Life is the best writer and director. The fact that I took the great lines from Shota Rustaveli's "The Knight in Tiger's Skin" as my slogan is a great sign for yesterday and today.
Sergiy RebrovI congratulate the Georgians on yesterday's historic victory over the Portuguese. I'm happy that fate brought me together with such greats of Georgian football as Nodar Akhalkatsi, David Kipiani, Vladimir Barkaya, Sasha Chivadze, Teimuraz Sulakvelidze, Volodya Gutsaev, and, of course, Kote Ivanovich Maharadze. It is sad that I did not have a chance to talk to Misha Meskhi (in Georgia, no one will still call him officially Mikhail, only Misha with love), Slava Metreveli... I'm happy for dozens of my Georgian friends, and I'm as happy as they are. Without exaggeration, I believe that yesterday's success can be compared to the success of 1981, when Dynamo Tbilisi won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Cheers to our Georgian friends - with a glass of our favorite khvunchkara!
Was there a holiday on our Ukrainian street yesterday? No, it was not. At the same time, the yellow and blues played well against the Red Devils of Belgium. But, unfortunately, they did not achieve their goal - with a record number of points for the Euro - four - and did not reach the playoffs.
Of course, we had objective reasons - we played without the best domestic wing players today - Tsygankov and Mudryk. Vitya is definitely not a simulator or a show-off, and he has never been one... but unfortunately for him and us, he is a "crystal" guy, he breaks down easily and often.
Dovbyk and Sudakov showed themselves below their potential, or perhaps it was just their luck that made them realize: today I am a day off for you.
Unfortunately, Zinchenko is becoming a rotation player, not a starter. Maybe those who believe that Zinchenko is more interested in self-promotion than in improving his own game are right. He also sometimes reminded me of Tymoshchuk - he was the first to grab cups and various "salad bowls" for the winners, although he had been sitting on the bench the whole match before, the first to weave yellow and blue ribbons into his loose hair, and the first to give way to both partners and opponents
Shaparenko, Brazhko, but most of all Trubin - the absolute leader of our team in terms of efficiency, or, if you want to say it "in a modern way" - the leader in KPI
However, everything that was written above is nothing more than a preface to what I want to say now. There has been a considerable wave of hate against Rebrov - he is, they say, no coach, and he does not hear anyone but himself, and his staff is somehow "left-wing" with all the praised Spaniards and Khudzhamov and Platov, who are unknown in the coaching profession. We'll leave the topic of the staff for the future, so as not to get distracted. Let's get back to the main issue:
Are Rebrov's recent achievements - club championships in three countries - not an argument? Of course, a national team coach and a club team coach are "two big differences", as they say in our beloved city, whose name begins with the letter "O".
Do you have coaches of this level lying around in piles? Can you name me at least one modern national coach who can be compared to Serhiy Stanislavovych in terms of achievements?
Argument No. 2 of the opponents of Rebrov's continuing coaching work in our national team: "For that kind of money, you can hire a foreigner, and it will make more sense." Please name a foreign coach who is able to take our country's main team to the height they dream of. And that this foreigner would want to come to work for us in a time of war, and that he would "dive" into the problems of not only the national team, but also the rest of the Ukrainian national teams - youth, junior, etc.
I am not Rebrov's lawyer, and he does not need any lawyers. The only thing he needs is the opportunity to calmly understand the situation, the prospects of the team and its potential players, and finally, his own mistakes. Did I ever assure anyone that SSR made no mistakes even during such a short period of work with the national team?
And now about the mistakes, not of Rebrov, but of his more eminent predecessors in coaching, sometimes direct teachers.
1) Viktor Maslov - did not even have a secondary school education - his only diploma was a certificate of completion of a course in physical education and sports. But his coaching intuition went down in world history. Long before the 1966 FIFA World Cup, it was "Grandfather" who pulled one of the forwards out of the midfield, and his team was one of the first in the world to play a 4-2-4 formation.
When Dynamo Kyiv - the USSR national team - flew off to the 1966 World Cup, the domestic championships did not stop, and Maslov boldly introduced Muntyan and Byshovets, who were under 20 years old at the time, and introduced them so much that Sabo and Serebryanikov, who returned from the British Isles, fought for a long time for their seemingly legitimate places in the Dynamo team.
But four years later, when the leaders flew to Mexico for the 1970 World Cup and then returned home, Maslov was already afraid to bet on young people, although Veremeev, Onishchenko, Troshkin, Matvienko, and Kashchey had grown up very professionally. "Grandfather" bet on experienced but tired veterans, and as a result, Dynamo took a shameful 7th place in the USSR championship, and Maslov was simply kicked out of the team.
2) Valerii Lobanovskyi. 1975 is the year of Dynamo Kyiv's triumph - the Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Super Cup - a historic victory over Bayern Munich... Lobanovsky, along with his like-minded coaching innovator O. P. Bazylevych, were also appointed coaches of the USSR national team
Everything that could be lost was lost, domestic and European competitions of the white and blues, the 1976 European Championship, the Montreal Olympics. Now - in retrospect - some of our journalists' lawyers are blaming Professor Godik from Moscow for everything, saying that it was he who recommended to our coaches a training camp in the middle mountains in Bulgaria and intensification of physical activity. But Godik only recommended, and the decision was made by Loban and Basil.
And then there was more! The 1990 World Cup in Italy. In the final tournament: first, a loss to Romania, even without their leader Haji, 0:2 (Again to Romania!!!), then with the same score to Argentina. As a result, we finished fourth in the group with two points, not four, as we have today. And we had not the worst players - even if Bezsonov was already over 30, but Protasov, Lytovchenko, Dobrovolsky, Kuznetsov were not yet And Loban did not just survive this shame...
3) A memorable match of the 2002 World Cup playoffs in Dortmund between Germany and Ukraine - 4:1. Lobanovskyi makes a completely (!!!) mistake with the lineup - he puts the completely "green" Tymoshchuk in the support zone instead of the experienced fighter Gusin, and even debutants Zubov and Vorobey. From under Tymokha, goals flew into our goal like billiard balls from a cue in the skillful hands of the Master. We actually lost until the 20th minute, Lobanovsky immediately replaced Tymoshchuk with Husin, but... it was too late to drink the compote. I remember the pathetic headline in one of our newspapers: "Lobanovsky's football is dead!" Unfortunately, things got much worse. Just a few months later, it was not Lobanovsky's football that died, but Lobanovsky himself.
Of course, both Shevchenko and Rebrov remember all this no worse than I do - they played in Meter's team at the time
Rebrov is not a man of impulse at all, and their connection with Sheva has been sustained both on and off the field for years and decades.
Therefore, Serhiy Stanislavovych, although we have not communicated directly for several years, since the time when you led Dynamo to the championship of Ukraine, I am addressing you directly.
The other day, before the Ukraine-Slovakia match, I was asked a direct question by some of the most important people in the Ukrainian cinema, including the President of the Ukrainian Military League Svyatoslav Syrota and reputable Ukrainian filmmakers Andriy Suyarko and Volodymyr Voitenko.
So the heads of film production asked me, in fact, a question from the fans: "If Ukraine loses to Slovakia tonight, what will it be: a drama or a tragedy?" I answered without any pathos: "It's not a drama or a tragedy, it's a CHALLENGE. A challenge for Rebrov and his team."
Sergiy Stanislavovich, not yesterday's situation, but today's situation is a CHALLENGE for you! And you know what to do with it. Good luck!
Semen SLUCHEVSKY
