SOCCER FANS MUST HELP DYNAMO GET BACK IN SHAPE

100,000 Kyiv fans packing the capital's central stadium, along with millions watching the game on television, were anxious to see their favorites win again. The atmosphere before the meet was electrified, uniting people with different political views and personal tastes into a single eagerly excited whole. Tomorrow they would once again follow their routine political, office, and family paths, but every such occasion would be remembered long afterward, leaving a delicate but positive trace in everyone's heart.

Kyiv Dynamo needs no refenders and is completely open to criticism. They lost the game because they made mistakes, many from carelessness, and it simply could not have turned out differently.

Perhaps what decided the match was the second goal. It kicked the wind out of the team. Whereas foreign players start every game as yet another job that has to be done well, with Kyiv Dynamo much depends on emotion. If a match starts well they seem to fly across the field faster than the ball. If not, they lose their combat spirit and turn in a mediocre performance.

This must have something to do with the national subconscious. Ukrainians work well only if they enjoy doing it. Otherwise they tend to just go through the motions. And the fans. They are made of the same material, aren't they? Or maybe they do not suffer for want of professional approach (as is the case all over Ukraine)?

The show goes on. We saw Andriy Shevchenko after the game sign a card with one hand while hiding tears of defeat with the other, showing that Dynamo players do have a sense of responsibility and there are real fans who remain faithful no matter what.

Photo by Volodymyr Rasner, The Day