The weekend before last, the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (KPI) Sports Complex hosted the third President of Ukraine Cup Mini-Soccer Student Tournament finals. While the qualifying round saw more than 500 teams from Ukraine’s various institutions of higher education, Kyiv garnered the best of the best, i.e., area competition winners and the KPI squad as the home team.
The tournament was organized for the third year in a row by the People’s Democratic Youth League, this time in conjunction with the For a United Ukraine Bloc, the State Committee of Ukraine for Physical Training and Sports, the State Committee of Ukraine for Youth and Family Policies, and the Ukrainian Mini-Soccer Association.
Passions ran high on the pitch. The teams played sparing neither themselves nor their opponents. The Zaporizhzhia State University squad emerged victorious, having beaten their KPI rivals 1:0. That the passions were really frenzied can be illustrated at least by several bookings and a sendoff that proved fatal for the Kyivans who, one player short, conceded the decisive goal. Yet, the bitter pill was somewhat sweetened by the tournament’s guest of honor, Minister of Transport Valery Pustovoitenko, who presented valuable prizes not only to the winning Zaporizhzhia players but also to captains of all the teams taking part in the tournament.
What caused special interest was a friendly match between the teams of the organizing committee and television journalists. The latter proved weaker and lost 1:2. And small wonder: the organizers’ squad entrusted its goal area to no other than Hryhory Lisenchuk, the renowned coach and president of the Ukrainian Mini-Soccer Association, who made many a save. Mr. Lisenchuk himself said with a smile after the match that he could have saved even the goal he conceded, but this would have dulled the match. Yet the goalie fell short during the break, when he tried to parry a series of Mr. Pustovoitenko’s six-meter shots. At first the former premier struck too high but then twice brought the ball precisely home despite Mr. Lisenchuk’s desperate attempts at a save.
The grandstands were packed to capacity and the fans enthusiastically cheered on their favorites. The accompanying noise resembled that of a Champions League match, while the result pleased us much more than the latest “triumphs” of Dynamo Kyiv. Thus, by all accounts, there was no disappointment. The audiences also had their spirits raised by singer Petro Chorny who performed his song right on the pitch just before the matches.
