The children have caught the football fever sweeping the country ahead of Ukraine's historic quarterfinal against Italy on Friday in the nation's first-ever World Cup appearance.

"People who've never been interested in football, today the games are all they talk about," says Valya Romanenko, a 28-year-old English teacher in Kiev and longtime football fanatic. "Everyone is buying flags to hang from windows."

Ukrainian flags and the yellow jerseys of the team are selling like hotcakes from stands throughout the country. Many people are wearing team jerseys to work and around town, and lawmakers are donning them for parliament sessions.

Taking the lead from head coach Oleg Blokhin, many fans are vowing to shave their heads in the event that the team wins football's top prize -- a distant dream only a few weeks ago that's today gaining more and more converts.

Bars and restaurants overflow with people during matches and most businesses come to a standstill.

"All of our tables get reserved several days before matches," says Serhiy, a barman at Planeta-Sport in Kiev, one of the capital's most popular sport-watching venues.

The former Soviet state is making its first appearance at the world's premier football contest since gaining its independence in 1991 and few thought the boys in yellow would get as far as the quarter finals.

Star striker Andriy Shevchenko, alias 'Sheva', has said repeatedly that he would consider it a success if the team made it to the last 16.

So the unexpected arrival in the last eight has fanned patriotic flames, especially vis-a-vis Russia, which has traditionally wielded influence over its smaller neighbour.

Russia never made it past the group phase in the two World Cups at which it has played and failed to qualify for this year's contest.

"We're the only eastern European team that has gone this far," says Grigoriy Medvid, a 30-year-old railroad worker from western Lviv.

"Now more people in the world will know that Ukraine is not Russia. Russia is not even competing. So which one of us is the little brother?"

The team's victories also come as a welcome break from headlines about the nation's bickering politicians, the stagnating economy and rising energy prices.

"If we beat the Italians and they triple gas prices, I don't even think anyone would notice," says Vassyl Androsenko, a 52-year-old engineer in Kiev.

And some think the football victories can accelerate the pro-Western integration advocated by the new, post "orange revolution" authorities.

"You know, I don't exclude that if the team is successful, it can speed up Ukraine's integration into Europe," says Yaroslav Vegera, a 28-year-old history teacher in Lviv.

"If the country is in the quarterfinals, that means its crisis has finished and a renaissance has started."

The Ukrainian matches are also doing their bit to improve international relations.

During one match, "we had a table with two Argentinians, two Englishmen, two Chinese and a couple of Ukrainians and you should have seen how they were jumping up and down together," says Roman, an administrator at the Shato restaurant in central Kiev.

There are a few people, however, who have resisted the football mania.

"During the past month work discipline at my business has collapsed," complains Igor Kum, a 32-year-old owner of a food distribution firm in western Lviv. "People are late to work because they're watching football late into the night, at work they turn on the TV."

"I can't wait until this Cup is over," he says.