SHAKHTAR REFUSES TO CONCEDE DYNAMO A MONOPOLY

Not always does Kyiv Dynamo play a club with a regular season ranking than it has. Although before the game stared, Shakhtar was two games and two points ahead of Dynamo, formally they were leading the season.

Last year Shakhtar traded its main forward Serhiy Atelkin to Italy’s US Lecce but found a good substitute, Andreis Shtoltsers from Latvia. Another universal player, Ukrainian National Team member Serhiy Popov came back from Zenith of St. Petersburg.

The Dynamo roster also underwent certain changes after the League of Champions quarterfinals. Libero Vladyslav Vashchuk made a comeback after his injury. Kakha Kaladze, Georgia national team player traded to Kyiv can be seen on the field more often, and also added the brothers Volodymyr an Mykhailo Makovsky to its roster. They earlier played for Minsk Dynamo and in European clubs, for which reason they, like Kaladze were unable to assist Kyiv Dynamo on the international arena in the spring of 1998.

Honestly speaking Dynamo did not look like undefeated April 28 in the Donetsk stadium. Shevchenko was absent due to an injury. Yuri Kalyvyntsev and Vitaly Kosovsky looked less than their freshest in mid-field, while Kyiv resident and Russian national team member Oleksiy Herasymenko added heat to the game, ricocheting the ball off the goal post. Shakhtar also managed to shut down other two dangerous players, Serhiy Rebrov and Andriy Husin.

The Donetsk team had more chances to score than Kyiv’s. Even defender Serhiy Zhunenko, formerly of Volgograd Rotor could have scored. Especially active in putting together the Donetsk attack were Valery Kryventsov, Yuri Seleznyov, and Hennady Orbu. After the game, Valery Yaremchenko, the Shakhtar coach said Dynamo’s title put subliminal pressure on their opponents. And even though the game ended in a 0:0 tie, it showed that there are other soccer teams in Ukraine beside Kyiv Dynamo.

On May 2 in Zaporizhzhia Shakhtar could not overcome the outsider, the local Torpedo (0:0), and in Kyiv Dynamo put to flight another Zaporizhzhia club, Metalurh 2:1. Thus Dynamo leads with 50 points (of 63 possible), followed by Shakhtar with 50 (69), and Poltava Vorskla with 45 (69).