"I lived in a wonderful football time" - this is how the famous football player, Honored Master of Sports, five-time champion of the USSR, seven-time winner of the USSR Cup, winner of the Cup of Cups and the UEFA Super Cup in 1975, bronze medalist of the 1976 Olympics called his second book, published in 2007 in Montreal Leonid Buryak. He played 56 matches in the USSR, 51 in European competitions for Dynamo.
Photo: fcdynamo.comBuryak is an honored coach of Ukraine, the best coach of the country in 1994 and 1995, a former coach of the national team of Ukraine. In his book, the author talks about life, about the path in big football, about his coaching career, about friends, about family.
For those who have not been able to read this book, I offer three more fragments from its 27 chapters, and these are 314 pages.
I had to win
In the 1982 season, Dynamo Minsk became the main contender for the gold medals of the national championship. The Minsk team outperformed Spartak and Dynamo Tbilisi, ahead of us. At the end of the championship, we caught up with them on points and three rounds before the end of the championship we hosted Spartak in Kyiv. It was necessary to win.
To be honest, the task did not seem so difficult to me personally. Firstly, they took the opponent at home, which always adds strength. Secondly, we are still stronger than Spartak. This has been proven by the results of recent years. Yes, and the match was very prestigious.
But we lost. And although on this day, the Minskers, playing on their field, also lost a point (but one, not two, like us) in the match with Pakhtakor, one could almost certainly assume that the dispute between us had already been resolved.
Then, however, towards the end of the championship, we defeated Dynamo Tbilisi and Ararat, but the Minskers also turned out to be on top: in the last two rounds, they defeated Moscow teammates and Spartak.
As a result of many months of struggle, Dynamo Minsk scored 47 points, Dynamo Kiev - 46, Spartak - 41. But our fans got used to more and expected more from us. Therefore, the finish of the championship turned out to be less joyful than we expected.
Endowed with the "Quality of all qualities"
When Blokhin's farewell match was played at the Republican Stadium, Oleg forgot or did not want to invite me to it. Others invited, and together we played as part of the world team. Our relationship has remained normal. Maybe not as close as before, when there were common interests, one coach and one dream. Of course, the past was somehow erased, overgrown with silt ...
It's a shame that there is a lot of gossip around us. People want to present everything differently than it really is. I have always respected Blokhin, his coaching and deputy activities. With this man, I won a lot, and I was brought up in such a way that I treat such things very carefully.
...Here I will allow myself a small digression in order to share some of my thoughts on the components of Blokhin's talent. "The quality of all the qualities of a striker is the greatest performance of the game." These words belong to one of the most respected coaches - Boris Andreevich Arkadiev. Yes, the whole team is striving for a goal, for the sake of this “little miracle” all 11 football players who are on the field and united in a team are plowing, sparing no effort. When that very final moment comes, the decisive word must be said by someone alone. Experts call it "realization of the scoring chance". So, since 1972, Oleg Blokhin has been convincing everyone throughout all the seasons of his playing career that he, like no one else, is endowed with "the quality of all qualities." And he convinced me.
The main thing is training, not doctors
In recent years, the health of Valery Vasilyevich Lobanovsky has deteriorated. As the doctors determined, he had a whole "bouquet" of ailments. Vasilyich, clenching his teeth, continued to work and did not want to hear about the treatment. The club leaders offered him to undergo an examination and hospitalization in the best clinics in Israel, Germany or Spain.
When Dynamo held a training camp in Israel, they managed to drag him into the office of the local star. He promised that in a week and a half one of the flowers in the "bouquet of diseases" would fade forever. For this, it was necessary to undergo a course of treatment in a hospital. Everyone persuaded Lobanovsky, but more than others - Igor Mikhailovich Surkis. But everything was in vain.
“I didn’t come to lie in a hospital bed. We have a lot of work. Let's hurry up. The return trip will take about two hours. The head coach is not supposed to be late for classes, ”Vasilyich was indignant after a visit to the“ luminary ”.
He treated money dispassionately, there was not an ounce of commercialism in him. Goods and comfort did not attract him. He was an incurable idealist workaholic. The material was in last place for him.
Only once did he admit that when he saw a cozy cottage in the vicinity of Montreal during the 1976 Olympics, he was imbued with a desire to build the same one in a quiet place near Kyiv. Igor Mikhailovich found out about this and somehow took Vasilyich to Koncha-Zaspa. Soon a wooden frame was erected there. He came here with pleasure - the accumulated fatigue was removed as if by hand. When rare days fell out, or even hours of rest, he invited: "Let's go to the piece of wood."
Alexander LIPENKO
