September 11, 2022
The Ukraine Premier League recommenced on August 23rd amidst much admiration giving the circumstances in the country following the Russian invasion of the country. Understandably Desna Chernihiv and FC Mariupol have been unable to participate in the new season given the destruction of the city of Chernihiv and the occupation of Mariupol, but the league continues to host 16 teams with the promotion of two sides from the Persha Liga.
Given the ever-present danger of attacks on cities in the Ukraine, all matches are being played behind closed doors and being held in stadiums that enable shelter should the sirens starting warning of danger. A couple of matches so far have been interrupted by the air-raid warnings but thankfully the games continued after a short break without any impact. As such, the concept of home and away fixtures is fairly immaterial, rather there is the need to simply play every other side twice.
Today’s match was being played in the city of Uzhhorod in the extreme west of the country close to the borders with Slovakia and Hungary. The city had been part of Czechoslovakia until 1938 when it transferred to Hungary, and was then annexed by the Soviet Union in 1945. The Avanhard Stadium has a capacity of 12,000 and the city’s football side are currently in the second level Persha Liga.
Whilst I have never seen a match in the Ukraine, I have witnessed two of their sides play. In 2000 I was present as, at the time, an unheralded Shakhtar Donetsk side overturned a 0-1 home loss by beating a highly talented Slavia Prague side in the Champions League qualifiers with an injury time goal from Andriy Vorobei ( who went on to win 68 caps for Ukraine ) to force extra-time, and then added another for a 2-0 victory. Frankly though, Slavia missed a number of good chances and really ought to have won the tie. My one outstanding memory of the match is the tremendous noise made by the Shakhtar supporters.
The other match was a UEFA Cup tie in October 1993 between Eintracht Frankfurt and Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk in which goals from Polish international Jan Furtok and Ghanian and future Bolton Wanderers legend Jay-Jay Okocha gave the Germans a 2-0 victory in front of a crowd of 6,900 in the Wald Stadion. Dnepr were handicapped by a red card to Ukrainian international defender Serhiy Diryavka 20 minutes from the end but the Eintracht side that evening included German internationals Maurizo Gaudino, Uli Stein, Uwe Bein and Manny Binz. Antony Yeboah was in the Eintracht squad that season and had scored 9 times from 9 appearances, but he was not involved in this game, presumably injured.
Entrance to that match was 12 Deutsche Marks and the excellent programme seems to have been free as there is no price on it !
Dnipro is the fourth largest city in the Ukraine with a population of around 1 million inhabitants and is located in the eastern part of the country in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Since the 2014 elections, the Soviet description Petrovsk has been dropped from the name of the city.
The original Dnepr/Dnipro club were declared bankrupt in 2018. In Soviet times they had won the Soviet First League in 1983 and 1988, with four other top three finished in that decade. They were runners-up in the Ukrainian Premier League in 1993, and have 5 third placed finished to their name. Perhaps more famously they were runners-up in the 2014/15 Europa League, losing 2-3 to Sevilla in the final played in Warsaw. Along the way they had eliminated Olympiakos, Ajax, Club Brugge, and beat Napoli in the semi-final.
The phoenix club ( Dnipro-1 ) were promoted back to the top level in 2019, since when they achieved two 7th placed finishes, and were third last season when the Premier League was terminated. As a result they qualified for the Europa League but were eliminated over the two legs by AEK Larnaca from Cyprus ( H 1-2, A 0-3 ) to drop down to the Europa Conference Group stages, where they have lost their first match at “home” to AZ Alkmaar 0-1. The other sides in the group are Apollon Limassol from Cyprus and Vaduz from Liechtenstein, and all their home matches are being played in Kosice, in Slovakia.
Dnipro-1 have though had more success from their two league matches so far, surprising Dynamo Kyiv 3-0 in a match played in Lviv and beating Veres Rivne 2-0 in Uzhhorod, which is where their home league matches are scheduled to be held. Their 5 league goals have come from 5 different scorers.
Dnipro-1 have two current Ukrainian internationals, ex Midtjylland and Sonderjyske striker Artem Dovbyk ( 11 caps ) and midfielder Oleksandr Pikhalyyonok ( 2 caps ). On loan from Metalist Kharkiv defender Eduard Sarapiy and midfielder Oleksiy Gutsulyak were called up to the expanded national squad for the play-off match against Scotland, but didn’t feature and are still to win their first caps.
The Dnipro-1 squad includes two Brazilians, ex-Fortaleza goal-keeper Walef and defender Busanello, who is on loan from Chapecoense. Full-back Oleksandr Svatok has played for Hajduk Split, midfielder Ruslan Babenko has played for Bodo/Glimt in Norway and Polish side Rakow Czestochowa. Algerian midfielder Yanis Hamache played for Boavista in Portugal and has 1 cap for his country.
These diaries have previously featured one match from the Ukraine, a second level game between Hirnyk Sport and Metalist Kharkiv in October 2022. However, the Kharkiv side playing today is a different club, with both rising from the ashes of Metalist Kharkiv after that club went into liquidation in 2016.
Metalist 1925 Kharkiv were founded in 2016 and have no claim to the historical legacy of the side that once drew with Everton and Newcastle in European football. They achieved promotion to the Ukrainian First League after a third placed finish in the 2020/21 Persha Liga. They were in 10th place in their first season at the top level when the season was terminated following the Russian invasion.
As the stadium in Kharkiv has been destroyed by Russian bombs, Metalist 1925 are rostered to be playing their home matches this season in the Olympic Stadium in Kiyv. They have played three matches so far and remain unbeaten, having drawn 0-0 with Shakhtar Donetsk and Chernomorets Odessa, and beaten Vorskla Poltava 3-2 thanks to two goals from Andriy Boriachuk ( 2 caps and on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk ) and one from Vladyslav Dmitrenko. All three matches were played in the Olympic Stadium.
Other noteworthy members of the Metalist 1925 squad include defender Dmytro Kapinus, who is also on loan from Shakhtar, midfielder Artem Habelok has previously played for Latvian side Spartak Jurmela and Armenian side Pyunik Yerevan, whilst midfielder Yaroslav Martyniuk has a spell with Shakhtyor Soligorsk on his CV.
Kick-off was 13.00 local time and Bet365.com made Dnipro-1 2/5 favourites. Metalist 1925 were on offer at 19/4 with the draw at 7/2. The weather in Uzhhorod was forecast to be 20 degrees with the threat of occasional showers, which thankfully stayed away.
The match was streamed on YouTube on the Football Hub channel, with commentary in Ukrainian, and at its peak attracted over 22K viewers.
Metalist 1925 made one change to the side that beat Vorskla, with Rudavskyi replacing Kravchenko, who dropped to the bench, whilst Dnipro-1 made three changes to their last league starting XI. Tanchyk, Rubchynskyi and Nazarenko came in to replace Busanello, Gromov, who both dropped to the bench, whilst Svatok was missing from the match-day squad.
Dnipro-1 were playing in an all blue kit except for yellow/beige sleeves, which from a distance looked flesh colour to give the appearance there were no sleeves to the shirt. Metalist 1925 were in all yellow. The TV graphic abbreviated Metalist 1925 to M25 and you can make your own punchlines involving London’s outer orbital motorway…
After observing a minute’s silence, the match started slowly, with plenty of neat, passing football but with little being created. With the game being played behind closed doors it was a throw-back to matches during the Covid lockdowns.
A Metalist 1925 attack in the 6th minute ended with Remenyuk being crowded out and going to ground but the referee allowed play to continue as the Dnipro-1 keeper picked up the loose ball. A long ball out of the Metalist 1925 defence required Dnipor-1 keeper Walef to come out of his area and volley back to the half-way line.
The “home” side’s first sight of goal came in the 15th minute as Adamyuk’s incisive pass found Dovbyk and the striker turned and shot narrowly wide from just inside the area with the keeper beaten. Metalist 1925 responded with a six first time passing move that ended tamely with Zhychykov putting a cross-cum-shot harmlessly over the bar from the right hand side.
Dnipro-1 though were gradually taking control of the game and Pikhalyonok’s pass found Dovbyk in space in side the penalty area, and after twisting Bezuglyi this way and that, he shot high and wide. A minute later Rubchynskyi’s through pass was just a tad over hit, and Mozil was able to collect before Gutsulyak could get to it. At this point midfielder Rubchynskyi’s was at the heart of most of Dnipro-1’s counter-attacks.
In the 24th minute, a dangerous looking cross from the right wing was well claimed by Dnipro-1 keeper Walef. Five minutes later, Dnipro-1 fashioned another good chance as Dovbyk got the better of Rudavskyi but again put his shot across the face of the goal and wide.
The only yellow card of the game was shown in the 31st minute when an early ball out of the Metalist 1925 defence saw Tanchyk bring down Boriachuk, and some referees might have considered the Dnipro-1 man to be the last defender and shown a red instead. Boriachuk was a long way from goal though.
Dnipro-1 should have opened the scoring in the 36th minute after Pikhalyonok’s pass put Dovbyk clear and under pressure from a defender and with the keeper advancing of his line, the striker seems to mis-kick and the ball bounced into the ground and wide. As the pressure continued to mount a fine cross from the left was well headed away before it could reach Dovbyk, but the game remained scoreless as the referee blew for half-time 5 seconds early.
After 45 minutes, neither goal-keeper had been forced into making a save, and Metalist 1925 were considered by statisticians not to have had any goal attempts. The possession stats favoured Dnipro-1 60:40.
Dnipor-1 continued at the start of the second half from where they had left off, and a tantalizing right-wing cross was a fraction too high for Dovbyk, and Nazerenko beyond the far post was unable to direct his header on target.
With 50 minutes played, Metalist 1925 created their first real chance as a through ball put Boriachuk in space in the lef- hand channel but his shot across goal went a couple of feet wide of the post.
The response from Dnipro-1 was immediate, and a cute flick by Dovbyk with his back to goal on the edge of the area enabled Rubchynskyi to run on, but under pressure from a defender he put his effort wide from around 12 yards. Dovbyk then controlled a bouncing ball and turned and shot left-footed from just inside the area, but the ball hit Martyniuk and lobbed up gently for Mozil to catch.
In an increasingly rare excursion into the Dnipro-1 area, Remenyuk was put into space on the right- hand side, but his poor pass was easily intercepted.
Dnipro-1 continued to press for the opening goal, and they hit the post in the 60th minute. Dovbyk found Nazerenko unmarked 12 yards out, but his left footed shot smacked against the upright. However, it merely delayed the inevitable and from the ensuing corner, centre-back Volodymyr Adamyuk was left free to head home from 6 yards.
As Metalist 1925 reeled from failing behind, they conceded again three minutes later. A ball down the right-hand channel was headed on, and with Dovbyk being played on-side by the right-back, he raced into the area to slide his shot past Mozil. The ball did hit the keeper’s foot as he spread himself, but it had enough pace to cross the line before Bezuglyi could keep it out of the net.
The hosts were now rampant, and Dovbyk fed Pikhalyonok on the left of the penalty area, but the striker was just unable to get onto the end of the return pass as it flashed across the goalmouth.
Both sides made two substitutions with 20 minutes remaining, but neither did anything to alter the pattern of play.
With the points seemingly secure, Algerian left wing-back started moving further forward, and was twice found in space inside the visitor’s area, but his first effort just evaded Dobvyk and Gutsulyak whilst the second was blocked by Bezuglyi at the expense of a corner.
With 10 minutes left to play, Dnipro-1 introduced ex Lyon, Monaco and Lille French midfielder Feres Bahlouli, who was with Metalist Kharkiv last season and got a name-check in these diaries report of the Persha Liga match again Hirnyk Sport.
Behlouli was soon in the action, receiving a lay back from Gromov to force a fine diving save from Mozil, and from the corner, Sarapiy reacted the quickest to a loose ball but his prod for goal was cleared off the line.
It was now simply a case of how many, and with three minutes remaining, Dnipro-1 added a third goal, with Gromov firing home from 6 yards after Kogut had got to the by-line and played the ball back to Gromov to finish.
Overall, it was a thoroughly deserved victory for Dnipro-1 who move to played three, won three and looked a class above Metalist 1925, who fell to their first defeat of the campaign.
SC Dnipro-1 : Walef – Tanchyk, Adamyuk, Sarapiy, Hamache –Babenko, Rubchynskyi ( Kogut ), Pikhalyonok ( Bahlouli ) – Nazerenko ( Gromov ), Dovbyk ( Gorbunov ), Gutsulyak
Metalist 1925 Kharkiv : Mozil – Zhychykov, Kurylo, Bezuglyi, Rudavskyi –Martyniuk ( Kravchenko ), Remenyuk, Habelok, Kapinus ( Vachiberadze ) – Boriachuk, Bychek ( Rusyn )
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmT4JS2QJvo
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