Analysis of the career problems of one of the most talented goalkeepers of Ukraine 10 years ago, Maksym Koval.
Maxim KovalAt the end of the year, Maksym Koval will turn 30. If you had asked me 10 years ago what I imagined him to be like at 30, I would have said, without a doubt, the main goalkeeper of "Dynamo" (or even the captain of the team) or a player of a club from a leading championship. In August 2022, Maxim signed a contract with the champion of Moldova "Sherif". We are not even talking about the national team of Ukraine. Let's try together to figure out why it all happened.
Hastened with the transfer to "Dynamo"
At a certain stage, "Dynamo" had a problem with the goalkeeping position. The then coach of Kyiv, Yuriy Semin, did not trust Shovkovsky. Stanislav Bogush became the main one. After the arrival of another Russian - Valery Gazzaev - problems began with Bogush. Kyiv signed the Ukrainian prodigy Maksym Koval from Zaporizhzhia "Metalurg" as an emergency.
Everything was very simple for the "metallurgists": if there was a problematic position, a player from the youth team was taken to that place. In this way, the young men had a chance to prove themselves in professional football. Koval was remembered for the fact that he took a penalty in the Metalurg - Dynamo match in the last seconds of the game from Artem Milevskii. After that, the entire soccer Ukraine started talking about Maxim's talents. When "Dynamo" had problems with the goalkeeper, everyone already knew where to look for reinforcements.
To call a spade a spade, Koval was not ready to move to Dynamo in the summer of 2010. He did not undergo any pre-season training with the team. He did not have a serious school behind him. Immediately started against "Ajax" in the qualification of the Champions League.
At first, everything was based on adrenaline, emotions. Maxim had enough self-confidence to overcome his own shortcomings. But over time, all the goalkeeper's flaws became more and more apparent. Koval had big problems with the game at the exits. He didn't always make the right decisions. All this often led to goal mistakes.
It turned out that there was very little self-confidence and the desire to play for such a team as Dynamo. Here, every mistake is treated as in the palm of your hand. What was happening in Zaporozhye was not happening in the capital at all.
At the same time, it is a sin for Maxim to complain that he was not given a chance. Following Gazzaev, Koval also played for Blokhin, Rebrov and Khatskevich. The apogee was a mistake in the away qualifying match of the Champions League against Young Boys, when Maxim released the ball after a corner kick, which cost the Kyiv team a place in the Champions League and serious cash bonuses.
If Koval had played in his native Zaporizhzhia for a couple more years, scored "his" goals, he could have turned out to be a goalkeeper of a completely different level. At Dynamo, psychological pressure immediately began. Here, the goalkeeper should rarely make mistakes and miss even less often. Oleksandr Shovkovsky raised the bar very high. Any blunders by the goalkeepers of "Dynamo" make you think of SaSho. Maxim was unprepared for psychological pressure. He was afraid to make a mistake. All this led to even bigger problems.
The Shovkovsky factor is also very relevant. It was extremely difficult to win competition from such a "monster". Alexander had bad periods when he himself lost a place at the start, but he always came out even stronger. Imagine what Maxim's moral and psychological state was like when he went to Kyiv to play, but eventually ended up on the bench. He clearly did not prepare for such a turn and did not know how to live with it.
Unsuccessful transitions
Not everything was smooth with the change of clubs either. Each transfer left behind more questions than answers.
First lease to "Hoverla". It was more like exile. The already star football player went to Transcarpathia together with his understudies. The level of partners is not very high, so miracles are expected from the goalkeeper. Koval tried to live up to the status of the goalkeeper of the first team, but not everything worked out. It seems to me that at that time he began to feel the first serious insecurity in his own strength.
Then Odense. The goalkeeper of the national team of Ukraine, a participant of the European Championship, with the experience of playing for Dynamo, moves to the Danish middle school. And it goes on the last day of the transfer window. No preparation for the season with the team, no adaptation to life in Scandinavia. All this led to a disaster. Koval just lost his status as a promising goalkeeper.
The loan to Deportivo is generally the apogee. After a vacation, when Dynamo was just getting in shape at the meetings, he went to one of the strongest football leagues in the world. Without knowing the language, without training with the team. All this ended with a memorable tragic failure.
Going to the Middle East at the age of 26 is definitely too early. You can make money there, but in terms of development and prospects... You have to give credit to Koval, who lasted 4 seasons in a very difficult country with a special attitude towards foreigners. But after Saudi Arabia, it is difficult to hope for good offers from Europe.
Wants to prove himself in the Europa League
Probably, Maxim would have remained in the Middle East. But Al-Fateh did not want to extend the contract. The Ukrainian goalkeeper found himself in the status of a free agent. I was waiting for him to return to the Motherland, or move to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, maybe even the USA.
But Koval chose the option with "Sheriff". A club representing the occupied region of Moldova. Transnistria is an entity created by the Russians that supports the Russian Federation in the war against Ukraine. What else can be added here... Instead, we have the example of the former coach of Zaporizhzhia "Metalurg" Yury Vernydub, who broke with "Sheriff" after the start of a full-scale war and returned to defend his native land.
"Sheriff" is a football enclave of sorts. The club conducts selection thanks to agency activity. Trying to take motley legionnaires to make money from the best. At one time, the scandalous ex-Dynamo player Kherson Rodriguez visited there. The Luxembourger perfectly characterizes the transfer policy of the champion of Moldova. If you prove yourself, you will be sold and earn some money. And if something doesn't work out, they quickly forget and get rid of it, as happened with our Andriy Bliznichenko.
Last season, "Sheriff" was able to go to the Champions League and beat "Shakhtar" and "Real" in the group stage. Much credit for this to the then coach of the Vernydub team. He is no longer in Tiraspol, as are most of the players.
Koval is called to become the team's main goalkeeper in LE matches, because this time it was not possible to make it to the Champions League. In the final match of the LE League, the team will play against the Armenian "Pyunik". The chances of getting into the group are very good. Maxim has to replace one of the heroes of last season, the Greek goalkeeper Athanasiadis, who returned to Athens after a loan in Moldova.
If Koval proves himself in the European Cups, he will get a chance to move to a slightly stronger club and championship. If it doesn't work out in Tiraspol, then it will be necessary to definitely return to Ukraine, signing a contract with a middle-class or even an outsider.
Serhii Tyshchenko
