Friday, April 15, 2022
The Maybe Men, Part 3
The USSR's first opponents at the 1986 World Cup, Hungary, came to the tournament with quite a reputation. They had stormed through what looked like a tough qualifying group, featuring both the Netherlands and World Cup regulars Austria. The Soviets, on the other hand, had limped into second place in their group with a series of narrow home wins, and their form in friendlies heading into the event had been mediocre.
But they had, of course, undergone a major change since then: Valery Lobanovskyi had arrived, bringing a number of his Dynamo Kyiv charges with him. The national team was essentially a carbon copy of the club side which had recently triumphed in the Cup-Winners Cup.
The USSR defeated Hungary 6-0, and it could have been eight or nine.
The result was not all about tactical or physical superiority; had Pavel Yakovenko not scored a somewhat fortunate goal after only a couple of minutes, and Sergey Aleinikov not followed it up with a superb strike from distance to make it 2-0 before the Hungarians knew what was happening, it is unlikely that the Magyars would have collapsed as they did. But it is fair enough to say that the game was a tactical lesson writ large.
Above all, the Hungarians were completely unable to deal with the constant, bewildering movement of Igor Belanov up front, and the quick release to the lone striker in which the Kyiv crew had become so adept. The third Soviet goal was a perfect illustration of the strategy in action; following a turnover, an alert Vasily Rats sent a pinpoint crossfield ball through to Belanov, who had once again drifted away from his marker. Into the box he went, out went a defender's leg, penalty. And Belanov himself converted it. Only a few minutes later, Belanov had another such chance when played in by Alexander Zavarov, having a splendid game.
It remained 3-0 at half-time. A storming run through the midfield by Yakovenko set up the winger Ivan Yaremchuk for the fourth, and soon afterwards the substitute Vadim Yevtushenko provoked an own goal with a killing through-pass, after one of Zavarov's signature straight-into-the-traffic runs had pulled the Hungarian defence out of shape. The final goal saw Zavarov at his best again, dodging a tackle in midfield before playing an exquisite pass through for Aleinikov. The Dynamo Minsk man miscontrolled the ball and allowed the Hungarian keeper Peter Disztl to smother, but another USSR substitute, Sergey Rodionov, was on hand to slot the ball home.
And there were other chances. Yevtushenko missed a penalty late in the second half; and later miscued a simple header in front of goal. Rodionov, too, should have scored a second when the shell-shocked Hungarian defence presented him with a clear run at goal. It was a thorough humiliation, and the Hungarians duly went out of the tournament in the first round. They have not been back to the World Cup since.
Next up for Lobanovskyi's men were the European champions, France. Although this tournament would be the last hurrah for the glorious French side of the eighties, with Michel Platini, Jean Tigana and Alain Giresse all the wrong side of 30, they were still a formidable proposition.
It was a pleasingly even game, with a draw a pretty fair result. The Soviets might have had a penalty early on when Zavarov, his close control impressive as always, surged into a crowd of French shirts in the centre and appeared to be fouled in the box. At the other end, a shot from the young French striker Yannick Stopyra was well saved by Rinat Dasaev in the USSR goal.
A few words ought to be said about Dasaev, one of the few non-Kyiv players in Lobanovskyi's side. One of the revelations of the 1982 World Cup, in which he had excelled despite an otherwise underwhelming USSR performance, Dasaev was now recognised as one of the finest keepers in the game. It would clearly have been churlish of Lobanovskyi to favour the Kyiv goalie Viktor Chanov, although the latter would make an appearance in the Soviets' next, less relevant, match.
Dasaev needed to be on his mettle at free kicks, because the Soviets certainly gave away a fair few. From one of these, shortly before half-time, Platini hit the post. But it was the USSR who went ahead on 54 minutes, when Rats' magnificent left foot sent a bullet of a long shot past Joel Bats in the French goal.
To their credit, the European champions did not lose their heads, and scored a fine equaliser eight minutes later, when Luis Fernandez sneaked into a hole in the centre of the Soviet defence to beat Dasaev. Lobanovskyi liked to play with only a sweeper and a rather adventurous centre-back in the middle of defence, and the Soviets' weakness in this area would be a thorn in their side in this and subsequent tournaments.
Although Rats continued to trouble the French with his insidious inswinging corners from the right throughout the second half, France finished the stronger side, and Dasaev had to make another excellent save from a young Jean-Pierre Papin twenty minutes from the close.
Against the group minnows Canada in their final group game, the Soviets fielded several reserves, including the old Kyiv hero Oleg Blokhin. One of the players rested was Belanov, and in the first half it was clear how much his enterprise and off-the-ball movement was missed. Soon after he arrived as a substitute, he cleverly set up Blokhin to score the opening goal. The veteran injured himself in the process, and made way for Zavarov, who combined superbly with Belanov to score the second.
The Soviets had surprised and delighted the neutrals in the first round. In the second phase, now a knockout again after the bizarre experiment of 1982, their opponents would be Belgium.
The story of that game, one of the most lively and dramatic in World Cup history, follows in Part 4.
