The VIII European Championship, which took place in the FRG in 1988, is unforgettable for fans of Ukrainian soccer. After all, the national team of the former USSR, led by the legendary Valeriy Lobanovskiy, won silver medals.
Eleven Dynamo Kyiv players were at the forefront of that famous squad.
Thirty-two teams came to the start of the selection process. Seven of the best of them, who had passed the strict selection sieve, plus the national team of Germany (the host of the final tournament), gathered for the decisive matches. The magnificent eight was divided into two groups. The first included - FRG, Italy, Denmark, Spain; the second - the Netherlands, Ireland, England, USSR.
In the semifinals went to the two strongest teams and each quartet. Having defeated the Dutch - 1:0, the English - 3:1, playing a draw with the Irish - 1:1, Valeriy Lobanovskiy's wards won the group.
In the semifinals our guys took the upper hand over Italy - 2:0. Oleg Protasov and Gennady Litovchenko scored.
The final meeting again brought our players together with the Dutch national team. This grand confrontation took place on June 25 in Munich at the Olympiastadion. Unfortunately, the Dutch took revenge (2:0) for the defeat in the group.
Igor Belanov failed to convert a penalty. Our team had more opportunities to score. Oleksandr Zavarov, Gennadiy Litovchenko, Anatoliy Demyanenko and Oleg Protasov could have scored. However, the Orange goalkeeper Hans van Brekelen played very confidently that day.
Viktor Chanov, Volodymyr Bessonov, Oleg Kuznetsov, Anatoliy Demyanenko, Vasyl Rats, Gennadiy Litovchenko, Oleksandr Zavarov, Oleg Protasov, Igor Belanov, Oleksiy Mykhailichenko and Serhiy Baltacha returned to the capital of Ukraine with silver medals.
Here is how Valeriy Lobanovskiy commented on the main match of Euro-1988:
- It was a game worthy of the final. The fans, I think, really enjoyed it. Both teams had a lot of chances. In my opinion, we created even more scoring chances. The winner was the one who played more reliably in defense and managed to realize their chances in attack.
We tuned the team to play a good quality game, to be active from the first minutes. I believe that we managed to do it. However, too much effort was given in the semifinal against the Italians. The opponent had an extra day to recover and prepare for the final.
The Dutch team retained its main squad for the decisive confrontation. We lost Kuznetsov (because of the second yellow card), injured Bessonov. Micro-injury prevented Protasov from playing at full strength.
The leading performers of the opponent did their job. We are disappointed, because we had the same chances to become the first as our opponents. But soccer is unpredictable. I must admit that in the "golden" match the national team, which showed itself better technically and tactically, won.
Vasyl Rats, midfielder:
- I won't say that we should have won. However, we had more than enough chances to succeed. Alas, we did not take advantage of those chances. Still, I think, we did not give our fans a reason for disappointment. After all, before the start of the championship, few people believed in our such a high place. Our result is a success.
Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of Germany, who awarded the finalists:
- It was some kind of fantastic publicity for soccer. I enjoyed the final match immensely. It was really a great game between two great teams.....
And now Germany - this very soccer-minded country - is ready to host the next Eurofest of the world's most popular game. At the start of the final tournament (beginning on June 14) will be 24 teams. As you know, among them is the national team of Ukraine, for which this is the fourth consecutive final Eurofest.
The team, which is headed by the former brilliant forward of Dynamo Kyiv Serhiy Rebrov, includes Dynamo players who play in the current squad of the Kyiv club (Georgiy Buschan, Oleksandr Tymchyk, Andriy Yarmolenko, Mykola Shaparenko, Volodymyr Brazhko and Vladyslav Vanat) and those who played for Kyiv earlier (Ilya Zabarny, Vitaliy Mykolenko, Viktor Tsygankov, Serhiy Sidorchuk, Roman Yaremchuk).
Oleksandr LIPENKO for Dynamo.kiev.ua
