Where the Dawn is in the lead

Once upon a time, a very eminent domestic coach during an interview recommended to me a way to determine a club worthy of the championship. I mumbled something about the objectivity of the standings, and he, somehow arrogantly smiling (they say, what a naive young man!), Recommended to draw up a different table – civil strife among the top five, that is, among the teams that get the right to play in European competitions.

To my clarifying question, he explained: “As a rule, there is a real struggle between them, there is no imitation of it and financial encouragement for its conduct or financial (or any other) connivance with its ignorance.” I understood the interlocutor, but the topic was developed later, after the interview, already with the voice recorder turned off, with cognac and a hearty snack, and with my promise not to go into details of what I heard in my publication. Since then, I have regularly compiled at least for myself mini-tournament tables for the first 5 teams in different championships. The results were varied, the conclusions were also different (I was also skeptical about such signs, especially when two teams from Donetsk went to the prize-winners in Ukraine), but each tournament is a separate story. At the end of this season in the Ukrainian Premier League, I remembered the advice of a prominent representative of the Ukrainian coaching community. And got quite interesting data.

Zorya, although they lost their face in the match against Shakhtar (where did the power, endurance, inflexibility characteristic of Luhansk this spring go!), nevertheless, is the leader in this plate of civil strife of the future plenipotentiaries of Ukraine in European competitions. Zorya has chances to stay on the 1st line of this symbolic mini-tournament (in case of a draw between Dnipro-1 and Shakhtar, for example), but one step down is quite likely. Nevertheless, the championship in this competition is completely in the hands of the Luhansk team: Oleksandriya won, and they are unattainable in the fights between the leaders of the championship. But in any case, they will not fall below the 2nd place here (unlike the standings of the entire championship). Can Zorya’s coach Patrick van Leeuwen set the team up for fights with venerable opponents? If not for two major failures in the matches with Dnipro-1 (at the beginning of the Ukrainian championship) and Shakhtar (in the tournament epilogue), the answer could be given in the affirmative. And so … The results of the leadership showdown give some ambiguity.

Probably, little can already prevent Shakhtar from winning the current Ukrainian league, but the relative lack of success in matches against teams comparable to them in terms of strength is likely to worry the Pitmen’s fans. Point advantage over competitors was obtained mainly due to the successful game of Igor Jovicevich’s team with more modest clubs. And with the neighbors in the tournament, the struggle was with varying success, or, if you like, with many variables.

The Kievans lost to all the main competitors, except Oleksandriya, at least once (and to the same Zorya twice), thus emphasizing the regularity of their 4th place (in both tables, which is remarkable!). The Alexandrians to a certain extent have learned to break the game of more experienced opponents, but they still cannot command the parade on their own: so far, the representatives of the Kirovohrad region have not had a single victory in matches against teams standing higher in the standings.

Symbolic mini-tournament of the top five teams of the current championship of Ukraine

Place

Team

Games

Winnings

Draws

Losses

Goal difference

Glasses

1

Zarya (Lugansk)

7

4

1

2

12:12

13

2

“Dnepr-1” (Dnepr)

7

3

2

2

12:7

eleven

3

“Shakhtar Donetsk)

7

2

4

1

13:9

10

4

Dynamo (Kyiv)

8

3

1

4

13:13

10

5

“Alexandria”

7

0

4

3

9:18

4

In the end, Dnipro-1, apparently due to an unsuccessful game in the 2nd round against its neighbors in the standings (defeats from Kiev and Luhansk, a draw with the Alexandrians), deprived itself of champion ambitions. I would like to put in this series a fresh defeat from Vorskla, which is going 6th. Formally, it seems that this fiasco does not fit here, but mentally – completely! At the same time, I would like to note that Oleksandr Kucher’s wards conceded the least in the leadership bouts. At least for now, because in order to form the final table of matches between our European envoys, we need to play two more matches: Shakhtar – Dnipro-1 and Oleksandriya – Zorya.

And without exception, all our holders of football Euro visas lack stability – this is the actual problem. Yes, instability is the factor that makes the fight for places on the podium more spectacular, but reasonable doubts about the competitiveness of Ukrainian clubs on the European arena in the coming autumn torment the fan’s soul. Also, complicated logistics due to the ongoing war are added to the pessimistic basket.

And the role of a fan now, when the country is suffering from the aggression of a distraught adversary, has somehow come to naught. Without a fan in the stands and with a minimal TV audience, few people succeed in smelling the spirit of carrion in one or another very compromise duel, and even more so to make a fuss about it. Be that as it may, but in face-to-face matches between applicants for football Euro visas, there is probably more realism than in other football matches in our latitudes. My experienced interlocutor was probably right. However, championship (and other) medals are still given not for successful showdowns with neighbors in the tournament, but for a more stable step compared to competitors throughout the tournament. Therefore, no matter how much sympathy we show for Zorya’s game under the leadership of Patrick van Leeuwen, the place on the highest step of the podium will go not to the winner of the symbolic mini-tournament of the top five, but to the one who scores the most points overall. Although it is impossible not to pay tribute to the Luhansk team, at least for the long-term leadership in the internecine race of giants.

Alexey RYZHKOV

#Dawn #lead

2023-05-25 18:38:00