Goalscoring chances were hard to come by although both sides hit the bar in the first half – first Ukraine’s Andriy Shevchenko and then Switzerland’s Alexander Frei.

But the second half and extra-time were turgid with neither side looking likely to score and it was left to penalties to resolve the issue with Switzerland’s goal still unbreached in 390 minutes of World Cup action.

But Switzerland’s nerve deserted them in the shootout as they failed to convert a single kick while Ukraine netted three out of four.

The Swiss goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbuhler saved Shevchenko’s first penalty in the shootout but Switzerland forward Marco Streller then allowed Oleksandr Shovkovskyi to save the first Swiss kick.

Artem Milevskiy converted successfully – and cheekily – for Ukraine and then Tranquillo Barnetta missed the second Swiss kick, rattling the crossbar.

Serhiy Rebrov made it 2-0 to Ukraine and then it was Ricardo Cabanas’ turn to miss, the goalkeeper saving again.

Oleg Gusev then converted the final penalty to secure a last eight tie for Ukraine with Italy and a 3-0 shoot-out win.

The first chance of the match fell to Switzerland after four minutes when a ball bounced kindly for Hakan Yakin who rushed his shot and fired wide.

Yakin tried his luck again from distance after good work from skipper Johan Vogel but it was an easy save for Ukraine goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskyi.

A dreadful pass from Ukraine’s Anatoliy Tymoschuk gave Raphael Wicky a shooting opportunity and the 29-year-old’s 20-yard effort forced a diving save at the expense of a corner from Shovkovskyi.

Oleg Blokhin’s men were second best in the opening 20 minutes but then a foul by Johan Djourou on Andriy Voronin gave them a free-kick on the left side of the penalty area.

Maksym Kalinichenko’s free-kick saw both Shevchenko and Johan Djourou go for the ball with the Ukrainian winning the race and – to the relief of 19-year-old Djourou who was in for his injured Arsenal club-mate Philippe Senderos – the ball rebounded off the bar to safety.

Then it was Switzerland’s turn to strike the woodwork as Frei’s free-kick, awarded for a foul by Oleg Shelayev on Tranquillo Barnetta, rattled the crossbar with Barnetta miscueing the rebound hopelessly.

Shevchenko then set up a fine opportunity for Kalinichenko whose curled shot was inaccurate. Ukraine were coming more into the game and then Shelayev fired over from the edge of the box after his initial shot came back to him off the legs of Djourou.

After 33 minutes Kuhn brought off Djourou whom he replaced with Stephane Grichting and the Arsenal man walked off, clearly dismayed.

Philipp Degen then created a shooting chance for his fellow full-back Ludovic Magnin whose finishing from 25 yards was wayward then Shovkovskyi had to beat out an ambitious Yakin free-kick as the Swiss ended the half strongly.

There was an early scare in the first minute of the second half for the Swiss as Voronin’s header flashed wide of Pascal Zuberbuhler’s far post but at the other end good play by Ricardo Cabanas set up Yakin whose shot struck a Ukrainian.

But Voronin’s shot from distance on the turn forced Zuberbuhler to save at the other end. The cries of “Berlin” by the Swiss supporters were beginning to look a little optimistic as the Ukrainians had the better of the early minutes of the second period.

A good pass from Barnetta almost released Frei who just failed to control the ball after having got the better of the Ukrainian defence but the game was becoming bogged down.

Mexican referee Benito Archundia booked Barnetta for halting a dangerous run by Andriy Nesmachniy who was two minutes later carried off for the second time in the match for treatment only to return, temporarily further depleting a defence without suspended pair Vyacheslav Sviderskyi and Andriy Rusol and the injured Vladimir Yezerskyi.

Voronin’s header from an Oleg Gusev cross was wide of the mark and then some clever footwork from Shevchenko created a shooting opportunity for himself with his left-footed effort from the edge of the area just wide.

Extra-time came with whistles of derision from supporters who were clearly not impressed with the first 90 minutes and the extra half hour was also unsatisfying.