Christmas time is a time of waiting for miracles. Amidst the exhausting realities of wartime - longing and anxiety, doubts and disappointments, and sometimes depressing despondency - positive emotions are so lacking, and hopes for the best are so warming!
Football is no exception in this regard. Despite a significant "dilution" of the level of national competitions with a virtually complete outflow of legionnaires and leading Ukrainian performers, despite the stands closed to the general public, despite the lack of opportunities to hold international matches in domestic arenas with all the negative logistical consequences for our national teams and clubs, and finally despite the catastrophic management crisis, the blue and yellow leather ball does not deflate. It continues to give us thrilling moments, distracting us from the horrors of Russian aggression, and fuelling our hopes for a brighter future. It is a kind of through bridge to peaceful life, from the past to the future.
Many of the stars on this year's Ukrainian football Christmas tree are marked with the glow of the good news. These are the successful performances of our compatriots abroad: Tsygankov and Dovbyk, Zabarnyi and Mykolenko, Zinchenko and Mudryk, Trubin and Lunin, etc. And entire teams that challenged the favourites in the national championship: "Polissia and Kryvbas. And, of course, the triumphs of the national teams: the futsal masters won a direct ticket to the World Cup, the youth team made it to the Olympics for the first time in history, the national team was one step away from reaching the decisive stage of Euro 2024 - if the referee had not shown leniency to the Italians in the last minutes, it would have been the Apennines who would now face the butt matches.
In the scattering of these decorations, everyone is free to choose a constellation to their liking. Personally, the three "personalised" stars with portraits of Andriy Shevchenko, Serhiy Rebrov and Oleksandr Shovkovsky are the first to catch my eye.
Shevchenko. Perspective
Looking ahead is a thankless task. Nevertheless, I will dare to make an assumption about the candidate for the post of president of the Ukrainian Football Association: only some kind of extraordinary force majeure can prevent the winner of the 2004 Ballon d'Or, the former coach of the Ukrainian national team, from taking up the leadership position. The UAF's reporting and election congress is scheduled for 25 January, and Shevchenko is expected to make the public aware of the hardware strategy, change tactics and human resources potential of the future team of top managers of the association.
The presence of a single candidate does not allow the process of replacing the football manager to be qualified as an election. However, it is obviously very symbolic. Especially in the light of attempts to sneak into the information space theses about the need for an urgent expression of will by the citizens of a war-torn country.
In my opinion, Andriy Shevchenko is exactly the person who at this stage is able not only to give a new powerful impetus to qualitative changes in our football, but also to unite all its subjects. A man of the world, Andriy Mykolayovych is not only well acquainted with what feeds the sports mechanism in leading countries and institutions, he has experienced it first-hand. And he has already tried to use this experience as a coach.
Under Shevchenko's leadership, our national team has learned to act in a manner that was not very typical of several of its predecessors - relaxed, inspired, bold, and inventive. In fact, exactly the way the teams used to play, with Sheva and Rebrov at the forefront of the attack.
...I remember in an interview with the French newspaper Onze Mondial, shortly after he moved from Kyiv to Milan, Andrii described one of his episodes at Valerii Lobanovskyi's Dynamo training camp. His temperature jumped to 37.5 and his throat hurt. The doctor prescribed rest, exempting him from training. However, the assistant head coach appeared in Shevchenko's room quite quickly: "Valeriy Vasylovych is waiting for you on the pitch!"
The coach met him laconically: "37.5 is not a temperature, a sore throat is not an illness!" After the lesson, Shevchenko's thermometer read 39, and the forward spent the next four days in bed. "I was forced to do this," VVL later explained to Andriy. "On the first day of training, Shevchenko's place is only on the field, otherwise his partners will think that it is not a very serious, not very responsible lesson, so they will not work to the fullest. You are a leader, and you have to set an example!"
Since then, Shevchenko's arsenal of leadership skills has only expanded and hardened. Accordingly, the bar of requirements for him has not been lowered. Especially in a situation where the "thermometer" of the disease of managing our football is going off the scale. So, although the sphere of managing a national association is a new, even more complex level, it seems that Shevchenko's skills and virtues give reason to believe in the success of his mission. As far as I know, the fans' favourite has already joined not only the "leather ball diplomacy", but the experience and personal qualities of President Zelensky's adviser are actually working for more global national interests, for Ukraine's international authority, and not only within the framework of public projects like United24.
Rebrov. Creativity
While still working with clubs in Saudi Arabia, Hungary and the Emirates, Rebrov has repeatedly shared with journalists his dream of leading the national team of Ukraine. Serhiy Stanislavovych was philosophical about the fact that the coveted appointment - through no fault of his own - turned into a complete Santa Barbara. This epic, on the one hand, added to the football success of Oleksandr Petrakov and Ruslan Rotan, and on the other hand, made them hostages and, to some extent, even victims of official incompetence.
Instead, Rebrov had to demonstrate a real diplomatic dribble - with the skill of an elusive striker, he overcame the palisade of uncomfortable questions from journalists about the prospect of taking over the helm of the national team, and in no way betrayed either his colleagues in the acting role or the inept UAF officials. Once again, Serhiy showed prudence, determination, a clear understanding of priorities and impressive intuition.
Listening to his calm, balanced comments, I repeatedly recalled Rebrov at a press conference after the Europa League match in Aalborg between the local club of the same name and Dynamo. The unexpected crushing defeat, which did not fit into the logic of the cooperation between the Kyiv club and his coach at the time, did not cause the latter to throw a tantrum, let alone make him give up.
Without looking away, filled with sadness and momentary - only momentary - confusion, the head coach of the white and blues answered all the questions with restraint. In order to work on his mistakes the next morning. And to prove it soon: 0:3 in Denmark was just an unfortunate incident, but the Ukrainian Cup, taken away from the seemingly invincible Shakhtar a few months earlier, is a pattern of fruitful efforts by the coach and his charges; two consecutive championships is a pattern; the first appearance in the Champions League play-offs since the Lobanovsky era is a pattern; enchanting victories over Hengam, Everton and Porto are a pattern!..
At first glance, the seasons spent by Rebrov as a coach at the helm of Al Agli, Ferencvaros and Al Ain seem to be a significant loss for Ukrainian football. Instead, Serhii returned to his homeland with invaluable experience and has already unpacked this baggage, skilfully applying it in a new role and a new rhythm of managing the national team, which, to all the difficulties, is also devoid of the joy of home matches.
It was not a shame to feel bad for the Ukrainian national team under Rebrov, even on the day of its only defeat, against Italy in Milan. The reigning European champions managed not only to resist with dignity in the last round match, but almost brought the decisive duel to victory. Unfortunately, the Spanish referee did not have the courage to award a penalty at the end of the game. If the blue and yellows had been successful, who could say it was undeserved? The arguments are strong-willed victories over Northern Macedonia and Malta, a solid draw with England and the general impression of our team's level of play and character.
The time until March, when Ukraine will face Bosnia-Herzegovina in the opening match of the Euro 2024 play-offs, will pass unnoticed. We hope that Rebrov's men will do better than Petrakov's team in the fight for a ticket to the 2022 World Cup. We keep our fingers crossed, but also prepare our palms for applause.
Shovkovsky. Loyalty
Dynamo Kyiv remains one of the national team's base clubs, with Oleksandr Shovkovskyi recently appointed as its full-time head coach. Along with Shevchenko and Rebrov, he was most often mentioned among the key players of Lobanovskyi's last star team, which reached the semi-finals of the 1999 Champions League. Having appeared in the main team a little later than Serhiy and a little earlier than Andriy, SaSho only occasionally gave way to his competitors in goal, eventually leaving Dynamo fans and statisticians with a rich track record, flavoured with a necklace of unique records, having played a leading role in the club's and the national team's major successes.
Shovkovskyi had to get acquainted with all the vagaries of fate, which one of his famous colleagues aptly said: "A goalkeeper is a creature cursed by God. No grass grows under his feet and even his teammates turn their backs on him." There were enough misses and ricochets to break even the most unflappable. There were injuries that risked interrupting a glorious but thorny career.
Unlike Shevchenko and Rebrov, the entire active part of his sports biography belongs to Dynamo. A refined embodiment of loyalty and patriotism - to the team, the city, Ukraine. He has come a little further than his teammates to independent coaching practice. Once again, he justified the trust by receiving the position not as an advance payment, but as a well-deserved reward. Which, in turn, increases the responsibility and pressure on the legend whose name is inextricably linked to the legendary team.
Rebrov, having replaced Oleg Blokhin as Dynamo's captain, has pushed Lucescu and his Shakhtar into the background. Shovkovskyi will also have to compete with the Romanian specialist. Which is easier, because this dispute is already in absentia. And at the same time more difficult, because it was Mircea Mihajlovic who passed the baton to his former assistant. Comparisons, juxtapositions, parallels and analogies cannot be avoided in this situation.
I would like to believe that the change in the mood and results of the White and Blues in November and December is not just the result of the "shock therapy" that a change of coach usually causes. We hope that this is the result of Oleksandr Volodymyrovych's tactical and personnel decisions, the implementation of his vision of the current moment and the immediate horizons of Dynamo. We hope that another talented graduate of the great Lobanovskyi's academy will appear in the UPL coaching department.
All three Dynamo stars have a lot to thank Meter for. For example, Shevchenko, commenting on the aforementioned episode at the training camp, said in a conversation with a journalist: "Lobanovsky is extremely tough, harsh, almost evil! But a coach is a leader, and a leader must have these qualities, otherwise he will not be able to lead people."
Later, those icy "37.5 is not a temperature, a sore throat is not a disease!" transformed into trophies, medals of the highest quality and even Golden Balls, formed the basis of the alloy of character that allows all three of my heroes today to remain visible in football many years after their performances.
This, by the way, is one of Dynamo's cornerstone traditions of the last half-century: the vast majority of the team's performers remained outstanding personalities even after they left the green pitch, retraining as great coaches or quality managers. I believe that Shovkovskyi is able to join this cohort - in particular, as the embodiment of the hope "encoded" in the title: the third gold star above the world-famous logo - a diamond with the letter "D"
Illustrations - Mykola BOCHKO, Oleksandr ZADYRAKA, FC Dynamo's official website, UAF's Facebook pages and Andriy SHEVCHENKO.
Yurii KORZACHENKO
