It is hard to overestimate the importance of the fact that Metalist advanced to the Round of 16 for the soccer fans in Kharkiv. Metalist became the first team in the history of Kharkiv to reach such a high level, so its fans expected an exciting performance in the return game against Dynamo. To witness a soccer duel the fans had to do more than simply buy tickets on time. (This was not much of a problem because the ticket prices have recently been raised.) To get to their seats on stands of the Metalist stadium, which is being reconstructed now, the fans had to go through awful and slimy mess at the construction site.
However, once the game started the unpleasant memories vanished away. After the first game in Kyiv, when Dynamo won 1:0, both teams lost one player due to disqualification. Seweryn Gancarczyk, the Polish fullback, was unable to play for Metalist and the Croatian halfback Ognjen Vukojevi did not come out onto the field to play for Dynamo.
It looked like a game against the team that they blanked twice before would not be difficult at all for the Kyivites. The games in spring showed that Dynamo is on a higher level than Metalist in different aspects: the level of training, the players’ class, and game organization. The Kharkiv team had only the enthusiasm of ambitious players and their coach in its favor. They really wanted to prove that their success on an international arena was not accidental.
At the beginning of the match, the more experienced guests took control of the game with bold attacks and smart defense. However, initially Dynamo played somewhat academically. Their tactics was: “If we failed to score now, we’ll score later.” As a result, the more active players of Metalist seized the initiative little by little and scored a goal after a free kick. The unguarded halfback Valentyn Sliusar headed the ball into the net.
This goal tied the total score for the two matches. If the game had ended like this, there would have been overtime and maybe even the after-match penalty kicks. But no one at the entire stadium believed this would happen. Twenty-six thousand people, including 2,000 fans that had come to watch this game from Kyiv, urged the teams to go ahead. Emotions took over, resulting in a parade of mistakes made by both teams. The first ones to make a mistake were the goalkeeper and the Dynamo fullbacks, who let the Brazilian Jackson Coelho score a goal from a penalty kick.
Metalist kept the winning score for just a few minutes. After a high cross from a penalty kick the ball went to Croatian Goran Sabli and he directed it into the goal. So, by scoring in an away game, Dynamo now took the lead. However, after a couple minutes Dynamo’s defense made the same mistake as their opponents had done, and Sliusar scored his second goal.
If Metalist had proper experience and a higher class of the game, it would have managed to the winning score in the last 20 minutes of the game. However, class and experience were Dynamo’s winning cards. The Kyivites had had many opportunities to score by then, but when they simply had to score, they kept on attacking. Formally, the second goal into Metalist’s net was scored by its own fullback Andrii Berezovchuk. Even if this had not happened, there would have been other mistakes. Dynamo still had many opportunities to score. However, the score 2:3 in an away game was enough to advance to the next round of the UEFA Cup. It was not a big deal for the Kyivites to finish the game with this score.
The disappointment of Metalist players and their numerous fans can be well understood, as they were so close to victory. However, there was no sadness on the faces of Kharkiv fans as they were leaving the stands that night. Their team showed good soccer, and there is no doubt that European-style soccer will be back at the Kharkiv stadium. Hopefully, there will be less mud around by then.
Meanwhile, Shakhtar beat Moscow CSKA in Donetsk with the score 2:0 (first leg 0:1). Therefore, for the first time in history there will be two Ukrainian teams in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup.
P. S. We have witnessed another historic event. As of March 20, Ukraine gained the highest UEFA rating for this season —12.625. It left behind England and Italy with the coefficients of 12.555 and 12.062 respectively.
