The week before last, Baku hosted the second international journalist soccer tournament. The first, held last year in St. Petersburg, saw the Ukraine’s Kyiv Stars finish fifth. This time, the Kyiv journalists, funded by the Soccer Federation and Kyiv Dynamo for their trip to the capital of Azerbaijan, took third place.
The draw was unlucky for us from the very beginning. The tournament was attended by nine teams divided into two groups. The Kyiv Stars found themselves in Group A, where there were five teams, which means they had to play four matches the first day. To start with, the Kyiv team beat that of Turkey 5:0. The second match was more difficult and ended in a 1:0 cliffhanger victory over Rotor from Volgograd, Russia. The Ukrainian journalists did not need additional pep talk for the third match versus Moscow journalists, and battle ended with our knights of the pen and pitch racking up their most resounding victory of the tournament, 7:0 in favor of the Kyiv. We concluded the first play day with a match against the Azeri journalists, again celebrating a 1:0 win.
It was far more difficult the second day play. Overwhelmed with fatigue, our players found it difficult to get back their strength before the semifinal match against Belarus, who had played one match fewer the day before. The team lost its general drive and, hence, lost 0:2. Our side again came up short in the losers’ final with journalists of Azerbaijan. Regulation time ended in a 1:1 draw, as did the overtime with the score of 2:2. But the Kyiv Stars still managed to snatch a win and the overall third place in a penalty series. Meanwhile, the finals saw the Belarus team pitted against that of the Telefortuna Azeri Television. The home team maintained superiority both in regulation and extra time, but our Slavic brethren fought with self-sacrifice, with their goalkeeper Aleksandr Pankratov working wonders. In the long run, the hosts let the visitors to counterattack in extra time, allowing Belarus to become champion with the score 1:0.
Our forward Valery Yaroshko (Ukrayinski futbol) came in the tournament’s top scorer with six goals.
