Shakhtar Stays in Europe
London’s Arsenal, which arrived in Donetsk for the final match in the Champions League group tournament, brought a far from adequate arsenal. In fact, this was common knowledge. The point is not that the English runner-up’s bench warmers are weak rivals for Shakhtar’s first string, but that this gesture shows that the English club’s managers did not set themselves the task of beating the Ukrainian squad at all costs. Perhaps, an injury that a player paid several million pounds could receive on Donetsk’s cold pitch worried the English more than the loss of a UEFA Bonus of several hundred thousand pounds for a win over Shakhtar (Miner). Indeed, there is no need to swagger when the club has already secured the top rung in its group and is still to play Premier League home matches twice a week. Yet, even the Arsenal squad that came out on the Shakhtar stadium pitch on Tuesday night were no less star-studded than any other super club. Suffice it to remember the forward line composed of Kanu, Wiltord, and Henry.
The initial slow pace of the game made it possible for us to compare once again the technical skills of the miners and gunners. Whenever our players took the ball, we seemed to hear the shudders of a Moskvich-412 engine, which starts not always and not quickly. The visitors, though, began their combinations like a Mercedes that gets off to a flying start and takes just a few seconds to reach the speed of 100 km/h. All the Ukrainians could counterpoise to Arsenal’s mastery was an all-out effort every second of the game. Arsen Wenger chose a “pure ball game,” an atypical tactic for British soccer. Shakhtar, with their swift flank breakthroughs and stubborn potshots at the free-kick area, looked more British in Donetsk.
Observing the now customary errors of our Donetsk fullbacks, mostly foreigners, all we could hope for was the visitors’ inaccuracy, the skill of goalie Virt, and the mistakes of the referees who, fortunately, disallowed Wiltord’s sure goal “organized” by Bakhariev in the mid-field, where our halfback was robbed of the ball by his English counterparts. Of course, it is up to Viktor Prokopenko to decide who should play in the defensive line center, but I could not help being shocked, comparing Okoronkwo with the true stars of African origin who played for Arsenal.
Back in the sixties, it was considered a good omen if a team had at least one red-haired Jew. But times have changed. I don’t know about Jews, but the role of the red- haired is now increasingly being played by Africans. No doubt, with a Nigerian in its squad, Shakhtar looks like a serious European club. But does it do any good for its last line of defense? This time we made it. The visitors were not exactly bursting to win and failed, perhaps for this reason, to take advantage of Shakhtar fullbacks’ several blunders. Conversely, the hosts took full advantage of the errors of Arsenal central defender Keown who blundered twice in simple situations, allowing Atelkin and, in the second half, Bielik to score without problems. Vorobei’s spectacular free-kick goal deserves a special article, which this writer is not yet ready to do.
The English seemed to be unable to set the desired pace to the game versus Shakhtar after our runner-up had been easily trounced in Rome. The visitors never managed to put up adequate resistance to the victory- seeking Shakhtar. By the time Henry, who was passive that night, was substituted, the final result had been a foregone conclusion. The attempts of the poorly organized gunners to launch an attack each time triggered a counterattack by the hosts. The 3:0 score could have been even wider, but our side chose not to stomp the demoralized guests into the ground, exactly like Lazio confined itself to three and five goals, respectively, against Shakhtar, although they could have scored many more.
The last minutes of the Donetsk match showed that we see now a Shakhtar different from the one which as recently as in September was afraid of its own audacity when playing against super clubs. The club undoubtedly has ample grounds to continue performance on the European arena, and in case of a lucky draw Ukraine will be able to preserve its presence in the UEFA Cup until springtime. It is, of course, a success for the team and its coach to come off third best in such a strong Champions League group. This success is still weightier, given the current difficulties of Kyiv Dynamo. Donetsk has managed to find forwards of its own, without inviting players from mediocre Russian teams.
What was being discussed cautiously in August has now come to pass: Ukraine really has more than one classy soccer team. As we know, alliance makes it easier to beat the enemy, i.e., to raise our soccer from its current plight to a genuine European level.
