What Did They Fight for?

Metalurh (Donetsk) 1, Parma (Italy) 1; Dynamo (Bucharest, Rumania) 2, Shakhtar (Donetsk) 0; Hamburg (Germany) 2, Dnipro (Dnipropetrovsk) 1. By our standards, Ukrainian participants in the UEFA Cup got off to quite a good start this time — in comparison with last year’s 1 to 5 and 0 to 8 walloping that our Donetsk-based representatives in Europe, Shakhtar and Metalurh, took from Austria and Werder. But if look impartially at the opening games, there is absolutely nothing to brag about. Of course, the Italian Parma and German Hamburg are strong European clubs but they are by no means such grandees as Juventus or Bayern. So why then did the Ukrainian players have the jitters? What were the Ukrainian championship leaders afraid of after suddenly scoring a goal against the foreign rivals?

One can lose or draw a game differently, but no one else in the world can do these things the way our clubs do. Both Metalurh in Donetsk and Dnipro in Hamburg gave up well before the match. Our players proved their second-rate status and readiness to give up with every step they made onto the pitch. It does not matter, incidentally, whether the team exclusively consists of Ukrainians and is headed by a Ukrainian coach, as is the case of Dnipro, or the club has gathered international players and coach, as Metalurh has.

European cups are not the championship of Ukraine, where the rivals give up well before the game and referees, fearful of hurting an influential club, are ready to whistle at the players’ command. What is this? Shakhtar wins eleven consecutive victories in the championship and cup of Ukraine and then is tossed around on the pitch by far from the world’s best clubs in European cup ties? Just recall the match in Tiraspol, when Ukraine’s runners-up made a hairbreadth escape from the local Sheriff. The Moldovans took pity on the coal miners. Conversely, the ethnically kindred Romanians made full use of their clear advantage.

One can argue that Shakhtar, Dnipro and, under certain conditions, even Metalurh can still save the day in return matches. I don’t think so. One can remedy himself if he lost accidentally, due to bad luck. Last week everything favored our clubs. All they had to do was play without fear and to the best of their ability. They just didn’t do it.

Bitter as it is, we saw again that there was and still is only one European-class club, Dynamo Kyiv, in Ukraine. No invested money and no foreign players and coaches will ever replace class. The hopes that our soccer will catch up with that in Europe have again been smashed against not so high European stone walls.

The relative failure at the UEFA Cup kickoff can also do us good. For example, this could make some coaches and soccer functionaries divert their efforts from putting all the blame on referees to trying to boost the professional level of our squads.

I have always advocated supporting our soccer and our clubs, I have always rejected the strange habit of cheering for the clubs of Italy, Spain, or England, but today I find no words in defense of our soccer. Our soccer, personified by our leading clubs, has to defend itself on its own. We must not feel ashamed for the way Ukrainian clubs play in Europe, we must take pride if not in the result then at least in the way the Ukrainians play against foreign clubs. When can these hopes come true? In a two weeks’ time when UEFA Cup return matches are being played? Can we hope that our squads will regain strength, cease to be afraid of their rivals and play at their best? Well, it is better to wait for two weeks than for a solid year.