Blokhin. "Then we also played a very good game. England just played on the counter-attack. In the second half, they had no opportunities.

"Their threat only came from a few set-pieces, but it was just not our day."

Blokhin took his anger out on one reporter in the post-match press conference by challenging him to "go outside and have a man conversation".

"You should respect that I played football. Did you play football?" snapped the former USSR international. "Respect my job and me. I won't allow anyone to criticise my team, about [Oleh] Gusev or [Andriy] Shevchenko. If you're a man, go with me. One on one."

When questioned about England's chances against Italy in the quarter-finals, Blokhin added: "If they played against Spain, it would have been much harder for them.

"This is not the same Italy that won the World Cup [in 2006], so let's see how it goes."