When will the Russians punch their weight? That the question
still looms over Europe's largest country was evident from its recourse,
like that of England before it, to an expensive foreign coach; for Sven-Goran
Eriksson read Guus Hiddink. And, as England prepare to encounter Hiddink's
Russia at Wembley, it is worth remembering that, even when Russia did
make a major impact on an international tournament, reaching the final
of the European Championship nearly two decades ago, it was as the dominant
component of the Soviet Union. Dominant politically, that is; their most
successful football of relatively recent times was designed and largely
built in the Ukraine. The few Russians in Valery Lobanovsky's squad were
the foreigners, in a sense, although no one ever made them feel so, according
to the defender Sergei Baltacha. "National allegiance was never mentioned,''
Baltacha said last week. "We were all proud to represent the USSR.''
Baltacha is Ukrainian. He developed at Dynamo Kiev under the late and
great Lobanovsky and his career reached its peak in 1988. Or would have
done had he not been struck by injury. Baltacha did not appear until the
final against Holland in Munich, when he came on as a substitute midway
through the second half, about a quarter of an hour after Marco van Basten
had scored one of the most cherished goals of all time. We were talking
about it last week at the Church of England school in Rotherhithe, London,
where Baltacha teaches PE and I asked if the moment when Van Basten's
volley flew in a blur past Rinat Dasaev, putting the Dutch two up, had
signalled the end of Soviet hope.
"No,'' he replied. "That was when Igor Belanov missed a penalty.''
Baltacha grimaced. "At 2-1 it might have been a contest. But you
get disappointments and I'd been lucky throughout my professional life
because I'd been in a group of players who had won nearly everything.
It started with the Under-19 World Cup. There were seven of us from Dynamo
Kiev and we moved up to the full national team. We were like brothers
-Dasaev, Andriy Bal, Vladimir Bessonov and the rest, tremendous players
and tremendous people. We really thought we could win that tournament
in Germany.''
After they had instead watched Ruud Gullit brandish the trophy at the
orange hordes in the Olympic Stadium, Baltacha moved to Ipswich. Perestroika
was in the air and the Soviet sporting authorities had decided to reward
players who had given long service to the national team by allowing them
to transfer abroad. Baltacha chose Ipswich rather than the Swiss club
Neuchatel Xamax even though he spoke little English: "I had only
two phrases - 'Fasten seat belts', from flying, and 'No problem'. My nickname
was 'Sergei No Problem' because when anybody said anything to me I'd reply,
'No problem'. But the club paid for lessons and I soon learned the language.
"But my two years at Ipswich were not happy football-wise. It was
not football as I'd known it. All my life I had played as a sweeper or
a marking defender in front of a sweeper. But no one in England used that
system at the time. It was just a back four, pushing up all the time and
the long ball. I was in shock! So I told my agent to find me a club who
used a sweeper - otherwise I'd just go home - and he did. The only one
in Britain.
"St Johnstone had just been promoted to the Scottish Premier League
and my agent told me they were a good club in a good town [Perth] with
a new stadium. I had three really great years there under Alex Totten,
who liked and understood the sweeper system, and kept on my house in Perth
after moving to Inverness to be manager of Caley Thistle. In all, I lived
there for 10 years.''
advertisementHis children thrived too; Sergei Jnr was to become a professional
footballer and Elena, at one stage, Britain's top woman tennis player
(though both were also to suffer from back problems inherited from their
father).
After a spell coaching in Kiev, Baltacha returned to assist Tony Fitzpatrick
at St Mirren and worked for the Scottish FA. He moved to London to be
closer to Elena when tennis took her south and now combines his teaching
with four stints a week at Charlton Athletic's academy. Sergei Jnr, who
played for Scotland Under-21s when with St Mirren, moved to Millwall but
shortly afterwards encountered the problems that were prematurely to end
his career.
"He's been very unlucky,'' said Baltacha. "When he was 18, he
was better and more athletic than I had been at the same age. But Dynamo
Kiev made me the player I was to become. Sergei could have had a similar
education, because he was wanted by Arsene Wenger at Arsenal - but St
Mirren asked for too much money and the deal fell through.'' Young Baltacha
is now 27 and works for Abbey National.
The family remain convinced that Elena, 24, will overcome her injuries
and one day have a good Wimbledon. "She's such a fighter,'' said
Baltacha. "No matter what happens, she keeps coming back. I blame
myself for her injuries. I didn't tell her about my back problem and that
you had to avoid taking antibiotics. When she was in America, she took
some.''
Baltacha had the privilege of a long career. He went to the World Cup
in 1982 and figured largely in the achievements of Lobanovsky's Dynamo
Kiev, winning the European Cup-Winners' Cup in 1986 and reaching the European
Cup semi-finals the following year. So the Kiev-based Soviet Union went
to the 1988 European Championship in good heart and, after easily beating
a listless England, gained in momentum to the extent that a fine Italian
side featuring Franco Baresi, Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini were
swept aside in the semi-finals. But Gullit and Van Basten dictated it
was not to be.
Despite Ukraine's bright showing in the last World Cup - "in terms
of results,'' said Baltacha, "if not performances'' - he does not
wholly accept the theory that countries do better individually than as
federations. "Croatia yes - but in the case of Russia they have suffered
because an excellent league has been broken up. It will take time and
they have recognised this by working very hard on their youth development.
Hiddink has the national team more organised than they used to be and
achieved a better balance between defence and attack - you cannot attack
all the time. They have a chance at Wembley.
"It all depends who can perform under pressure. A lot of these games
are psychological and I don't think it helps England that the team - and
especially the manager - gets so much criticism. Back in Russia, it will
be different. The press are very positive and the public get behind the
team. Here the criticism is too much - it really can affect people and
I feel very sorry for the England manager.''
Nor will he be cheering on the Russians on Wednesday, despite his former
alliance with the men from Moscow in Lobanovsky's squad. "When I
watch a game,'' said Baltacha, "I watch like a professional. I look
at tactics and players. I won't be supporting England either. I might
have lived in Britain nearly 20 years, but today it's all one world.''
,
09/09/2007
Russian ladies dream about happy marriage.
Click on a photo...
