Former forward of Poltava’s Vorskla Ivan Shariy shared his thoughts on the failed season of his former team, which has dropped from the UPL to the First League.
— How did you react when in the second leg of the playoff for the right to play in the UPL, Vorskla in Poltava lost to Kudrivka 3:4 in a penalty shootout?
— The reaction was very, very discouraging. I believe that Vorskla is to blame for this. If you go out to play, you need to forget all the troubles and play. The outcome of the match should have been decided by the Poltava team in regular time. And although penalties are called a lottery, it is more about execution skills and the composure of the players.
All this reflected in this extremely important match against Kudrivka. You also need to know how to take penalties because it’s part of the game. If you miss— it means you executed the shot poorly. However, that happens in football. Sometimes, even from one meter, players miss open goals. Personally, I don’t consider it a lottery. First of all, it’s the skill of the footballer. Of course, many football personalities have missed penalties in their careers. At the highest level tournaments— such as the European Championship, World Cup, and Champions League— Messi, Ronaldo, and even past generation stars like Baggio, Socrates, and Baresi have missed. Our Belanov and Shevchenko too. It has happened to me as well. But it wasn’t in decisive championship matches.
— During Yuri Maximov’s first time at Vorskla, goalkeeper Pavel Isenko proved himself as a master of saving penalties...
— Yes, that was once. But it doesn’t happen all the time, one time doesn’t lead to another. In the Sunday penalty shootout, he saved one shot. And his Kudrivka colleague Roman Lepka saved two. Good job Igor Shukhovtsev (he works at Kudrivka as a goalkeeper coach— ed. note)— he trained the guy! It’s clear that the goalkeeper of the Kudrivka team went through his school.
— After Vorskla made its debut in the top league of Ukraine in the 1996/97 season, it has never left it. How did this football emergency get perceived in Poltava?
— You are right to say— it’s an extraordinary event. It really is. How could the Vorskla fans, who have remained loyal to the team for decades, visiting home matches in Poltava, react? And although now, during the war, there are fewer of them, they are still there. These people are in shock. And not just shock, but a very big shock! Unfortunately, unfortunately...
— Now, probably, there will be a search for scapegoats in the club?
— First of all, it’s the club’s management. All the blame, I think, lies with them. The leaders were supposed to provide the football players with everything necessary— primarily, I mean some financial payments. At least partially. After all, people play for four months on credit.
Can we blame everything on Yuri Maximov? He has nothing to do with financial issues, nor is he to blame for anything. He worked himself, worried for the team. Perhaps more than others. But if everything depended on him...
There are leaders who should care about this. Find something, get out of this situation, provide team members with honestly earned money, help. But they are not doing that: they’re either building a stadium or arguing with the SC “Poltava”, which claims the stadium. You are dealing with the main team of the city, not writing about “Poltava”, which has entered the elite. And why not share the stadium instead of some disputes? Everything can be done civilly: for example, when one of the Poltava teams plays away, the other should be at home. And vice versa. They could put some money into this matter, and “Poltava” would have made some contribution. This club has a decent, devoted, and football-loving president, so it could have happened.
I am confident that both clubs from one city could find points of contact that would benefit all Poltava football as a whole and each of them in particular. Together, they could repair the sports facility— notably, the running track and the arena where footballers could train in bad weather. But they immediately go to the trenches! Just take the city of Milan, where two clubs— AC Milan and Inter— share one stadium. And they do this for decades without any quarrels.
— And how will it be now in football Poltava?
— I don’t know. All Poltava fans are in shock. And I am too. I dedicated 18 years to the main Poltava team as a player and coach. But such a situation, as now, has never occurred. Yes, there have been difficult moments, but the team was focused and solved the tasks. Let those responsible for this disgraceful failure gather the courage and take all the blame upon themselves. And there’s no need to blame someone else— it’s either on the players or the coaches.
Andrei Pisarenko