Soccer mania grips the country as Ukraine debuts at World Cup

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - For their vacations, Ukrainians typically flock to Turkey, Egypt or Crimea.

Volodymyr Medvedev, 29, decided to take two weeks off to watch the World Cup, in its entirety. "Even Korea-Togo" he said.

Soccer mania gripped Ukraine as millions stopped what they were doing the afternoon of June 14 to watch the debut of its national soccer team in the World Cup.

While the weather was hot and sunny in Leipzig, Germany, heavy downpours drenched the streets of Kyiv just as the game commenced at 4 p.m. local time - perhaps a dark omen of things to come.

The rains failed to keep more than a hundred young fans from donning raincoats and crowding onto Independence Square to watch the historic game on the maidan's large screen.

"The rain doesn't mean anything," said Liudmyla Zakaluzhna, 16, who draped a Ukrainian flag around her shoulders. "The atmosphere is warm."

She and her classmates were visiting Kyiv from their hometown of Peremyshl (Przemysl), Poland. It was a thrill to witness Ukraine's debut in the capital city, she said.

As the students watched the match, two older women pulled up next to them with carts and began peddling their blue-and-yellow souvenirs.

"Scarves, hats, flags, horns!" they called into the crowd, then providing a loud demonstration of their wares.

"Don't blow your horn," an irritated fan barked, his eyes fixated on the screen.

"This is my job," she shot back.

Those Kyivans seeking more comfortable accommodations made reservations at Planeta Sportu, a popular sports bar in the city center.

Fans began reserving seats in May, and all 200 places were reserved a week before the match, said restaurant director Viktor Khayit.

"Today is such a historic day in the life of Ukraine that I think even if we had a thousand seats, they all would have been occupied," he said.

While there aren't seats left for the June 19 match with Saudi Arabia, there's room left for the June 23 match with Tunisia, he said.

With politicians in low esteem among Ukrainians, the World Cup provided the perfect opportunity to win some favor with the public.

On the morning of the big match, Party of the Regions deputies each showed up for the Verkhovna Rada session wearing blue-and-yellow soccer scarves.

"My heart is in Germany, but I'm in Parliament," said Rynat Akhmetov, a national deputy and owner of Donetsk Shakhtar, the soccer team that won Ukraine's national championship this year.

"Today is an important day so I had to be here," he seemed to say with some regret.

Party of the Regions National Deputy Vitalii Khomutynnik said he was hoping that the Rada session would conclude in time for the match's start so he could watch with his wife.

Ukraine's debut in the World Cup was among the few things that could unite the Rada's national deputies, who have been unable to form a majority parliamentary coalition since the March 26 elections.

That point even seeped into the day's political rhetoric.

"I am convinced that (our players) will do today a thousand times more for Ukraine than our president, prime minister and national deputies combined," said former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

"Because they truly defend Ukraine, and don't embarrass her unreservedly before the entire world. And I am convinced that our boys won't make a coalition agreement with the Spaniards and won't back down from the struggle that is absolutely needed for Ukraine."

Instead of his suit and tie, National Deputy Andrii Shevchenko of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc wore a bright yellow jersey bearing the name of Ukraine's top player, also Andrii Shevcheno.

He planned on watching the game with his close buddies and drinking beer. "Then we'll hopefully visit a sauna afterwards feeling very good," Mr. Shevchenko said.

Unfortunately, Mr. Shevchenko's trip to the sauna wouldn't turn out the way he would have preferred.

The Ukrainian team had impressed soccer fans worldwide when it became the first European team to qualify for the 2006 World Cup while competing last year.

However, its debut was nothing short of disastrous, as the team gave up goals 13 and 17 minutes into the game.

The team didn't fare any better in the second half, when defender Vladyslav Vaschuk was given a red card for interfering with Spanish forward Fernando Torres, though in replays it became apparent the Ukrainian didn't cause his fall within the penalty area.

The Spaniards were also awarded a penalty kick which they capitalized on.

The call drew outrage among Ukrainian fans.

Among those disappointed was Ukrainian rock star Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, who offered emotional play-by-play commentary of the historic match for the television network Inter.

"Where's the fair judging?" Mr. Vakarchuk asked in disgust. "Fair judging is when you can pity Spanish players, call an unfair offsides three times against our team and then award this kind of a penalty kick? That's fair judging?"

After the controversial call, the Ukrainians had little chance of recuperating, playing the rest of the match one man short. The game concluded with a 4-0 Spanish win.

Afterwards, Soviet soccer legend and team coach Oleh Blokhin apologized to Ukrainian fans and criticized his team's performance.

"Spain has a strong and highly technical team, but at times we looked like the worst team in Europe," said Mr. Blokhin, who was named European Footballer of the Year in 1975 when playing for the USSR team.

Forward Andrii Shevchenko said the two initial goals broke the team's spirit. "Let's hope that we'll do well in the next two matches," Mr. Shevchenko said.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 18, 2006, No. 25, Vol. LXXIV

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