The Cup final was played early this year – at the end of May. Well, it was played in many different months, sometimes as late as September. Torpedo (Moscow) and Metallist (Kharkov) reached the final and tradition favoured Torpedo. Reality, however… Metallist scored from a penalty near the end of the first half and then scored a second goal in the 65th minute. Torpedo was unable to return even one goal and looked quite inferior compared to modest Metallist. But it was the 1980s and Metallist was Ukrainian team – that is, they played tough physical football, nothing flashy, nothing sentimental. Tactically, Metallist was very uncomfortable opponent for Torpedo, which preferred counter-attacks and because of that was more successful on the road than at home. Metallist, however, forced them to attack and Torpedo was quite lost in that. And that was that… 0-2.
Torpedo (Moscow) lost the final. Sitting from left: V. Yurin – assistant coach, N. Pissarev, S. Agashkov, V. Ivanov – coach, A. Gitzelov, Yu. Savichev, G. Grishin, Yu. Zolotov – team chief.
Standing: O. Shirinbekov, V. Grechnev, A. Polukarov, A. Kalaychev, V. Sarychev, S. Zhukov, A. Prudnikov, V. Rogovskoy, A. Rudakov, S. Prigoda.
Not a bad team, but nothing special – hence, no miracles. Losing the final was very disappointing, for Torpedo was supposed to be the stronger finalist, but may be they should not be judged very harshly: this squad reached the Cup final and finished 3rd in the championship. Not bad at all and from the time distance – perhaps the last successful season of the club.
Metallist (Kharkov) – Cup winners for the first time! First trophy ever for the club and great legendary victory of the underdog. Crouching from left: N. Romanchuk, V. Yalovsky, A. Ivanov, I. Yakubovsly, V. Suslo, I. Panchishin, V. Vashtenko, O. Morozov.
Standing: M. Shamilo – masseur, R. Khagba, L. Buryak, A. Zaslavsky – administrator, O. Derevinsky, L. Tkachenko – team chief, A. Baranov, E. Lemeshko – coach, Yu. Tarassov, G. Adzhoev, Yu. Sivukha, R. Shpodarunok – assistant coach, V. Zub – chairman of Kharkov county sport committee.
If Torpedo was somewhat pedestrian, Metallist was modest squad – Leonid Buryak was the great name, but he was not only old, but going to play in Finland soon. Apart from him… Guram Adzhoev and Oleg Morozov, both new recruits and somewhat similar to Buryak – with considerably long careers elsewhere and getting long in the tooth already. The predicament of Metallist was not even that of Dnepr – they were even lower in the Ukrainian scale, so they would hope only for what was left after Dinamo (Kiev), Shakter (Donetzk), Dnepr, and even Chernomoretz (Odessa) satisfied themselves. Hence, the best additions were veterans like Buryak or players nobody was interested of anymore like Morozov and Adzhoev. To a point, not even second-rate players, but third rate… and with them they won the Cup! One has to take into account that Metallist was Ukrainian club and Ukrainian football led Soviet football for a long time – thus, Metallist was not exactly to be dismissed, especially when playing against Moscow team: the physical and often brutal Ukrainian football was greatly inconvenient for Moscow teams, as the final showed once again. Pride also worked in favour of Metallist – Ukrainians always played with great motivation against the ‘Moscals’. Thus, Ukraine won once again on two fronts – both the championship and the Cup. Like Dnepr, Metallist did not play exciting football, but since they were underdogs, it was sweet to see them win.
First time winners deserve a second look – especially because there was not going to be a second success.
A Football Blog