Zaporozhian Europe

The typical scenario of the last few soccer seasons changed last fall, when the First League’s team Karpaty beat Ukraine’s champion Shakhtar in Lviv. As a result, the future finalist made it to the second round of the National Cup tournaments and qualified for the EUFA Cup.

After the cancellation of the Cup Holders’ Cup in Europe, national cup holders have been playing for the UEFA Cup. In Ukraine’s case, if the National Cup is won by Dynamo or Shakhtar, the Cup finalist is qualified for the European Cup, since our two leading clubs start off in the Champions League every year. If the two Ukrainian soccer leaders meet in the Cup finals, the European Cup slot goes to the team that places fourth in the Ukrainian championships.

After beating Shakhtar, Lviv Karpaty invalidated the fourth column on the championships fixture list, rendering the Cup finalist status truly worth its weight in gold. In their victorious euphoria the Lviv team saw itself occupying that status, but the semifinals game against Dynamo was an instant cold shower for fans and others. From a team in the limelight Karpaty once again turned into an ordinary First League team competing for entry into the Top League.

It didn’t cost the capital’s Dynamo too much effort to put the ambitious Galicians in their place. After scoring a victory in Lviv with half the players from reserve, Dynamo turned the rematch in Kyiv into a formality, a “prestige game” for Karpaty. After the match the prestige of the Lviv team remained unchanged, as Dynamo had little trouble beating their rival again (1:0). This and the first meet’s result added to a more than convincing score of 3:0, leaving the rival no chance.

In contrast, the second pair of semifinalists, Zaporizhia’s Metalurh and Mariupil’s Illichivets, battled it out between themselves with considerably greater strain. Aware of the cost of victory, both teams did their utmost. After losing the game in Zaporizhia (1:2), the Mariupil team had to win on home turf, 1:0, and then to start preparing for the UEFA Cup. The Zaporozhians, however, even though they are low on the fixture list, scored the first goal in Mariupil. For a while this left the hosting team demoralized. In the end Illichivets managed to get even, but the tie was not enough.

Zaporizhia’s Metalurh qualified for soccer Europe by the total number of points. After coach Viacheslav Hrozny took over the team, it began to resemble Kyiv’s Arsenal of a few years ago in terms of both field performance and team composition. Hrozny brought a group of loyal players from Zaporizhia, led by Nahorniak and Kutarba. There are practically no doubts left that Metalurh will not be kicked out of the Top League. As for the UEFA Cup, Metalurh will celebrate this soccer fest at a new stadium, the only one built in Ukraine in the past several years.

As for Illichivets’s failure, this team is made up of the so-called second line of players, in other words those that Shakhtar and Metalurh no longer needed, and is apparently not prepared to play in Europe-and not only according to soccer criteria. With its name [Illichivets means “supporter of Illich”, i.e., Lenin] chosen by the Mariupil club several years ago, the team’s appearance on European soccer fields would be somewhat embarrassing. Russia’s Fakel team from Voronezh changed its name for different reasons.

The Ukrainian Cup final game will be played in Kyiv on May 2, and will launch finals week. By a decision of the Professional Soccer League of Ukraine, the last round of the tournaments has been rescheduled, as was the case last year, so that one week after the Ukrainian Cup finals the capital will host the championships’ final match between Dynamo and Shakhtar.

If both teams end up with the same number of points, a rematch will be held on May 14. A venue has not been decided yet, either because of the league’s inadequate performance or because its leadership does not believe that Shakhtar will be able to catch up with Dynamo, which remains invincible on the domestic arena this season.

Ukrainian Cup Semifinals

Dynamo (Kyiv) vs. Karpaty (Lviv): 1:0 (2:0, first meet)

Illichivets (Mariupil) vs. Metalurh (Zaporizhia): 1:1 (1:2, first meet)