The Cup tournament was very short this year, practically squeezed into 3 months. The final was played on May 9 – seemingly, celebrating the victory of the World War II, but the real reason most likely was preparation for the World Cup, which affected the whole first half of the 1982. Including the final… It was between Torpedo (Moscow) and Dinamo (Kiev). One goal was scored in the final and by a defender.
Sergey Baltacha scored the only goal in the 34th minute.
Thanks to that, Dinamo (Kiev) won and captain Leonid Buryak proudly lifted the Cup.
The final brought little comments: Kiev’s victory was acknowledged as ‘victory of the competent football’. Which translates into tough and not exciting match, in which classier Dinamo clinched a victory thanks to grit. Nothing new… their robotic football, oriented only on winning by whatever means, was noted and criticized for some years already. Too pragmatical and calculating. But good things have to be written about winners, so there.
Torpedo (Moscow) – the photo of them is from the fall of 1982, when they played against Bayern in the Cup Winners Cup – was good enough for a minimal loss. No wonder: they had solid team, mostly made of players with experience, but also players who clearly reached the limits of their potential and ambitions – Prigoda, Susloparov, Petrakov, Redkous, Polukarov, Shaveyko, Galayba, Gostenin. Former national team players, who never established themselves as first-rate stars, eventually settling for comfortable mid-table life. The only curiousity was their goalkeeper – two brothers defended the gates at the final – Vyacheslav and Viktor Chanov. The older, Vyacheslav, played for Torpedo. Both were current national team players and remained so for a number of years. But the curse… they started in Shakhter (Donetzk), backing up the starter Degtyarev. Unfortunately, he was always in great form and included in the national team. The brothers had no chance and obviously had to move out – the older, Vyacheslav joined Torpedo and finally started playing regularly, almost at 30 years of age. And reached the national team, once again to compete not only with his younger brother, but largely to keep the bench of reserves warm… for at the same time emerged Rinat Dassaev and there was no question who will play for more than 10 years. As for why Torpedo and not the actual Cup winners played in the Cup Winners Cup in the fall of the same year, the reason is the spring-fall format of USSR’s championship. In the European Champions Cup played the champion of 1981 – that was Dinamo (Kiev). The Cup, however, was decided in May 1982, so the 1982 holders played in the Cup Winners Cup – in this case, the losing finalist, since Kiev played in the other tournament.
And the Cup winners. Standing from left: A. Sorokalet, Ya. Dumansky, V. Lozinsky, A. Bal. Viktor Chanov, O. Blokhin, S. Zhuravlev, V. Evtushenko.
First row: V. Khlus, A. Demyanenko, A. Boyko, L. Buryak, S. Baltacha.
Winners, but also this squad is a testimony of the ‘lost’ first half of the season, because of the national team. Bessonov, Khapsalis, Ratz, and Oliferenko (obscure name, but he was voted among the 33 best players of the year) did not play at the final. It was a team mostly made of reserves. Veremeev played in the first half, but this year the veteran was practically a reserve player. Against a team like Torpedo, the reserves were just enough – but in the long run of the championship points were lost exactly in the first half of the season and that was costly at the end. In any case, it was still unsatisfying team – Lobanovsky was still searching and shaping. A whole bunch of this team was not going to be a part of the great Dinamo circa 1985: Sorokalet, Lozinsky, Dumansky, Zhuravlev. Veremeev was going to retire. Buryak was not going to last, getting into big conflict with Lobanovsky. Oliferenko, Khlus, and Boyko became an empty promise. But one problem was already solved – goalkeeping, with the arrival of Viktor Chanov. He was only 23 years old, so there was nothing to worry for many years. And deeply in the team and out of sight yet was Mikhaylichenko, only 19. Baltacha was already moved to defense and it worked – the new team was getting in shape, only not finished and ready yet. Yes, Baltacha was the hero of the Cup final, but not of the season – for the first time in Soviet history a defender scored a hat-trick this season: Yury Kurnenin of Dinamo (Minsk) did it against Kayrat (Alma-ata).