Assessment to "expert" assessment

An expert is a specialist who performs an examination. This definition of the interpretive dictionary of the Ukrainian language leaves an immeasurable space both for those who climb into the circle of specialists-carriers of precious opinions, and for those who, having already gotten there, cut coupons of their own importance.

The latter, however, in a too wide and varied circle, is often replaced by egocentrism, arrogance, contempt for the surrounding world. Is it simple, in the opinion of a person initiated as an expert, to grow on emotions: the more loudly and indisputably you convey the product of your thinking, the more authoritative you will be for the audience.

Against the background of Russian aggression, all kinds of political scientists and military experts have proliferated, forming a whole noosphere on YouTube. Football "colleagues" are far from them at the moment, but they also have their share of demand, because the renewal of the sports process in Ukraine and the international performances of our athletes are a very important factor in the state's desire for victory, peaceful life and reconstruction.

Sometimes it is difficult to understand how it is possible to draw conclusions about the tone of teams that have spent more than six months outside the competitive process, getting to the European Cup actually from a civilian ship of charity sparring. The state of football players - physical and especially moral - is known for sure only to those who take care of their training on a daily basis: coaches, doctors, massage therapists. That's why, probably, you don't hear almost really high-quality, in-depth analytics. Instead, it is full of emotions that do not add anything to the information space, except for fierce arguments in an empty space.

Here, for example, Jozef Sabo, famous in the past from Dynamo Kyiv, shared his impressions of the victory of Mircea Lucescu's team over Fenerbahce in the Champions League qualification. "Today, Fenerbahce is a weak team, much weaker than Dynamo. Dynamo should have beaten this team," Jozef Jozefovich gave his verdict on the work of Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus, who, again according to Sabo, needed victory in this round of selection much more than Kyiv.

A person who has spent so many years in big football should not forget that any team plays as the opponent allows it. And the fact that Fenerbahçe, they say, "didn't show anything", is primarily the merit of the Dynamo team. However, Sabo claims that the white and blue did not show much for a league championship match. So, maybe the scythe bumped into a stone, maybe opponents of approximately the same level met?

At the same time, the Istanbulites did not just spend a fierce tournament spring, winning one of the two tickets to the most prestigious European Cup in a rather difficult national championship. The Canaries are on an impressive undefeated streak! The last time they lost was on February 24, the day soccer in Ukraine was paused due to the invasion of Putin's hordes. And it was in an attempt to return to the Champions League that Fener invited the titular Jesus, giving the Portuguese a generous loan for summer transfers. And Sabo crossed out all these efforts and achievements in one fell swoop. As, in fact, the inconsistency of Dynamo's success...

Valery Lobanovsky once said: categorical judgments are characteristic of the ignorant. You can't call Sabo like that at all. However, it is categoricalness that is one of Jozef Jozefovich's calling cards. Ever since he asserted himself on the green lawn, not sparing himself, his opponents, or - sometimes - his partners. The sharpness and sharpness of Szabo's verdicts - on a high emotional level, but mostly without diving into purely football subtleties - struck a chord with the heads of well-known TV channels when they tried to establish a monopoly on the domestic media market. Moreover, as a rule, the "expertise" from the truth-taker was directed precisely at the assessment of the performances of Dynamo Kyiv, for which special standards of game quality and results were established at that TRC.

It so happened that TV channels have been deprived of their licenses for a week now. Perhaps Jozef Szabo simply does not know about this, so he continues to work out according to the usual "patterns" based on inertia and a once-set trajectory? In my opinion, the analysis of Dynamo "flights" can and should have been conducted with at least a hint of flexibility and maximum correctness. At least out of respect for Mircea Lucescu and the extraordinary conditions in which he has to work.

By the way, the Romanian, who flatly refuses to leave active coaching, is only five years younger than the 82-year-old Szabo. And he last worked in his profession 17 years ago! Football in its directions and trends has had time to change significantly, and the sofa expert remained somewhere there, in 2005, when at the head of Dynamo lost the championship gold to Lucescu, and since then he has been sharing ideas and experience exclusively with the viewer-reader.

My senior colleagues, personally familiar with Yozhef Yozhefovych much more closely, admit that at one time on the pages of Ukrainian print publications (mainly "Sportivnaya Gazeta") he could and liked to delight fans with really interesting analysis - where a subtle understanding of the subject, emotions and acted as a kind of wine vinegar for a fresh salad. It is a pity to note that that Szabo - apt, witty, interesting - was replaced by a grumbling critic, for whom professionalism and corporate spirit in the former Dynamo heart were supplanted by opportunistic reflexes.

And it is even more embarrassing that he has a whole galaxy of imitators. Younger generations of football fans, who, unfortunately, did not have the opportunity to listen to and read Valery Lobanovskyi, Oleg Bazylyevich, Valery Mirskyi, seriously consider the Leonenkos and Salenkovs to be experts of various calibers. Consuming sometimes a "stream of consciousness" of such dubious content that not just disappointment arises, but resentment for Ukrainian football.

He definitely does not deserve this. Whatever it looks like through the prism of the military present. Whatever it is...

Yurii Korzachenko