Living in the Past Makes No Sense: We Can Break into the Soccer Aristocracy

After playing the last official game of the season for the Ukrainian soccer national, 1999 can be summed up. Of course, summing up can be done in different ways and many regard the process like something being done and over with, something that cannot be changed, one way or the other. In all other cases it is just a process underway, an endless road. Thank God, Ukrainian soccer is not over and done with. Rather, everything points to its just starting, really. Thus this past year’s attainments and otherwise must be analyzed only in the context of the sport’s general evolution, ours being a small golden-blue part of world soccer.

Start with Ukraine’s number one team, Kyiv Dynamo, posing the most painful problem. I have commented on all the national’s matches, all the way through the Euro 2000 qualifiers, from the first meet with the Russians to the last with the Slovenians. I was witness to ethnic Ukrainians from various countries traveling with our team throughout the Old World, supporting it even in tiny Andorra. I could feel the Ukrainian national team’s prestige grow. Others were becoming wary of it, treating us as a favorite in any given tournament. Then came the dramatic day of November 17. Afterwards one felt as though part of one’s life had been taken away.

There is a classical Ukrainian play titled Martyn Borulia, about a Ukrainian peasant trying at all costs to receive an aristocratic title. In the final monologue he says, “So many years wasted, backbreaking toil, expectations, and money. And it all wound up crap.” Something like that was in my mind after the umpire’s final whistle in the Ukraine vs. Slovenia meet. All my colleagues were off to a news conference. I felt too exhausted to follow them at first and stayed at the Olympic Stadium’s press center for some ten minutes. We were anything but rubes in world soccer, a fact recognized even by the French world champion. Still, we were not gentry either. It would be some time before we got there. This was all right, was it not? Remember our date of birth? 1991. Getting to the top required not only nice manners, wit, and money. It also took the right kind of family tree. Two or three generations at least. This took time, of course. Most fans refused to wait that long. They wanted everything and now. Yet haste makes waste this is true of soccer, politics, and daily life. Of course, we could score a couple of big-time victories. Remember Simferopol’s Tavriya? They won the 1992 Ukrainian championships, beating Dynamo in the crucial game. And then what?

On the other hand, having not just an “aristocratic” soccer team, but also like-minded counterparts making up the so-called institution of national teams, finding the aristocratic coat of arms of Ukraine’s future aristocratic soccer is what really counts. We are now in the maturation phase. The euphoria of the first victories after Valery Lobanovsky’s return is history. It is now that foundations of future sensational victories are being laid, and I mean not passing success but what I hope to be established as a tradition. Personally, I do not favor any changes at the coaching level. Sometimes replacements are necessary like surgery that must be done to save the patient. As was the case with Shakhtar. As for Josef Szabo, I am not sure, just as I am not sure about Kolotov. Still, Mr. Szabo has made up his mind to quit Dynamo (although his resignation has not been formally accepted), meaning that one has to see to it that what is left is not laid waste, I mean what has been accomplished over the three qualifying cycles. The junior team is headed by Onyshchenko. A real professional, of course, and a graduate of the Dynamo school, which is very important. All I can say is Godspeed! Tomorrow will show who is at the head of the Ukrainian national. Lobanovsky seems the best candidate, of course, yet under the circumstances the likelihood is practically nil. Hence the post should be given some of his like-minded colleagues. For if someone else is appointed, someone focused on personal ambition, those now crucifying Szabo will very soon recall his coaching as a golden age.

Now about soccer clubs. They say that strong clubs make a strong national team. Very true. What are the actual possibilities of the Ukrainian clubs? Certain steps seem to have been taken. For example, I am sure that the decision to reduce the Top League by two teams is a clever one. This may allow enhancing the competition, and besides there will be fewer clubs that are unable even to pay the players their hard-earned money. But this decision came from PFL. What about clubs? Finally, we have Kryvbas and Metalist, Karpaty, and Mariupol’s Metalurh are showing a more stable performance. None, however, stands out as a real contender with Dynamo. The European Cup has always been the litmus paper for Ukrainian clubs. This year, our teams presented a sorry sight on the European arena. So far, our clubs are not competitive on the international level, yet players must be picked for the national. Dynamo cannot be used to patch every hole, and it is not in best shape these days. Some are just combat fatigued, others lack the experience, still others are simply fed up. Or maybe worse. In a situation like this one transfer proves the best remedy. Of course, those at the upper coaching echelons have a broader perspective. Let us just hope that the clash between Shovkovsky and Dmytrulin in the meet with Bavaria was not caused by the Ukrainian team’s microclimate but was just an emotional outburst, anger born in the heat of the battle with a powerful adversary.

Be it as it may, we do have Dynamo, a real team, considering its overall performance. This is not a visual observation or an attempt to justify it. This is a conclusion one arrives at after analyzing the technical merits and artistic impression. Such analysis is done after every game, covering every aspect and every player. Thus the road of progress chosen is correct, as are the methods. It is just that blunders by separate players in separate scenes prevented us from getting to the top this year. That there were a lot of such goofs is evidence of insufficient morale which, in turn, is caused by a lack of the proper mentality. We must get used to winning, in the best sense of the word. Like I said, this takes a couple of generations.

Our breaking into the soccer gentry is not something to expect for decades. We are stepping into the year 2000 and a new qualifying cycle. We are faced with formidable adversaries, but we have enough potential to get the better of them. We face another meet with the karmic Armenians. There will be high emotions (pleasant ones, I am tempted to say). And there is the League of Champion where we are still to have the final say. Two months of winter break are long enough to heal most of our wounds. Yes, there will be June 2000 with the bitter memories of a small country with its Karst caves. Living makes no sense, but we must not forget the past if we want to have a future. The Show must go on!