Some episodes from the football life of famous Dynamo players.
Anatoliy Konkov - Honoured Master of Sports. He played for the Kyiv club since 1973. Four-time champion of the USSR (1975, 1977, 1980, 1981), winner of the Union Cup in 1978, Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 1975. He played 50 matches for the main and Olympic national teams of the former USSR. Silver medallist of Euro-1972, bronze medallist of OI-1976 in Montreal.
Valery Lobanovsky said about Konkov: "Anatoly Konkov is a player of Beckenbauer's level. In the selection of the ball he is flawless, his passes are accurate, timely and directed to the right place".
Anatoly KonkovCaught in a "crush"
1972 was a memorable year for Anatoly. Konkov played for the national team in the final stage of the European Championship in Belgium. The Dynamo player scored the only goal against the Hungarians in the semi-final match and led our team to the final. In the decisive game, the USSR national team lost (0:3) to the FRG team.
Now we can only dream about "silver" at the European Championship. Back then, the country's top party leadership considered the defeat at the hands of "ideological enemies" a disgrace. The European vice-champions were accused of being characterless, even spineless. Konkov was also under the "squeeze".
CSKA's operation failed
In 1972, Konkov was very interested in the club CSKA. On one of his arrivals at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, Konkov was met by... a group of army guys with the task of handing Anatoly a summons to the military recruitment centre. The footballer actively resisted those who met him, a banal scuffle ensued. Suddenly the police came to Anatoly's aid, mistaking the fighters for a "gopota" who had run over the passenger. As a result of the brawl, a window glass in the airport building was broken, and Konkov managed to escape from the burly "representatives of the military enlistment office". CSKA's operation failed miserably.
Victory was brought by Konkov!
8 June 1975 in Luzhniki in the presence of 70 thousand fans, the USSR national team under the leadership of Valery Lobanovsky in a friendly match hosted the national team of Italy.
In the starting line-up of the hosts came 11 Dynamo Kyiv: Rudakov - Troshkin, Fomenko, Konkov, Matvienko - Buriak, Muntian, Kolotov, Veremeev - Onishchenko, Blokhin. In the second half Veremeev was replaced by Reshko.
For "Scuadra Adzurra" played Dzoff, Facchetti, Chinaglia, Capello.... Our national team won - 1:0. The only goal was scored in the 63rd minute by Anatoly Konkov, who finished his football career in 1981 at the age of 32.
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Mikhail Fomenko, Honoured Master of Sports. He joined Dynamo Kyiv in 1972. For seven seasons he played 211 matches for the Bilo-Syni. He was a three-time champion of the former USSR, a two-time winner of the Cup of Cups and the UEFA Super Cup in 1975. Vice-champion of Europe-1972, bronze medallist of the Olympics-1976 in Montreal. He played 24 matches in the national team. In the lists of "33 best" - 6 times, under No.1 - three times.
As a player Fomenko was cold-blooded, reliable, distinguished by strong positional play, skilfully cemented the defence, strictly observing the game discipline, was useful in attacks.
Michael was "baiting" by his teammates more than once. The thing is that he moved to Kyiv Dynamo from Zarya just before the season, in which the team from Voroshilovgrad (now Lugansk) won gold medals in the Union championship. And the Kyivians, being the triumphants of the previous season-1971, won "silver". But Fomenko never regretted his decision. After all, it was at Dynamo that his talent as a back centre-back was revealed.
The fans liked his reliable game. They did not realise that Mikhail had a bad back and played on injections. He was characterised by an ineradicable personal desire to always win, and going out on the green lawn, he forgot about his back pain. Fomenko finished his career as a player due to injuries relatively early - at the age of 30.
Oleksandr LIPENKO for Dynamo.kiev.ua
