Ukraine and Sweden head into the break goalless after a fairly even first half in Kiev.
The two teams cancelled each other during the early exchanges, and it took until 17 minutes for the first real attempt at goal.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic cut in from the left before curling a right-footed shot that Andriy Pyatov parried away with both hands.
The next chance came just five minutes later when Andriy Shevchenko played a give-and-go with Andriy Yarmolenko on the edge of the area before dragging a shot across Andreas Isaksson's goal.
The home nation had another chance to go ahead in the 38th minute, when Shevchenko headed across goal after his initial shot had been blocked. The ball fell to the feet of Yarmolenko, but his shot was blocked.
Perhaps the closest either team came to scoring was when Sebastian Larsson swung a ball into the box for Ibrahimovic. The AC Milan star headed across Pyatov's goal, but could not beat the post and the scores stayed level.
Ukraine grew in confidence as the half wore on but could not break the deadlock.
Michael Penkman
