Dynamo Kyiv sung their fans a song of praise in honor of the tenth championship
This year Dynamo Kyiv celebrates a jubilee: it has won this country’s championship for the tenth time in the modern history of Ukrainian soccer. It is the Kyivans’ first triumph after the death of Valery Lobanovsky. The team, now led by Meritorious Coach of Ukraine Oleksiy Mykhailychenko, proved the team was not called Dynamo without reason and, like a true dynamo, overpowered all their competitors (first of all, their arch-rival Shakhtar Donetsk) on the home stretch, leaving them not a shadow of a chance. It will be recalled that as recently as in the middle of the second leg the Donetsk club was leading by seven points. Yet, banal as it sounds, it is the team with the most willpower team that got the upper hand. Two victories in the championship is undoubtedly a success for Shakhtar, but what must have tipped the scales was the fact that two consecutive failures in the championship might have been a catastrophe for Dynamo.
The week before last, Kyiv’s Ukrayina Palace hosted an award ceremony for the ten-times champion of Ukraine. The function drew a full house, while the audience’s unanimity could only be compared with a similar behavior when a visiting US president once made a speech. I don’t know how many times the audience interrupted the speakers with applause — I am sure they did it as often as in the case of President Clinton. The soiree, hosted by the international duet of Oksana Marchenko and Viktor Husev. began with Tamara Gverdtsiteli singing the song Come Back! dedicated to Valery Lobanovsky who passed away a little more than a year ago. Naturally, the audience stood to hear the song.
Out of the players who were coming out to receive the award papers, Yury Dmytrulin and Oleksandr Shovkovsky shouldered the heaviest burden because they had won the champion’s title for the eighth time. Dynamo President Ihor Surkis noted in his speech, “We know how to value and not to betray people. For us, Lobanovsky was more than a coach. Two days after his death, Oleksiy Mykhailychenko was invited to the club president’s office, and we appointed him chief coach. It was a risk, but we knew that an individual who more than once was champion of various countries (the USSR, Italy, Scotland...) would not let us down. Incidentally, Jozsef Szabo was the first to receive the offer to fill the vacancy, but he refused in favor of Mykhailychenko, saying it was time to “clear the way for the young.”
The audience was entertained by guest star Borys Moiseyev and TV host Viktor Husev. The former sang a selection of his best songs and then confessed in a mellow voice that he was in love with Dynamo and suggested that they... dance more while training. After this “feminine” compliment, the latter got down to things masculine and drew thunderous applause for greeting the Ukrainians “on behalf of Spartak Moscow, now ranking twelfth in the championship.” Also greeting Dynamo players were this country’s top sports functionaries. Professional Soccer League (PSL) President Hryhory Surkis noted, among other things, that he had believed in Oleksiy Mykhailychenko’s fortune in this difficult year. And, in general, Dynamo’s chief coach was the main attraction of the evening. The hero himself modestly said he dedicated the victory to Valery Lobanovsky, which the whole team unanimously supported. On its part, the PSL identified collective and individual winners in various nominations. It is only natural that the Kyivans grabbed all the main prizes this year. Oleksiy Mykhailychenko was pronounced best coach and Maksym Shatskikh got the best forward prize for scoring 22 goals. Incidentally, Shatskikh has been the best striker before: he kicked 20 goals in the tenth championship. Hryhory Surkis handed the fair play prize to Dynamo Captain Valentyn Belkevych.
In sum, “the last hero of Soviet soccer,” as the “Last Hero” television host Viktor Husev joked, won ten victories in independent championship and grabbed the Cup of Ukraine six times. This event is also noteworthy because “big” soccer countries practice sowing a star onto the jersey for every ten championship titles. (For example, Real Madrid has to win one more champion’s title to get a third star.) This is a very symbolic sign for Dynamo. Quite probably, we will soon see a new rising of the star team that Valery Lobanovsky molded and which Mykhailychenko, one of his greatest pupils, is now trying to revive. Dynamo is full of team spirit. At any rate, when a song of praise was sung to the fans, it was picked up not only by Ukrainians but also by a Rumanian, a Bulgarian, and a Brazilian.
