Encore win

In purely sports terms, the second game between the runners-up of Ukraine and Russia had practically little importance. After Dynamo beat Spartak 4:1 two weeks ago, it was quite clear who had won the overall victory to qualify for the Champions League group stage.

The point was not just the lopsided score, which seemed impossible to overturn. All sorts of things happen in soccer. There have been a lot of instances in the history of European cups when in a follow-up game the team that previously lost by a wide margin took its revenge, scoring four or more goals. In this case, it was clear even in Moscow that today’s Dynamo is outstripping today’s Spartak by all criteria, and that there are no grounds for alarm.

The match aroused intense interest in Kyiv. The only bar to filling the Dynamo Club stadium to capacity was the high ticket prices. Nearly everybody wanted to see the game, even people who usually ignore soccer matches or attend them once in a blue moon. Even President Yushchenko, who attends one or two games a year, and only when the national team is playing, could not resist the temptation and arrived at the stadium.

Clearly, the public’s unprecedented interest in this particular soccer match cannot be explained by the Dynamo coaches’ original tactics or the players’ outstanding abilities. People can see this every week in the national championship matches, which so far have caused hardly a stir.

The reason for the mass rush to see the Dynamo-Spartak game was the fact that the most popular Ukrainian soccer team was playing against the most popular Russian one. Even during the Soviet era such matches were about the only way for Ukrainians to feel they had superiority over the Russians in a fair sports competition. Today, in the 18th year of Ukraine’s independence, a victory by Dynamo Kyiv over Spartak Moscow is still, as it was 20 years ago, perhaps the only achievement in our rivalry with Russia.

As was generally expected, the Dynamo side, which fielded only four players who hold Uk­rai­nian passports, made mincemeat out of Spartak. The Kyiv game was played according to the scenario of the previous match in Moscow. The spectators stopped worrying about the outcome of the game in the first few minutes, when Aliev made the first score for Dynamo. After this, the only thing the fans had to guess was Dynamo’s final winning score. The score turned out to be the same as the one in Moscow, where Bangoura and Milevsky also distinguished themselves with precise shots.

Against the backdrop of their demoralized rivals, the Dynamo players managed to show the spectators everything they could do with a team like Spartak. It was gratifying to see that, despite the big advantage in the aggregate score line, none of the Dynamo players spared their feet. Eve­ry­body played at top strength from beginning to end. Even during injury time, the Dynamo players ran as fast as they could toward their rivals’ goal area to score again.

All expectations panned out. Ukraine witnessed a top-quality soccer game again with a fine result. The trouble is that this kind of event rarely occurs in our stadiums. What is preventing fans from relishing a fine performance from the Dynamo team in the championship of Ukraine, filling the grandstands, and cheering for their team the way they did in the game against Spartak?

The root cause of this state of affairs, which is familiar to us but not readily obvious to foreigners, is the old traditions of soccer fans who, as it turns out, still follow Soviet-era traditions. We have failed to educate a new generation of soccer fans who do not remember the USSR.

We have failed to make our soccer championship an event that attracts young people. Those who are no longer young still continue to distinguish between “ordinary” matches of the national championship, and “special” ones that are played against the best clubs of Europe.

Taking on Spartak in the Champions League is more than a special game for Ukrainian fans. But a game like this occurs once every 14 years. I hope that the next time Dynamo plays, on Sun­day in the regular national championship match against Metalurh Donetsk, the team’s players will know that they have the same kind of support and inspiration.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: THIRD QUALIFICATION ROUND

Dynamo Kyiv 4:1 Spartak Moscow (results of the first game-4:1)

Goals scored by Dynamo: Aliev, Bangoura, Milevsky (2) Dziuba (Spartak).

There were no serious problems among the fans during the game between Dynamo Kyiv and Spartak Moscow, Liga­biz­nes­in­form reports. According to the Pub­lic Relations Center of the Chief Police Directorate in Kyiv, the police managed to avert likely clashes between the two clubs’ fans.

Eight fans (five for Dynamo and three for Spartak) were taken to the Pechersk Raion Police Station for drinking alcoholic beverages in a public place. They were released after the police wrote up an administrative report and gave them a talking-to.

There was a clash between the two clubs’ fans at the Lo­ba­novsky Stadium before the game. The incident occurred when the Moscow fans were being escorted into the stadium and were surrounded by fans from Kyiv. One Russian received a head injury. The police managed to stop the brawl within a few minutes.