The Cup final opposed Dinamo (Tbilisi) and Shakhter (Donetzk). The due of the second best Soviet teams at the time, both playing solid football for years. Dinamo won the Cup in 1979, Shakhter was the losing finalist in 1978. Dinamo was strong for the most of the championship this year, but Shakhter started sluggishly, eventually improving its game and climbing up the table. Technically, the second best Soviet teams, but they eliminated the best in the semi-finals: Dinamo (Tbilisi) won over Dinamo (Kiev) 2-1 and Shakhter – Spartak 1-0. Curiously, Shakhter’s coach stated that the Cup is their goal back in winter, before the start of the season – and so far, those were not empty words. The finalists were also teams with peculiar styles, each loved by fans and observers, led by great personalities – Kipiani and Starukhin, the players actually shaping the styles of their clubs. Both great scorers too. Starukhin was the number one Soviet player in 1979, Kipiani – if not the greatest Soviet star at the time, perhaps the most loved for his creativity and technical skills. The clash was promising and 50 000 fans were not disappointed. The attendance was 15 000 lower than the 1979 final, but the final traditionally was played in Moscow and both finalists were provincial on one hand and on the other, the Cup final was no great show the previous year. Yet, the final in 1978 attracted only 22 000 and the last all-Moscovite final played – in 1977 – 45 000. The opponents had some problems – the regular goalkeeper of Shakhter, Yury Degtyarev, was out with heavy injury, and there was no certainty that Dinamo will be able to field Vladimir Gutzaev, their most dangerous, but also very moody striker. Gutzaev did not start the game, but came out in the second half – the wisdom of such decision was questionable. Shakhter had no option, but to play its second goalkeeper, which was beneficial in two ways: first, to the team. Viktor Chanov was known for his long kicks, bringing the ball deep in the opposition’s half of the pitch, which served Shakhter’s style very well. Second, the talented keeper so far was warming the bench and perhaps this match brought real attention to him. Of course, he was in tough situation – there was Degtyarev, a national team player, plus his own brother Vyacheslav Chanov and young Viktor hardly ever played. But Vyacheslav, himself tired of warming the bench, moved to Torpedo (Moscow) and Degtyarev got injury – Viktor had a good chance and jumped on it. Apart from Degtyarev and Gutzaev, the finalists had no problems and came out in familiar formations, both playing 4-4-2, but the similarity obscures the differences: Shakhter depended heavily of its English-style center-forward Vitaly Starukhin, so space was left open for him in front and the midfielders generally had the role to feed him. The Georgians depended on Kipiani – a great playmaker and dangerous striker, starting his forays from deep back. Dinamo usually needed just two wingers, leaving the central space free for Kipiani. Anyhow, the final started well and kept the fans on tip-toes to the end.
Dinamo got the upper hand at first, successfully killing Shakhter’s attacks with the off-side trap and Kipiani conducting their own attacks from midfield. They scored in the 11th minute, but the referee signaled an off-side. Since the opponents knew each other perfectly, tiny details were important, may be decisive: as expected, Dinamo attached personal marker to Starukhin, Chilaya. During the match this decision was felt wrong – not the personal marking, but the man assigned to do it. Chivadze was perhaps the right man – Starukhin was an old fox, familiar with personal markers for years. He wandered sluggishly around, seemingly disinterested and out of the game, scratching his head, not looking for the ball, but then, out of the blue and surprising his marker, he was with the ball in dangerous position. He almost scored out of nothing, but in the 24th minute he did, outsmarting the Gergian defense: there was a free kick in front of Dinamo’s net and Starukhin seemingly was not where he must be. But when the ball was in the air he suddenly was in the right place and scored with his trade-mark header.
Coming from back, jumping high and scoring – typical Starukhin. But note that Chivadze and Khinchagashvili were caught by surprise and unable to react, seemingly prepared to battle with Fedorenko (number 10) and Chilaya was not even around. Starukhin outsmarted the Georgians and ne ended alone in the air, unchallenged.
There was another surprise right after the goal – everybody expected Shakhter to move back and slow down the tempo, but instead they rushed into, accelerated the tempo and almost scored a secod goal – again Starukhin was quicker than Khinchagashvili and Chilaya out of sight. The first half ended with Shakhter not only leading 1-0, but controlling the game. Dinamo needed something else and Gutzaev started the second half instead of Tavadze. The change was logical and helpful – speedy and highly technical Gutzaev made Dinamo’s attacks more unpredictable and dangerous. At last, they equalized in the 80th minute.
Khinchagashvili and Chilaya were not effective against Starukhin, but they compensated with equalizer: Khinchagashvili (not visible) passed a good ball to Chilaya and he just shot it in the net – 1-1.
Four minutes later Shakhter scored a second goal, thanks to Pyanykh. Because of Starukhin, Shakhter were masters of set pieces – their second goal was almost a copy of the first: again a corner kick, again a player – Pyanykh instead of Starukhin this time – seemingly disinterested surprised the Georgian defense and scored with header. In the remaining 6 minutes Dinamo was unable to answer and Shakhter won.
A happy moment – Shakhter’s captain Vladimir Safonov gets the cup. Perhaps too tired to smile. Shakhter won their third cup and first trophy since 1962. Well deserved and even fair – they were one of the best Soviet clubs after 1975.
Dinamo (Tbilisi) was unable to win the cup for two consecutive years, but this was still their golden team. Sulakvelidze, Chivadze, Shengelia – difficult names, but in the 1980s the whole world learned them, for they were key players of the excellent national team of USSR. Add Gabelia, Chelebadze, Daraselia, Mudzhiri, who played for the national team too. Khinchagashvili and Gutzeav were well known in the 1970s, often playing for team USSR. David Kipiani needs no introduction. Excellent squad, perhaps a bit moody, but always a pleasure to watch. Why they lost? Small mistakes were listed by commentators: Chilaya was not the man marking Starukhin – Chivadze should have been personal marker. May be Gutzaev should have been a starter, even if injured or not at top form – with him, Shakhter’s attention would have been divided and not so concentrated on Kipiani. Wrong tactic in the second half, when Shakhter moved back and slowed down to keep their lead – the whole team of Dinamo rushed ahead in relentless, but because of that rather chaotic, attacks. They should have been more careful and cool-headed, depending on their technical superiority – keeping the ball in midfield, thus forcing Shakhter to move ahead and use the gaps in defense. Constant speedy attacks were not the best against physical team, used to sustain pressure. Substitutes were made too late – this last criticism was perhaps whimsical: Dinamo made two changes (note, that USSR allowed three changes in their domestic championships) during the final – Gutzaev started the second half, so if there was a mistake, it was not late substitute, but not starting the game with him in the first place. Chelebadze replaced Minashvili in the 75th minute – again, if there was a mistake, it was not to start the game with him. Hardly the substitutes were key factor – tactical mistake in the second half was really to blame.
Proud Cup winners. Standing from left: V. Maly, S. Zalotnitzky, L. Maly, S. Kravchenko, V. Rogovsky, V. Rudakov, V. Grachev, M. Sokolovsky, S. Morozov, N. Simonov, V. Gorbunov, V. Nosov – coach, M. Kalinin – team chief.
Crouching: L. Kondratov, V. Safonov, N. Fedorenko, V. Pyanykh, V. Starukhin, A. Varnavsky, V. Chanov.
The winners were well known and head-to-head inferior to Dinamo (Tbilisi) – and any other leading Soviet club at the time. Very few players of this squad were considered national team material – Starukhin, Sokolovksy, the missing here Degtyarev, perhaps Rogovsky and Varnavsky, eventually Viktor Chanov. And except Degtyarev, they were just that – ‘national team material’. Observed, considered, but in a very wide sense – they hardly ever played for USSR and rarely made the squad. Shakhter, unfortunately, was a provincial Ukrainian club, which automatically made them depending on the whims and needs of Dinamo (Kiev). They were not able to recruit top players, nor to keep promising talent. So, they made it with second-best players, not interesting to Dinamo or Moscow clubs. An unique player shaped their playing style – Vitaly Starukhin, arguably the only English-style center-forward in USSR. That was Shakhter’s luck, for no other club found him useful – inevitably, attacks focused on him, but Dinamo (Kiev), Spartak, Dinamo (Moscow) needed more diversity in attack, or had players like Blokhin, which were incompatible with Starukhin. He needed high balls from the wings, thus Shakhter played fast and simple kind of football – bypassing the midfield and constantly crossing long balls to feed Starukhin. Collective work at the back, fighting for the ball, then kicking it ahead and Starukhin will do the rest. It worked fine – the players did not have to be stars, it was enough to be physically fit and disciplined. It worked against Dinamo (Tbilisi) – Shakhter was able to saturate their own half with tough runners, thus killing the technical superiority of the Georgians, they needed no time or fancy work to start a counter-attack – a long ball ahead was just enough to give Starukhin a chance. And if the ball was high in the air, it was his – he hardly had a matching opponent in the air. This simple style worked against technical teams like Tbilisi and Spartak, it worked well against physical teams like Kiev. It worked well in a single game, so the cup format was perfect for Shakther. It did not work well in a long championship, though. It was an unusual and unique style in Soviet football – and very safe for Shakther: they did not have to worry about their best players, for nobody wanted them. Of this team only Viktor Chanov was taken by Dinamo (Kiev) – and that happened in 1982, when Degtyarev was still the first goalkeeping choice for Shakther.