Stanislav Yevseyenko: "Shchegolkova explained to me that it is not worth joking with an older partner"

Ukrainian forward of the 1960s-1970s Stanislav Yevseyenko mentioned his Dynamo Kyiv page in his career (1963-1964) in an interview with "Football 24."

Stanislav Yevseyenko

— At 17, I was already playing for a B class team – Kirovograd "Dynamo." It happened that during one match for the youth team, I was noticed by the coach of Kyiv "Dynamo", Vyacheslav Solovyov. He came up and said: "Let’s take you to Kyiv."

Lucky ticket!

— I refused: "No, my parents are here. They won’t let me go." I didn’t believe in that option. A year later, Yuriy Voynov came from Kyiv and offered me and Valeriy Porkuyan to move to the capital again. We scored a lot of goals for "Zirka" back then. The thing is, I didn’t treat football the way I should have.

How did this manifest?

— I didn’t understand the seriousness of it all. Let’s say, on the day of the match, I could go to the beach to swim. A kid! What did I understand there? I swam, then went out to the field, scored a goal, and got substituted. Could I run after lounging and swimming at the beach?

Did you always play in attack?

— Yes. Sometimes I played as a midfielder. I liked playing offensively. If I outmaneuvered opponents, I only went forward, not back or sideways.

Did "Dynamo" take you from Kirovograd on the second try?

— I had no other options. The coach of "Zirka" called me and said that either I go to Kyiv, or I won’t play anywhere. I chose the first option. When Dynamo was led by Viktor Maslov in 1964, I had a chance to establish myself in the main team. At least, he prepared me for that. However, he saw me as a right defender, not in attack. If I hadn’t gotten injured, I could have played there, not Levchenko.

Most of the time you were in the Dynamo reserve, but you had the opportunity to train with legends like Biba, Turyanych, Serebryannikov, and Sabo.

— We often played practice matches. How they tackled! Especially Volodya Shchegolkova. I outplayed him until I heard: "Kid, if you outplay me again, I’ll hit you." (Laughs.) He explained quite clearly that it’s not worth joking with an older partner.

At the same time, a generation of future stars of Dynamo was growing: Muntian, Byshovets, Rudakov, Sosnykh. Who was the brightest?

— Once, Grandfather Maslov called me and Serhiy Krulikovsky: "Go and check out these new kids Muntian and Byshovets." In a game two on two on small goals, they outplayed us like children. Byshovets was always on his wave, kept aloof, but the coach didn’t take to Muntian. The whole team was surprised. When Maslov finally trusted Volodya, he immediately realized what a master he was.

Lyubomir Kuzmyak