World Cup soccer action unites people of Ukraine (07/09/06)

World Cup soccer action unites people of Ukraine

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Oblivious tourists sipped cocktails in the Khreschatyk's outdoor cafés on June 30 as a cacophony of car and soccer horns proclaimed the humid night's national gravity.

On Independence Square, teenage girls adorned young men's faces with blue and yellow war paint in preparation for the night's fierce struggle.

In a half hour, "nashi" were to face soccer powerhouse and three-time world champions Italy.

"It's too bad our boys aren't playing Spain," snickered Volodymyr Korbash, 33, referring to the team that beat Ukraine 4-0 but didn't make it to the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

By the game's start, more than a thousand youngsters had jammed Independence Square, draped in blue-yellow flags, clenching Ukrainian beer bottles and stretching their vocal cords to their limit.

"U-kra-yi-na!"

"Pa-bie-da bu-diet na-sha!" (Victory will be ours.)

How loud was it?

"I feel it's more like a revolution than a soccer game," said Elizabeth Clark, an American visiting from Moscow.

But all it took was six minutes for the patriotic zeal and alacrity invigorating Independence Square to be abruptly extinguished with a nifty goal by a fellow named Gianluca Zambrotta, a defender no less.

Subdued tension swept like a wave over the soccer fans, who spent half-time tensely pondering and pleading for a rejuvenated Ukrainian team, a prayer that wouldn't be answered

Below the raucous maidan, the food court of the Globus shopping mall had a dozen or so patrons, oblivious to the history taking place above.

"It's all the same to me," said Elena Taran, munching on a salad while chatting with a girlfriend. "The whole world may be watching, but we're here drinking beer."

Our husbands are watching it somewhere, they said laughing."We're not going out on the maidan!"

At 59 minutes into the match, Luca Toni's goal hushed the maidan's enthusiasm, but the fans refused to give up hope.

"Sche ne vmerla Ukrayina," the young boys began singing.

And just when they reached their third or fourth rendition of that valiant anthem, Toni banged the final nail in Ukraine's coffin, 10 minutes after his first goal in the game.

Stark lucidity overwhelmed the maidan's throngs. But there wasn't any cursing, beating, breaking, or looting.

A few left the maidan in disgust.

The stalwarts refused to give up hope until the final minute elapsed. Then they embraced, broke out in song and basked in Ukraine's glorious achievement of reaching the quarter-finals in its World Cup debut.

They chanted "Blo-khin" and "Mo-lod-tsi" and "U-kraine" amidst a melody of feet crunching broken glass, drunken-sounding Dynamo Kyiv soccer hymns and ear-piercing soccer horns.

"Nothing bad happened," said Ihor Zakharenko, 34. "Ukraine became known throughout the world and the fans are shouting 'molodtsi!' So we ought to tip our caps to our boys."

And, while some women hid out in the Globus mall, others did begin to appreciate the sport.

"I was never into soccer until Monday," said Nadia Kondratovets, 19, a Ukrainian living in Vancouver, Wash. "Monday was my first time watching soccer. By the end of the game, we were really cheering."

Forward Andriy Shevchenko did get his fair share of detractors who felt he hadn't played as hard as he could have.

Roman Abramovich is paying him millions for his legs, one fan said of the Chelsea Football Club owner. Shevchenko wasn't going to risk hurting them for Ukraine.

Upon their return the night of July 1, more than 3,000 fans ambushed the Team Ukraine players at Boryspil Airport, congratulating, thanking and embracing the boys.

It was triple the number of fans who greeted them when they returned from Albania after qualifying for the World Cup in October 2005.

"Regardless of the coalition they're trying to form in Parliament, we managed to unite the people," defender Vladyslav Vaschuk told a television reporter.

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