Ukraine ties Russia, 1-1, qualifying to play for slot in soccer's European Championship (10/17/99)

Ukraine ties Russia, 1-1, qualifying to play for slot in soccer's European Championship

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - A glaring and embarrassing error by Russian goalkeeper Alexander Filimonov allowed Ukraine to tie the Russian national team 1-1 with just over three minutes left in their European Championship qualifying match. The tie on October 9 gave Ukraine the green light to proceed to an eight-team playoff for the final two of 12 slots in the continental championship finals to be held in the spring.

After a scoreless first half, Russian star Valerii Karpin put his team ahead with a successful free kick at the 75-minute mark. With time running out and Russia carrying the battle to the Ukrainians, that seemed enough to assure Russia a victory and class it Group 4 in the European competition, which would have allowed the team to move into the finals. But with 100 seconds left in regulation time, Mr. Filimonov could not handle an unexpectedly strong free kick from Ukrainian star Andrii Shevchenko and fell back into the goal with the ball. The shot tied the game.

The more than 10,000 fans from Ukraine who traveled to Moscow for the match went berserk with jubilation at that point, and Ukraine got a reprieve - because a tie gives the nod to the visitors in the European Championships - and a further chance to move into the finals if it wins a playoff in mid-November.

Although Ukrainian fans ultimately got the last laugh, they did not have an easy time of it in Moscow, where they were harassed by Russian soccer zealots. The Ukrainian press reported that Russian militia asked Ukrainian fans at Moscow's main railroad, where the majority arrived in the city, not to wear or display Ukraine's blue-and-yellow national colors. Even so, a minor incident was reported in which Russian fans tried to overturn a Ukrainian tour bus. Another unconfirmed report stated that one Ukrainian fan had three fingers severed by a Russian with a broken glass bottle.

Fighting and civil disturbances are not uncommon when the two national teams meet, or when the countries' two major private clubs, Kyiv Dynamo and Moscow Spartak, play each other. Visiting fans are routinely given militia escorts and are cordoned off in separate sections of the stadium, as was the case in Moscow.

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