To the memory day of Andrey Gusin

Exactly eight years ago, on September 17, 2014, ex-midfielder of Dynamo and the Ukrainian national team Andriy Husin passed away.

Andrey Gusin

Let us recall the football portrait of Andrey Gusin, the iconic player of the "white-blue" times of the third team-star Lobanovsky.

He could have been a solid striker, but the genius of Lobanovsky saw in him the makings of the best defensive midfielder of his era in Ukrainian football. He could have succeeded as a coach, implementing the knowledge gained under the guidance of the leading coaches of Ukraine, but he passed away early in the prime of his life and ideas.

In the history of Dynamo and the Ukrainian national team, Andriy Husin remains young - always smiling and at the same time as concentrated as possible, cheerful in life and uncompromising on the field, a wonderful family man and a football man of maximum professionalism and dedication.

Remains in memory...

Andrey Gusin was born on December 11, 1972 in Zolochiv, Lviv region, in a family of athletes. His father Leonid and mother Valentina were capable athletes, so the future collection had sports genes from childhood. It is clear that the young athlete showed promise in other sports, but football still won. Andrei studied diligently at school, but try differently when dad works here! Interestingly, in the Lvov infinity, where Andrey Husin ended up as a versatile athlete with great prospects not only in football, but also in athletics, he defended his thesis on the tactics of Dynamo Kyiv. Oh, fate, what plots can you prepare...

In "Karpaty", where he started under the leadership of Andrey Karimov, a tall, stately young man was assigned to the forwards. In the same capacity, Viktor Khodukin invited him to Zhidachev's Avangard, later to Karpaty (Kamenka-Bugskaya), and Vladimir Zhuravchak to Gazovik (Komarno). A whole galaxy of promising football players, peers at that time, entered big football - Gusin, Kardash, Wirth, Beno ... a whole galaxy of Galician football players who had grown to a good level.

In Lviv Karpaty, where Andrey Husin got in 1992, he made his debut simply incredible. On September 6, with a score of 0:0 in the match with Niva Ternopil, he came on as a substitute at half-time and secured the victory for the hosts with two goals, scoring against the future teammate Tyapushkin. What more debut could the striker want?

On June 26, 1993, Gusin made his debut in the Ukrainian national team, replacing Gritsyna during the break in a friendly match with the Croats. In Zagreb, the guests were losing when Andrey closed the set piece from Konovalov. Thus, he made his debut in the national team effectively. The legendary Oleg Bazilevich, who headed the national team at that time, highly appreciated the prospects of the young player.

It was impossible not to notice such a forward. Although at the club he managed to score less than a dozen goals at that time, the progress of the young forward did not leave Dynamo unattended. Karpaty Lviv lost in the Ukrainian Cup final in 1993, but Gusin won! Soon, Dynamo Kyiv invited a promising footballer to join their roster. It can be said that the capital club saved Andriy for Ukrainian football - because at that time several foreign teams were interested in him at once, in particular Asmaral (Moscow), from which several pupils of Ukrainian football were naturalized in the Russian national team, including Semak from the Luhansk region.

At Dynamo, Gusin faced unprecedented competition - in those years, Leonenko, Shevchenko, Rebrov, Skachenko, Dzhishkariani, Prizetko, Samoilov, Nesterchuk, Golokolosov were in the team's attack, and this list is undoubtedly incomplete. Therefore, only the best survived in this struggle - even the talented sometimes fell under the blows of fate, and only the strong-willed found a way to prove themselves.

Gusin scored 27 goals in 48 matches in the first two seasons at Dynamo-2, but he could not break into the first club team. The striker was even loaned to CSKA-Borisfen, where, with the help of Tsikhmeystruk and other great passers, Gusin scored 12 goals in 30 matches of the championship and the Cup of the 1995/96 season. It could have been even better if not for the laceration of the knee in the match for the national team and a few more bruises in matches in the domestic arena. The Israeli team Maccabi (Haifa) was interested in Andrey, but he wanted to prove his level in the club to which he belonged. But the desired breakthrough upon returning to Dynamo did not happen.

There was even a moment - Andrey was seriously considered for strengthening by the South Korean "Ilva". And it's still lucky that the foreign club regretted paying 400 thousand dollars for Gusin - that's what kind of player Dynamo could lose. In the meantime, the 24-year-old forward was once again forced to prove his level for Dynamo-2, fate itself smiled at him, rewarding him for his diligence and intransigence.

Legend has it that Andrey Gusin owes his successful career to one half in front of Valery Lobanovsky. Allegedly, the Mater discussed the problem of a defensive midfielder with his assistants while watching the Dynamo-2 match, and said to them: “Why do you say that we don’t have such a player? Here he is playing, a ready-made defensive midfielder is running around the field, look.” And Gusin, just the day before, transferred by Onishchenko to the middle line, also scored the ball after a solo passage through the entire field ...

Since then, everything has happened very quickly: gaining prestige in Dynamo, returning to the national team. Until recently, center forward Gusin traveled to the stadiums of the first league, and now the defensive midfielder Gusin played against the European champions - the Germans, played in European competitions against giants from top championships, exchanged T-shirts with "twin brother" Karsten Ramelov from Bayer Leverkusen ... Lightning-fast reincarnation - unexpected for outside observers, but quite logical for Lobanovsky's systemic football, where the one who worked on himself externally overcame several steps at a time in the steps of increasing his skill.

Andrey Gusin made his debut in the first club team on April 6, 1997 against Niva Vinnytsia - a recent finalist of the Ukrainian Cup was beaten 2: 0, and a few matches later scored the future bronze medalist - Vorskla - his first goal for Dynamo in the Premier League. Imagine, already on June 7, at the NSC Olimpiyskiy, Gusin played in conjunction with Maksimov against the German national team - and the Ukrainians played an honorable draw 0:0 with the current European champions. It was Andrey's first match for the national team in two years - just after that excruciating injury in the Slovenian match in 1995.

That Dynamo is one of the main impressions in the history of Russian football. Quarter-finals in the first season, Champions League semi-finals in the next. We ourselves did not recognize favorites who could previously lose to Xamax, Rapid or Anderlecht. And among the leading players of Lobanovsky's team was precisely Gusin - he scored against Brondby and Aalborg in qualifying, Peruzzi - in a match with Juventus in Turin, gave powerful matches with Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid, Bayer. In 1997-2004, Andrey Gusin played 264 matches for Dynamo on the domestic and international arena, scoring 32 goals. He became the champion of Ukraine 7 times (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004), won the Ukrainian Cup four times (1998, 1999, 2000 and 2003) and won the Super Cup of Ukraine in the premiere draw (2004).

At 32, Andriy Gusin left Dynamo Kiev, not fitting into Jozsef Szabo's tactical formations, but we could only guess that in fact he went to play, not to finish playing. In "Wings of the Soviets" and "Saturn", under the leadership of Gadzhi Gadzhiev, he regained his playing tone and continued his sports longevity. And very opportunely - the Ukrainian national team really lacked such a player. Even remembering Gusin's bright debut for the national team, as well as outstanding matches against the Germans and the French in the 90s, one can say that he saved his best fights for the national team for the later period of his career.

33-year-old Gusin was the oldest in Oleg Blokhin's application for the 2006 World Championship. However, he did not travel as a tourist, but as a leading player - and not on a discount ticket, but as one of the leaders of that team. It is difficult to determine what was more important - Denmark's goal at the very start of the qualifying, which helped Blokhin not lose at Parken, Albania's goal in Tirana, Greece's goal in Piraeus. In the 81st minute, Rotan gave a split pass from the left flank to the center, and the tired Gusin, far from being the fastest player even in his youth, bypassed Fyssas, Basinas, went to Nikopolidis and clearly shot past the goalkeeper of the European champions. Oleg Blokhin shrugged his shoulders after the match - he was already going to replace Andriy, and with his goal, 99.9% secured the national team a ticket to the Premier World Cup for Ukraine. There, as if a reward for many years on the way to recognition, Gusin and the team became quarter-finalists. In total, he played 71 matches for the national team, scoring 9 goals and 1 assist.

Until almost 37 years old, Andrey Gusin was on the bids of Gadzhi Gadzhiev's teams - Wings of the Soviets, Saturn, Khimki. He combined performances with the work of an assistant to the head coach. When he finally gave up football, he was his assistant at Anji. In 2010-2013 Andrey Leonidovich headed Dynamo-2. As a senior coach of the reserve team of Kiev, he helped in the development of such players as Kichak, Rudko, Novak, Sukhotsky, Lyulka, Makarenko, Koval, Partsvania, Dopilka, Kushnirov, Schedry, Hoblenko, Chernomorets, Korkishko, Volynets, A. Favorov, Balan , Loginov, Kaverin, Israilov. Not all of these guys - even the 2009 European champions - realized later in football. The results of Dynamo-2 were not the best either, which for the first time in history had to even defend its place in the First League in play-offs. But who understands, he understood that there was no more passing application, there was no opportunity to be strengthened by players from the first team during the season. The young coach worked for a clean job - and some of his wards still grew to the national team, international level, which means that he still listened to what the coaches advised, drew conclusions and progressed. Like the player Gusin himself...

...He was full of ideas and plans. By and large, I was only at the beginning of my coaching journey. Andrey's love for speed was expressed in the hobby of a motorist and a motorcyclist. On September 17, 2014, Andrey Leonidovich Gusin crashed on a motorcycle at the autodrome in the village of Chaiki near Kyiv. He was only 41 years old. He remained very young in memory - and Andrei is now recognized in his sons, because Vanya and Andrei Jr. also play football - and also in the central axis. A memorial tournament is dedicated to the memory of Andrey Gusin, and this trophy is played both in the capital and in western Ukraine, where his parents come from.

Agree, we really miss Andrei Gusin in modern domestic football. And Dynamo, and the national team, and our coaching workshop. And the best thing we can do is pay tribute to this bright and sunny person, keep the memory of an outstanding player and representative of a glorious sports dynasty.