Month of Europe in Ukraine

Euro 2012 starts today in Poland with Poland – Greece matches, and meeting between Russia and the Czech Republic; and June 9 — in Ukraine: between Netherlands and Denmark, Germany and Portugal

Roman SHOSTAK, especially for «The Day», Lviv

UEFA President Michel Platini claimed at the pre-start press conference in Warsaw, that Poland and Ukraine have successfully completed the preparation and asked all the fans to pay their attention to the football game, not to the political one. By it he really admitted, that the most visited and the most democratic sport got such a popularity in recent decades, that any official game of the national team is considered to be a top-level meeting of the states with almost global consequences. Especially when the opponents principally serious: England, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Netherlands. At that time presidents and prime-ministers are occupying just the seats of the audience — not even the coach benches.

On the post-soviet space, finally appeared a good chance to clear up the soccer relationship between Ukraine and Russia and make out the best team. It has been for the first time since the last 20 years that teams of both countries play together in the final part of one of the two most popular tournaments. The 13-yeared argument, when Ukrainian team beat the Russia in 1999 by the results of play-offs on the way to the Euro-2000 (3:2,1:1), didn’t bring the full satisfaction, because of further failure in the play with Slovenia (1:2,1:1).

And now Ukraine and Russia, according to the tournament rules, may play against one another, if they are first or second —D and A respectively, and then they will win the quarter-final games. It means, that this confrontation will take place only during the semi-final games, first of them will occur in Donetsk (on June 27-th), and the second one — in Warsaw (on June 28-th). In theory, it may be another way, when they meet only in final— in Kyiv on July 1.

As the prominent Platini’s countryfellow, Napoleon, said “If you want to get the best, you should demand unbelievable”. But he didn’t know about the soccer strength.

But if even these two teams don’t meet, they will have an informal competition for the title of the best team in the Eurasian soccer space. Every goal kicked by these two teams will reach the goalmouth of adherents or opponents of Russian-Ukrainian united championship and ranking of Ukrainian and Russian football clubs, which send its players to the main teams, will be better by every gained point. Then only two players of each team play for the foreign clubs.

Russia has taken part in the European final, but Ukraine is only a newcomer at this tournament. Who has more chances to be a winner? Ukraine has its own playground, but Russia has an appropriated (received, captured – underline the necessary) one. So far as Ukraine and Russia won’t meet on the Lviv stadium, where Ukrainian team has always the largest support, then Russia will find itself as a guest only in Poland.

Even if Russians switch on the TV set, they won’t understand that Euro 2012 with 16 national teams will take place abroad. It means that for the first time in the years of Ukrainian independence, “Ukraine” and “Football” channels, which get the broadcasting rights from National Television Company of Ukraine, let Russian journalists comment the European Championship. So they will be not even Shuster and Kiselev, but Utkin and Rozanov. So unpassed bilingual regional Kivalov-Kolesnichenko law will be undoubtedly realized on the national level.

Today this innovation would be seriously taken even by ironic Stepsel and Tarapunka. Ukrainian audience hasn’t any possibility to listen to the Ukrainian football comments in its own country.

It goes without saying, that provocative non-historical feature film “Match” was created in Russia specially for destroying the Ukrainian spirit on the Euro 2012. Who will want to take the Winter Olympics 2020 in Ukraine after such a scornful attitude to Ukrainian culture, which, by the way, has been on for almost 21 years?

But stubborn optimists believe that all these events must angry Shevchenko and Co according to the social logics. They should undoubtedly win. The President of Football Federation of Ukraine, Hryhoriy Surkis, told about pecuniary rewards for the Ukrainian footballers to make them better and more desirable during the game. For every drawn game during the group stage Ukraine gets 250.000, and for the victory — half million euro. If our team won in the final, it would get 13 million generally. Senior fans must admit that Dynamo Kyiv 1970-80-s generation would win all these tournaments for such money.

It’s curious that FFU showed its generosity after alarm about food poisoning of ten players before pre-last losing exhibition game against Turkey (0:2). We should stand everybody up, and Surkis promised that all team players would get better before starting play against Sweden in Kyiv.

There is no reason to doubt the man, who did everything for passing the final part of Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. Despite the FFU President’s recent announcement about leaving his office in September, Surkis won’t be off-side. Only at first sight this decision may seem as the defeat in the old struggle against Donetsk FFU branch office manager, the main organizer and supervisor of all national structures, Borys Kolesnikov.

According to the football experts, the member of the UEFA executive committee, the head of national teams committee, Hryhoriy Surkis, will have the chance of coming Michel Platini’s successor, with whom he has good relationship. But it will happen in 2015 after Platini gets the post of FIFA President, which is promised to him by Swiss Zepp Blatter. To tell the truth, Surkis will have a very serious opponent — the President of Russian Football Federatrion Sergey Fursenko, who helped Russia to get right of arranging World Championship 2018. So, in any way, we should beat Russia.

Also, for many reasons, football fans and those who are indifferent to football need to win this tournament to increase the international image of Ukraine. If we cannot do it on the football fields, we should do it on the stadiums, in the fan-zones, hotels, transport, in any place where we will meet the foreign guests. Although we didn’t come to Europe, today it has come to us almost for a month. We won’t have another chance to do it.

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