The Cup tournament confirmed in a way the status quo of the season: Lokomotiv and Torpedo reached the ½ finals, opposing Shakhter and Dinamo (Kiev). Moscow against Ukraine. Both Moscow clubs were often better in cup tournaments than in the regular championship. They fought as much as they could, but were no match to the stronger Ukrainian clubs – Lokomotiv lost both legs with Shakhter, 0:2 and 0:1. So Torpedo – twice 1:2 against Dinamo. All Ukrainian final, opposing the first and the second ranking clubs in Ukraine, and the second against the third in the championship. The final opposed teams with different approaches – speedy, attacking Dinamo to waiting for occasional counter-attack Shakhter. Dinamo dominated from the very start and for many observers performed at the almost forgotten by now powerful style of 1975. Shakhter was quickly pushed back in their own half and appeared confused. Logically, it should have been an easy victory for Dinamo, but they missed opportunities, Shakther regrouped into populous defensive wall in their own half, which reduced the physical superiority of Dinamo – they had to run a lot, but Shakhter much less. Dinamo dominated, but was unable to score. Then Shakther organized a rare counter-attack, ending with long high ball in front of Dinamo’s net, where Vitaly Starukhin was like fish in water – arguably the best Soviet centre-forward in the air, his header ended in the net.
Vitaly Starukhin celebrates his goal in the 15th minute. Baltacha (number 3) was blamed for the goal – it was considered he made a tiny mistake, permitting Starukhin to get the ball first. Contrary to what was going on the pitch, Shakhter was leading. They had one chance and used it. The match continued as it started – Dinamo increased the speed, attacked constantly, but the result was against them. Shakhter just cleared the ball away and, perhaps too early, started to kill time. Dinamo finally equalized in the 55th minute – Blokhin scored with a header, something rare for him.
Blokhin equalizes.
Justice was restored… matches like this one are always frustrating: one team plays, the other does not, and it is right these attacking to win. And it is very annoying when they do not… Shakhter had too chances during this match – the first they scored. The second arrived in the 72nd minute, when again Starukhin was in perfect position to score, after Reshko and Baltacha clashed with each other and both fell on the ground. Starukhin, may be taken by surprise, missed the net… and almost everybody watching enjoyed the failure: it would not have been right Shakhter to win. The match ended 1-1. The extra time was the same – Dinamo dominated, Shakther desperately defended. But right after the start of overtime Shakhter was caught off guard: their goalkeeper Degterev was slow to react to Blokhin’s shot and the ball ended in the net. Nothing changed to the end and Dinamo won the cup. Justice prevailed. Dinamo was praised to the sky – may be the journalists were carried away too far: Dinamo deserved to win, were certainly better, but their dominance was quite empty. They created opportunities , but failed to score. Goalkeepeing mistake gave them the victory. Shakhter practically crossed the midfield line only twice – and scored once. If Starukhin did not make mistake in their second chance, the result would have been 2-1 for them. Dinamo played well, but scoring was a big problem – and this problem was not seen at all by observers concerned only with justice.
Perhaps a fine moment of unity – Blokhin with the Cup. He scored both goals for Dinamo, the hero of the final. Except for players and fans of Shakhter, everybody was happy to see this picture: Dinamo clearly deserved to win. Forget about the game dragging into overtime and Shakhter almost winning with two shots towards Dinamo’s net. As for statistics, it was Dinamo’s 5th Cup.
The winners, hailed as coming back to the great football they played in 1975: standing from left: Victor Yurkovsky, Valery Zuev, Stefan Reshko, V. Malyuta – team doctor, V. Lobanovsky – coach, Mikhail Fomenko, M. Koman – head coach, responsible for disciplinary work, Vladimir Veremeev, Victor Kolotov, Leonid Buryak, Aleksandr Berezhnoy, G. Spektor – administrator, A. Puzach – assistant coach.
First row: V. Evlantiev – masseur, Vladimir Onishchenko, Oleg Blokhin, Sergey Boltacha, Aleksandr Khapsalis, Vladimir Bessonov, Vladimir Lozinsky.
In retrospect, this was a ‘provisional team’ – clearly Lobanovsky was trying to make a new team, replacing the heroes of 1975. Some of the great old squad was still present, of course – Blokhin, Kolotov, Veremeev, Onishchenko, Reshko, Fomenko, Buryak, and the ‘eternal’ reserve Zuev. But the days of most were numbered in part because of age (Reshko, Fomenko, and suffering from injuries Veremeev, and Konkov, almost gone already), and partly because Lobanovsky was not exactly happy with some and wanted better players (Onishchenko, Zuev, Kolotov). The new talent, obviously the kind of players Lobanovsky was searching for, was at hand – Bessonov, Berezhnoy, Baltacha (who was called Boltacha at that time), Khapsalis. The group of promissing youngsters was actually larger and included the goalkeeper Yury Sivukha, Aleksander Boyko, Lozinsky, and to a point the regular goalkeeper Yurkovsky. But the youngsters were not only too young and inexperienced – they were also suspect and most of them did not satisfy Lobanovsky. Actually, they failed to develop into stars – practically only Bessonov, Berezhnoy, and Baltacha fulfilled the great promise. Some were already suspect and Lobanovsky was still trying to find really reliable players for some posts, particularly a goalkeeper and right full-back. Yurkovsky did not last, nor his back-up Sivukha, not Lozinsky. Zuev was to go, Boyko was to be given a few more chances, but he never became a starter and disappeared without a trace. Khapsalis was almost a constant disappointment for Lobanvosky – not because he played badly, or was lazy, or anything – only because Lobanovsky needed something else, something Khapsalis did not have. In a way, Khapsalis’ talent was wasted, for he was kept in Kiev for years, but played little and was constantly under criticism. It was not the dream-team Lobanovsky envisioned. Most of the ‘failures’ would have been perfect in other teams, but were constantly found wanting in Dinamo. Some were not so good anyway. The next great Dinamo was not here yet – and was not to be made in the next 3 or 4 years. Yet, it was the strongest squad in USSR.