Soviet football player named his last name. The best Soviet football players

On January 9, the legendary captain of the USSR and Spartak team of the 1950s and 1960s, Olympic champion and European champion would have turned 85 years old. Valery REINGOLD, his close friend and partner, tells about Igor Alexandrovich.

Igor Alexandrovich NET

Career: played for the Moscow "Spartak" (1949-1966). In the championships of the USSR he played 367 matches, scored 37 goals. Long-term captain of Spartak and the USSR national team.

Achievements: champion (1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1962) and USSR Cup winner (1950, 1958, 1963). Olympic champion (1956) and European Cup winner (1960).

Team: He played 54 matches for the USSR national team (4 goals). Member of the 1958 and 1962 World Championships.

JUST A FOOTBALL PLAYER FROM GOD

- Valery Leonidovich, after all, both of you and Netto are Dynamo players ...

- Yes, both of them supported Dynamo. But I played for Dynamo for three years in the boys, but Igor was not taken at one time - he turned around and went to the Young Pioneers stadium. When we ended up at Spartak, all feelings for Dynamo were already gone. Everything that Netto has achieved is only thanks to Spartak. As I. Although the difference in skill we have is huge. There is nothing to compare here.

“They say he was an original person.

- Yes, no original! Just a football player from God! I was terribly lucky: I played side by side with him for five years. And he addressed - only to "you". Just like Isaev, Ilyin, Simonyan, Maslenkin ... All these Olympic champions were like gods for us young people. Until they enter the dining room - I will not enter, until they get on the bus - I will not sit down. Only when they started playing together for the veterans did they switch to "you".

- Net in the modern sense, who was on the field? Defensive midfielder?

- A reference is the one who destroys the opponent's attack on the way to his own penalty area. Igor did not do this. More precisely, it was not his main work. He was a playmaker. The one who builds the game. He did not need any instructions from the coach. Did what needed to be done. He demanded that everyone play only medium or small passes, so that there would be fewer losses. When the ball flew 30–40 meters, he yelled. Even if someone successfully made a long pass and we scored a goal, he was still dissatisfied. He said it happened by accident.

- And if you lose the ball ...

- Yes, even in the middle of the field - he was terribly angry! Because, in principle, he did most of the work on the field - he plowed from gate to gate. We've lost, and he's got to take it away! Therefore, he screamed. And on me, and on Khusainov, and on Sevidov. “In the penalty box, do what you want, and before it - the partner opened up a little - immediately give back!”. The main thing is to control the ball, it is much harder to take it away than to keep it. As Netto demanded, Barcelona is playing now. Igor, of course, was ahead of his time. He is the best, in my opinion, midfielder in the history of our football. And when they start comparing Titov and Tikhonov with him… They are good guys, but they are far from Netto.

“OURS STARTED HUGING, AND I WENT TO THE JUDGE. THERE WAS NO GOAL!"

- There is an opinion: Netto denied a long pass, because he did not own it. And in general he was rather weak.

- Indeed, Igor did not have a delivered blow. He didn’t even hit from afar during training in Tarasovka. If he practiced the blow, then from 10-15 meters - for accuracy.

Sometimes, however, I scored from outside the penalty area - if the ball successfully landed on the rise. We played in Luzhniki with Dynamo Kyiv - how we moved from a rebound from thirty meters to the "nine". Goal, we started hugging. But the people of Kiev ran to the referee: the ball is deflated, it cannot be counted! Igor began to water them in the steam… They argued for three or four minutes. There were 120 thousand people in the stands, but the silence was crazy, everyone was waiting - will it count, will it not count? Counted: the ball first crossed the goal line, and only then went down. Apparently, the nipple was not in order. Or hit a nail in the bar that holds the net.

- A legendary episode - the goal canceled at the initiative of Netto at the World Cup-62, when the ball after Chislenko's strike hit the Uruguay national team through a hole in the net. Did you discuss this moment in Spartak?

– I asked him. “What,” he says, “was I supposed to do? There was no goal! Our hugs began, and I went to the judge. He consulted with the side and canceled. Imagine the risk he took! It was the same in Soviet times. Do not leave the team from the group: they would have pecked! But here's the honesty.

RAMS, LAMB AND GOOSE

- "Sheep" - your favorite word?

“Most of the time he called us that. For him, there were no authorities on the field. 1961, Spartak plays Dynamo Tbilisi, Luzhniki are full. I, 19 years old, are let out fifteen minutes before the end. Igor turns to our bench, where Simonyan and Starostin are sitting: “Why did you release this sheep! Found the time! And I hear all this - how to play after this? But after about three minutes from a turn I planted in the "nine" - we win 2:1. The people applaud, they hug me ... We come to the locker room, Sevid says: “Igor Sanych, why did you call Valery a sheep?”. And he: "And you - the same ram!". That's the whole conversation!

But it had to be taken lightly. Let him yell. The game ended, and he completely forgot everything, turned into an absolutely calm person. By the way, those people who were offended by him did not stay at Spartak for a long time. I won't name names.

- Surely the veterans advised: let it go past your ears ...

- Nikita Pavlovich said so: “Guys, pay less attention! But wind on your mustache. What he requires of you is basically correct. And what yells, so I experienced it on my own skin. He also insulted me in the game. Although Simonyan was also great.

Igor loved those players who plow. But ... and they were dissatisfied! Because he believed that everyone should play like him.

Do you remember the “flock of sheep”?

- We were in Tashkent, they took us on an excursion to some collective farm. We're going through the steppe. We see: a herd of sheep and a shepherd on a horse. And I'm sitting behind Simonyan. I say: “Nikita Palych, there Spartak is grazing! And there Igor Sanych rides a horse with a whip! The bus roars. Igor: "You are a sheep!"

A funny moment was in 1963 in Yaroslavl. We play for the Cup. It's raining, it's a tough game, they're stuck, we can't score. I take a corner, Seryoga Rozhkov runs up to me - to play. But I decide to serve and ... charge him between the legs. Seryoga falls, “dies,” and Netto yells: “Sheep! Rozhkov, you bastard, if they kill us, I'll tear your head off!

At the 88th minute, I run out one on one with Ivakin, beat, hit, raise my hands to celebrate ... But the ball gets stuck in the mud. Sevid yells: "Idiot!". I turn around - Ivakin is crawling towards the ball. As I gave it, I almost broke the net. We go to the center of the field. The guys congratulate, Netto comes up: “What a sheep you are!” "Igor Sanych, why?" “I should have given it back!” - "So I scored!" - “No, you are playing wrong, Valera, wrong! You were a ram, and you are a ram!”

- But once he nevertheless called you not a ram, but a ram ...

- Arrived in Alma-Ata. There were always difficult matches there - Kairat was a very rough team. Netto, apparently, wanted me not to play cards, but to tune in. And he went up to Starostin: "Let's Valery to my room!" That was the first time I got into a suite: a TV, chic beds ... I kept it around me for two days! We went to lunch and dinner together. And I scored the only goal in that game! But Igor didn't let me go even after the match. We rest in the room, his wife calls him: “Who scored?” - “He scored ... And there is a ram! Lying nearby!

There was another case - they played at the tournament in Helsinki with the Hungarian "Tatabanya". Gyula Grosic, a famous goalkeeper, ended his career with them. She and Netto kissed before the game - they often played against each other. And now the moment - I run away along the left edge, Igor a little behind. I run to the post, swing him, and he scores against the great Grosic, whom he had never scored before. Netto came up to me, stroked my head: “Valera, you are a professor!”

– Surely one of the players snapped at Netto…

- Yura Sevidov once sent him. After the game, Igor complained to Starostin, they say, I can’t play, the young one sends me. But everything was settled - the working moment! In general, this is the difference between the Soviet and Russian football- now they are playing silently, smiling, everyone is happy ...

- Netto, in theory, was supposed to teach the judges. The captain is right.

- Just not. And he told us not to get into a skirmish - they say, just waste your energy in vain.

- His nickname was Goose.

- Well, yes. For example, Maslak - Volodya Maslachenko - gave me the nickname Rex. And Netto was called Goose. Simonyan said. After winning the USSR Cup, there were eight people sitting in Aragvi - Tishchenko, Maslenkin, Ogonkov, Isaev ... Nikita Palych - to the waiter: "We - tobacco chickens." Waiter: "It hasn't arrived yet. But we have a goose." Tishchenko: “We don’t need a goose. We have our Goose! Goose fluffy!". Igor on him: “You are a crest!”.

- Offended?

- Young people didn’t call him Goose - the tongue would have dried up. But the fans yelled: "Goose, come on!". But he did not hear anything, he was always focused on the game.

THE ERA IS GONE…

- Netto played until the age of 36. By the standards Soviet football- a very long time. But he was still offended, he wanted to continue ...

No, he didn't take offense. He himself understood that he was no longer the one that lost speed. But before the whole middle of the field was cut down! In the national team, he was rightfully replaced by Voronin. He played a completely different football: power. Of course, Igor was not easy to accept. In addition, my personal life is not very developed ...

Netto has been looking for a man who would love him for a long time. I found actress Olga Yakovleva, and she began to cheat on him with Efros, the director. Igor was worried, but he kept everything in himself, but it would be better if he splashed out, freed himself.

I think that my wife is to blame for Igor's early death, I can tell her this in her eyes. If everything in his family worked out, I’m sure he would still live. We did not want to interfere in this then, but now we are sitting - veterans - discussing Igor's life among ourselves and we all come to the same opinion: it was a complete calculation on her part. Yakovleva came from Zaporozhye, and Netto, with his connections, could get her into any theater. She was indifferent to football. In any case, I have never seen her at matches ...

- By and large, Netto never became a coach. Because of character?

- Certainly! With such a scale of requirements, it is contraindicated to be a coach. He believed that everyone on the field was doing the wrong thing. He told me: “I don’t want to train anyone, Valer, because they are all sheep! They don’t understand anything and they play football incorrectly.” In theory, he could become a good team leader. And at one time he worked as the head of the hockey Spartak. But again, both Slava Starshinov and Volodya Shadrin told me: “Igor cannot be the head of the team! He has only sheep everywhere ... ".

– By the way, Netto was great at chasing the puck. I was even at a crossroads: football - hockey ...

- Yes, in his youth he was considered a rising star. In general, he was diverse: he played decent tennis, billiards, and in chess he was simply at the level of a master of sports! And he was a versatile, well-read person, he loved jazz, blues, theater ...

- Smoked?

- Never! Once I gave him a taste - he coughed: "How can you ?!" As for alcohol... I didn't see it in Spartak. But when we played for the veterans, we drank a little: vodka, cognac - there were banquets after every match.

We used to live in the same room with him. He had already begun to lose his memory - Alzheimer's disease. I had to control him. Once took his fee for safekeeping. So he approached me five times: “Where is my money?” - "Igor, I have!" - “Oh, you! Well then fine". And again: “Where is my money?” - “Igor, with me, you will lose!” In recent years, Lev's older brother took him to him - Igor alone could not live.

- And how did he play for veterans with such an illness?

– Played about a hundred matches. If they let him out, it was already impossible to kick him out of the field!

- Did Spartak help in any way?

- No one needs us! Igor's farewell match was with Dynamo Tbilisi - they gave him a vase for 30 rubles. How is that? Finish! Only Zhenya Lovchev did a good job: on his 60th birthday, he made a holiday for him at Luzhniki, invited the French Red Star team. They played in the box at the Small Arena, the stands were full! They came out in fives: Maslak, Sevidov, Logofet, Netto ... And Zhenya gave him a car - "Moskvich" forty-first, and the table was set. In those days there was still some kind of brotherhood ...

- Funeral…

- The coffin was in the falconer's arena. About the same number of people came as last year to say goodbye to Fedya Cherenkov. Everyone spoke unequivocally: the era is gone ...

The outstanding Soviet footballer Eduard Streltsov was imprisoned at the peak of his career. Was he guilty? There is still no answer to this.

Vadim Lebedev

Dossier

Streltsov Eduard Anatolievich.
Born on July 21, 1937 in Perov, Moscow Region.
From 1954 to 1958 and from 1965 to 1970 - center forward of FC Torpedo (Moscow).
Olympic champion in 1956. In 1958, accused of rape.
Sentence - 12 years in the camps. Released in 1963
Champion of the USSR in 1965 Winner of the USSR Cup in 1968
The best scorer of the championships of the USSR in 1955 and 1967.
Best footballer countries 1967 and 1968
Spent 40 matches for the national team (1955-1958, 1966-1968) - scored 29 goals against opponents. In the championships of the USSR - 222 matches, 100 goals. He was distinguished by a swift jerk and courage in martial arts. The best passer in the country. Possessed the strongest blows from both legs. He had a phenomenal game intuition.
In honor of Streltsov, a football technique is named - a heel pass. Coach of the Torpedo school from 1971 to 1990.
Died of cancer on July 22, 1990.
He was buried in Moscow at the Vagankovsky cemetery. Since 1997, the Torpedo Stadium has been named after him.

He burst into big football along with the wind of change that the country was waiting for after the death of the great tyrant. The central striker of Torpedo and the national team Eduard Streltsov was the idol of the entire Soviet Union.

When Torpedo played, the stadiums of the cities looked like a beehive. Thousands of people who did not get a ticket for the match stuck around the trees and roofs of nearby houses with only one goal - to see their favorite Eduard Streltsov. Up to a hundred people gathered at the radio stations broadcasting the broadcast of the football match.

The former football player of Lokomotiv, Tavria and Zenit, and later the poet, writer and general director of the Russian PEN Center Alexander Tkachenko described an episode in his book: after the visit of the Moscow Torpedo to a certain city on the Volga, one local beauty wandered around on the street, like a madwoman, and kept repeating: “I was with Edik, I won’t give it to anyone after that ...” And many women envied her.

The secret of success was simple: sports talent combined with the charm of "the guy from next door." A simple open face, a simple open smile - everything is as it should be.

Edik Streltsov was born in July 1937 in Perov near Moscow. His mother worked at a factory, then as a nanny in a hospital. Father went to the front. But he never returned to his family: after the war, he settled somewhere in Ukraine. After finishing seven classes, Edik was forced to leave school: his mother could not feed herself and her son alone. Ordinary post-war family.

At the age of fourteen, Streltsov became a locksmith's apprentice, the most ordinary hard worker of the Fraser plant. Edik was received favorably in the workshop. The workers were impressed by the shy and kind boy. And six months later, he was even entrusted with a place in the factory football team.

Soon Streltsov became a locksmith of the 4th category and was incredibly happy about this. Perhaps, over time, he would have grown to a master, would have married a girl from a neighboring workshop and would have gone once a month with his son to the stadium for the matches of his beloved CDKA. But fate decreed otherwise.

Everything changed in 1952. The famous coach of the Moscow "Torpedo" Viktor Maslov stopped at a small stadium. Two factory teams played. He stood for a while and was about to leave, when he suddenly saw the ball hit the lanky boy and he, like a battering ram, went through the opponent's defense and scored a goal. Maslov stayed until the end of the match. He was no longer interested in football, he followed only one person - Eduard Streltsov.

Maslov left the stadium together with a boy - a mechanic at the Fraser plant.

At the football base of the team of masters of the Moscow "Torpedo" in Myachkovo, a fifteen-year-old boy appeared in a dark blue padded jacket, a gray cap and with a wooden suitcase in his hands. It was Edik Streltsov. Many players met him unfriendly and frankly made fun of him. They could be understood. In a team where several people were part of the national team, some young upstart could hardly seriously expect to take away a place in the first team from someone.

But after the very first training game, the famous masters of the leather ball changed their minds dramatically. Many of them came up and patted Edik on the shoulder in a friendly way. Viktor Maslov smiled contentedly. One of the coaches, who was still under the impression of the young footballer's game, asked Maslov where he found this miracle. Maslov, without hesitation, answered: “The best player in Europe worked as a locksmith at the Fraser factory. It was not just a phrase. Maslov knew what he was talking about.

golden feet

In 1955, eighteen-year-old Streltsov becomes top scorer national championship. This has never happened before in the history of national football. Edik was too young for a formidable striker. But a fact is a fact.

In the same year, he became a member of the USSR national team and in his first international match made the whole of Europe talk about himself. In Stockholm, Streltsov scored three goals for the Swedish team. After the match, the Swedish football players specially approached Edik and examined his legs. They sincerely did not understand how it was possible to play like that with ordinary human legs.

Football managers vying with each other offered fabulous sums for those times to buy Streltsov into their teams. Soviet officials and representatives of the KGB who accompanied the national team remained sullenly silent.

“Yes, we are at least five hundred years ready to wait for such a football player in our team!” - admired the Swedish coaches. As it turned out later, these words did not go unnoticed in the Soviet Union. They will be unexpectedly remembered three years later, just before the World Cup, where two legends of world football, Pele and Streltsov, were to meet face to face.

A major international success came to Streltsov in 1956 at the Olympic tournament in Melbourne. With his goals, Streltsov brought the team to the final. And his goal in the semi-finals of the Bulgarian national team was recognized as the best in the tournament. But on final game Edik was not installed. Just before entering the field in the match for Olympic gold, he was urgently replaced by Nikita Simonyan.

A participant in this match, Valentin Ivanov, will later say that after this unfair decision, he lit a cigarette for the first time. There was an opinion among the Kremlin elite that the national football team of the country should include not only Russians and Ukrainians, but also representatives of other republics. It was said that it was for this reason that Simonyan received the Olympic gold medal, and not the top scorer of the Streltsov team. This replacement was allegedly made at the insistent request of a member of the Central Committee of the party, Anastas Mikoyan.

But be that as it may, after the game Nikita Simonyan gave his gold medal to Streltsov. The nineteen-year-old torpedo fighter flatly refused to accept the gift: “You are already old, and I have so many more Olympics ahead!”

In Moscow, Streltsov's sports exploits were still appreciated. He became the youngest footballer in the country to receive the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR. And a month later he was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor for services to the Fatherland.

In early January 1957, a solemn reception was held in the Kremlin in honor of the Soviet victorious athletes. The reception was attended by almost all the Kremlin officials. Ekaterina Furtseva, who was then the first secretary of the CPSU MK, was also there. She took her seventeen-year-old daughter Svetlana, who was a big fan of the young striker, to the Kremlin. She persuaded her mother to introduce her to Streltsov.

Ekaterina Furtseva asked the Minister of Physical Culture and Sports to bring a football player to her. Ekaterina Alekseevna politely greeted Eduard, thanked him for "success in sports", inquired about personal problems and, unexpectedly for the guy, offered to meet her daughter Svetlana. “She was so worried about you,” the leader of the capital's Bolsheviks said with pathos.

The thin, short-haired, discreet-looking girl did not make any impression on Streltsov. In his spiritual simplicity, after a missed glass of vodka, he blurted out: "I have a fiancee, I'm going to marry her." Witnesses of this conversation recalled that Furtseva only smiled vindictively.

glory test

Streltsov was the most ordinary, ordinary, maybe even an ordinary person in everything except football. Moreover, as people who knew him intimately say, he was the strongest on the field and the weakest off it. The golden boy of Soviet football did not stand the test of glory.

In just a few years, Edik turned from a simple locksmith into a celestial. ZIL, which owned the Torpedo team, allocated a spacious two-room apartment in Moscow for its footballer. Committee on physical education The USSR presented the Pobeda car to Streltsov for success at the Olympics. What can we say, the standard of living of the football players of the leading clubs was significantly higher than the standard of living of the average Soviet worker.

Edik plunged into a life completely unknown to him. expensive restaurants, beautiful women, new acquaintances: theater actors, store directors, film directors ... And everyone certainly wanted to drink with him, just to tell later: “I drank with Sagittarius yesterday.” Streltsov could not refuse those who wanted to drink with him. He was afraid that people would think - they say, he was conceited.

But in addition to friends, Eduard Streltsov also had ill-wishers. He irritated with his independence, talent and chic lifestyle. Against the backdrop of post-war devastation, his behavior looked ideologically wrong. A series of feuilleton articles about Streltsov's "adventures" appeared in the central press. Party officials needed an example that would clearly show that a Soviet athlete is no better than a pig and a shepherd.

Bodies are dissatisfied with the football player. Here is what commentator Vadim Sinyavsky said: “They called Sagittarius in Dynamo and the army club. He balked. Champion ... Champions only in uniform sleep peacefully. That's where they hid him. And that's good. Will not score goals against Dynamo and CSKA."

In 1957, the famous Hungarian striker Puskas remains to play in the West. An unpleasant precedent does not add credibility to Streltsov, which, as you know, any team in the world is ready to accept ...

The number of big people dissatisfied with Streltsov became critical. The trouble that became a gift for them happened on May 25, 1958. Three days before the departure of the USSR national team for the World Cup in Sweden.

On that fateful evening...

Before going to the main world tournament, three football players of the USSR national team - Spartak Boris Tatushin and Mikhail Ogonkov and torpedo shooter Streltsov - went to the dacha in the village of Pravda, Moscow Region, to the military pilot and Tatushin's childhood friend Eduard Karakhanov. In the same place, at the dacha, two local girls, Marina and Tamara, were also invited to the common table.

Tamara, judging by the testimony of the investigation file and the interrogation of witnesses, was "intended" for Streltsov. But Marina, from the very moment they met, imposed such hard pressure on the center forward that it was impossible to approach him.

Closer to the night, after copious libations, Streltsov and Marina went to the room allotted to them. After some time (this is very important) Karakhanov settled in the same room. Ogonkov and Tamara remained in the car, and Tatushin returned to Moscow that evening. The next morning, a statement from Marina L. fell on the table of the prosecutor of the Mytishchi district of Moscow: “On May 25, 1958, at a dacha located in the village of Pravda, opposite the school, I was raped by Streltsov Eduard. Please hold him accountable. 26 / V-58 L.".

A similar statement followed from the girl Ogonkov - Tamara. On the same day, a police squad arrived at the training base of the USSR national team escorted Streltsov, Ogonkov and Tatushin to Butyrka. A little later, Tatushin was released.

On May 27, without waiting for the investigation and trial, the sports committee hastened to renounce Streltsov, disqualifying him for life.

Over the next three days, the prosecutor receives two more applications. May 27 from Tamara: “I ask you to consider my application, submitted to you on May 26, 1958, about the rape of me by gr. Ogonkov is wrong. In fact, there was no rape, and I submitted the application without thinking, for which I ask you to excuse me.

Ogonkov is released and the case against him is closed. Streltsov remains in the cell. Marina's application was forced to be taken away.

But investigators suddenly ran into a number of inconsistencies. Many facts indicated that it was not Streltsov who could have committed the violence, but the owner of the dacha, Eduard Karakhanov himself. A biomaterial (blood, saliva and semen) was taken from Streltsov and Karakhanov for examination.

From the conclusion of the Forensic Medical Examination:
“The blood of the accused Streltsov belongs to group 0 ab (I), type MN and has factor P. The blood of the suspect Karakhanov also belongs to group 0 ab (I), type MN and has factor P”.

At the confrontation, Marina suspected Karakhanov of lying. A lot of circumstantial evidence pointed specifically to Karakhanov as a rapist. They decided to take it into development, but it was too late: Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev intervened in the matter. He personally demanded from the prosecutor's office that the "rapist" Streltsov be punished and as soon as possible. Employees of the prosecutor's office took under the visor.

The court sentenced Streltsov to 12 years in the camps. Less than two (!) months passed from the moment of the crime to the sentencing.

Out of the game

And today you can hear the legend that in the zone, authoritative convicts met Streltsov as a native. Kebabs, sturgeon, black caviar, cognac were put on the table ... Of course, this legend was invented by the people. Sturgeon and cognac, like much in this legend, turned out to be fiction.

In the 1st Vyatka camp, where Streltsov ended up, at first the attitude towards him was benevolent and condescending. And from the side of the administration, and from the side of the prisoners. Few took seriously his sentence under a bad article.

But late autumn In 1958, Streltsov had a skirmish with one youngster who had just been transferred to the adult zone. The "Six" nicknamed Burdock decided to use the famous football player to raise his own authority and began to make fun of him in front of other prisoners. But Streltsov was not one of those who endure insults: he hit Burdock on the neck, and he shut up. But he held a grudge. Rushed to the "godfather" for support. According to the camp law, it is not supposed to offend the “sixes” of the godfather: a shadow falls on those who take care of him. That same night, the zone went silent. A thieves' gangway was being prepared. At three o'clock in the morning, Streltsov was thrown from the bunk. He was beaten but not killed. Someone's word outweighed.

Extract from the medical history for 1958:
“Prisoner Streltsov was admitted to the infirmary with multiple body bruises. Possibly damaged internal organs. The blows were inflicted on the lumbosacral region, chest, head and arms. The blows were delivered with hard objects, presumably pieces of iron pipes and heels of boots. Multiple lacerations were noted on the head and hands ... "

Says the head of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Russia Arkady Volsky, at that time the party organizer of ZIL: “Streltsov was noticed from the stands. Suddenly, the whole stadium began to shout: Strel-tso-va! Shooter-tso-va! ” Naturally, no one could let him onto the field without permission. Then people began to set fire to newspapers. It was a terrible fire. Even part of the stands caught fire. Almost a fire. During the break, one of the leaders of ZIL came to our locker room: “Guys, if you don’t let him out, they will burn the entire stadium.” I had to urgently release Streltsov on the field. How did the fans welcome him? I have never seen anything like it."

Upon his return to Moscow, Ilyichev, secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU for ideology, called Volsky to his carpet - he was threatened with suspension from work for arbitrariness. There was only one way out. Having collected more than ten thousand signatures of ordinary ZIL workers, Volsky and several deputies of the Supreme Soviet went to see Brezhnev. Brezhnev personally gave permission to play Streltsov in the team of masters. And just over an hour later, he was announced for the Torpedo team in the USSR championship.

In the early 80s, Streltsov began to develop lung disease (work in the quartz mines of the Tula region, where he was serving a term), which eventually turned into lung cancer, affected. Eduard Streltsov died on July 22, 1990. His last words to his son Igor: “I don’t understand one thing: why did they put me in jail?”

He was buried in Moscow at the Vagankovsky cemetery. The Torpedo Stadium has been named after him since 1995. Streltsov erected two monuments. One is on Vostochnaya Street, the other is in Luzhniki. Such is the fate of this amazing person who could then, in 1958 at the World Cup in Sweden, change the history of national football.

For almost 30 years now, there has been no country called the Soviet Union on the world map, but you can still see fans in the stands in the T-shirt of the national team of a non-existent country. Why? I think I know the answer to this question.

History of the USSR national football team

• Participation in the final stage of the world championships: 7 times.
• Participation in the final stage of the European Championships: 5 times.

Achievements of the USSR national team

• European Champion 1960.
• Silver medalist of the European Championship in 1964, 1972 and 1988.
• Fourth place at the 1966 World Championships.

The USSR national team played the first match on November 16, 1924, i.e. two years after the formation of the Soviet state. The rival was the Turkish national team, which our team defeated in Moscow with a score of 3:0.

USSR national team at the world championships

Reasons for the absence of the USSR national team at the pre-war world championships lie on the surface - the USSR Football Federation was not a member of FIFA. But even after joining this organization in 1947, applications for participation in the 1950 and 1954 world championships were not submitted - the country's leadership was afraid of losing to the "bourgeois".

Only the gold medals of the 1956 Olympics and success in a number of friendly matches, including the victory over the current world champion of the German national team in 1955, opened the way for our team to the world championships.

Already in the first qualifying round, there was almost an embarrassment - having won both matches against the Finns, the USSR national team exchanged home victories with the Poles (3:0 and 1:2), and since no additional indicators were taken into account then, a third match was scheduled, which took place on neutral field in German Leipzig. If his team lost, it is not known how the fate of the USSR national team would have developed, and after how many years she would still be allowed to play in a major tournament.

Fortunately, the team of Gavriil Dmitrievich Kachalin managed to win with a score of 2: 0, and the hero of the match was the one who scored a goal and gave an assist. However, Streltsov, as well as Mikhail Ogonkov and Boris Tatushin, did not go to the championship for reasons far from sports, which was a loss for the team.

The first match our team played in a draw with the British 2:2, and during the match it led 2:0, and the England team equalized the score of an erroneously awarded penalty kick (the violation was outside the penalty area).

Then the USSR national team defeated the Austrians 2:0 and lost to the Brazilian team with the same score. As a result, the national teams of the USSR and England scored three points each and had to play an additional match, in which our team turned out to be stronger - 1:0.

In the quarterfinals, the Soviet players lost to the hosts of the Swedish national team. The official assessment of the performance of the national team was unsatisfactory, which in our time seems simply wild. But these are still flowers, below I will tell you what they did with the coach who won the “silver” of the European Championship.

But for now, back to the world championships. The team qualified for the next championship without any problems, and in the final part took first place in the group, ahead of the teams of Yugoslavia, Uruguay and Colombia. True, in the match with the latter there was an embarrassment: leading 3:0 and 4:1, the USSR team managed to draw 4:4.

In the quarterfinals, we again had to meet with the hosts - the Chile national team, and the USSR national team lost again, this time with a score of 1:2. They blamed the defeat, at the same time remembering him four goals conceded from the Colombians.

At the 1966 World Cup, the USSR national team was able to overcome the quarterfinal barrier and achieved highest achievement on the championships. This time our team showed a 100% result in the group stage, simultaneously taking revenge on the Chileans for the defeat four years ago.

Then there was a victory in the quarterfinals over a strong Hungarian national team (the Hungarians managed to defeat the Brazilians, the reigning world champions, in the group stage), a 1:2 defeat in the semifinals from the German national team and in the match for 3rd place from the Portuguese, led by the magnificent.

In 1970, the USSR team was the strongest in the quartet with Mexico, Belgium and El Salvador (two wins and a draw), and in the ¼ finals in extra time lost to the Uruguayans 0:1.

Thus, on four consecutive world championships soviet team consistently got into the top eight of the strongest teams in the world, once making it to the semi-finals. The result is more than decent, especially against the background of our current "masters".

After that, the USSR national team missed two world championships in a row without qualifying. Moreover, in 1973, our team took first place in its qualifying group, and in play-offs she had to play with the Chilean national team. The first meeting in Moscow ended in a goalless draw, and the USSR national team did not go to the return match because of the military coup that had taken place in Chile, and a forfeit defeat was credited to it. So football again intervened in politics.

Only in 1982, the Soviet team was again at the World Cup. Having taken second place in the group after Brazil, the USSR national team advanced to the second group stage, where they defeated the Belgian team with a score of 1:0. To reach the semi-finals, ours needed a victory over the Polish team, but that match ended in a goalless draw.

The Soviet team began the final part of the 1986 World Cup with a 6-0 defeat of the Hungarian national team, after which many wrote it down as a championship favorite. Then there was a victory over the Canadian team and a draw with the French, and in the 1/8 finals the USSR team fell on the Belgians.

Twice our team led the score, but the Belgians bounced back, and in extra time they managed to snatch a victory 4:3 (he scored a hat-trick for the USSR national team). The Belgians scored two goals from an offside position, which remained unnoticed by the referee team led by Swede Eric Fredrikson. But this was not the main reason - the Soviet team reached the peak of form too early, demonstrating their best in the first matches

She went to the USSR national team as one of the favorites of the world championship in the rank of vice-champion of Europe. However, an unexpected defeat in the opening match against Romania (0:2) put the team in front of the need to play for victory in the match with world champion Argentina, which also lost in the first match.

This meeting was lost to the USSR national team 0:2, and with the score 0:0, the same referee Fredrikson did not put a penalty in a situation when he knocked the ball out of an empty goal with his hand. So one person was evil genius for our team at two world championships at once. The defeat of Cameroon 4:0 did not change anything in the tournament plan - the USSR national team remained in last place in the group.

USSR national team at the European Championships

The first European Championships were, in fact, a cup tournament - the teams played according to the Olympic system, playing one match at home and away, after which four teams revealed the strongest in the final tournament, which was also held according to the Olympic system.

The USSR national team became the first European champion. Having passed the Hungarian national team in the first round, ours fell on the Spaniards, but at the behest of the dictator Franco, the Spanish national team turned out to be out of games with the Soviet team. So politics played the only time on the side of the Soviet team.

In the semi-final, the USSR national team defeated the Czechoslovak team 3:0, and in the final in extra time they snatched a victory from the Yugoslav team 2:1, the “golden” goal was on the account of Viktor Monday.

Four years later, the USSR national team again reached the final, which was held in Madrid, and the host team became the opponent. Then ours lost to the Spaniards 1:2, and head coach The team was fired for this result. That is, the coach was fired for second place at the European Championships!

True, in fairness, I note that here it was not without politics - the aforementioned Franco was present at the stadium, and the leaders of the Soviet state did not forgive the coach for the defeat in front of the ideological enemy.

Once in final part European Championship in 1968, the USSR team met again with the hosts, this time with the Italian team. The match in Naples ended in a goalless draw. In this match, a unique event occurred for such a level of the tournament - after a goalless draw, the winner was determined by tossing an ordinary coin.

In 1972, the Soviet team again reached the final, but lost there to the German national team 0:3.

Since 1976, the format of the qualifying tournament has changed - now the teams played a group stage, and then the top 8 teams in the relegation matches determined the four finalists. Having won their group, the USSR national team in the quarterfinals lost on aggregate to the team of Czechoslovakia, the future European champion.

However, then the USSR national team failed twice to pass the qualifying tournament, and if in the selection for Euro 1984 we lost to the Portuguese, losing the decisive match due to a controversial penalty, then the previous qualifying round was clearly a failure - the USSR national team took last place in the group with Hungary, Greece and Finland.

And in 1988, the Soviet players reached the final again, defeating the British in the group stage (3:1) and the Italians in the semi-final (2:0) in brilliant style. Valery Lobanovsky's team demonstrated fast power football, and many called this game "football of the 21st century." But in the final, she was defeated by an equally magnificent squad, where Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten were the soloists.

IN qualifying tournament At the 1992 European Championship, the USSR team took first place, ahead of the Italian team, but due to the collapse of the country, the CIS team went to the tournament.

USSR national team at the Olympic Games

Football at the Olympics is special, a long time in the Olympic football tournaments the participation of professionals was forbidden, and later the restriction of football players by age was introduced.

But in the Soviet Union, as well as in other countries, the sport was nominally amateur, so the ban was easily circumvented. For the first time, the USSR national team became the Olympic champion in 1956, beating the same “amateurs” from Bulgaria in the semifinals, and from Yugoslavia in the final.

The "gold" of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, in my opinion, was more significant - in the semifinals, the Soviet team beat the Italians. And in the final - the Brazilian national team with, Bebeto and Romario in the composition.

In addition to two Olympic victories, I will mention the confrontation with the Yugoslav national team at Olympic Games 1952. Losing 1:5, the Soviet players managed to level the score, but lost 1:3 in the replay. Since Yugoslavia as a whole and its leader Josip Broz Tito were political opponents of the USSR and Comrade Stalin personally, the matter was not without execution.

The head coach of the team, Boris Andreevich Arkadiev, and 5 CDKA players were stripped of the title of master of sports, and the CDKA team was disbanded. Why army men? Apparently because there were the most of them in the team - the same 5 people (Dynamo Moscow and Tbilisi had 4 representatives each), plus the team's mentor Arkadiev, who also coached the CDKA.

USSR national football team players

There were always enough outstanding players in the USSR national team. It is not possible to list them within the framework of one article, I will only go through the record holders.

Record holders for the number of matches played

1. Oleg Blokhin - 112 matches.
2. – 91.
3. Albert Shesternev - 90.
4. Anatoly Demyanenko - 80.
5. Vladimir Bessonov - 79.

The best scorers of the USSR national team

1. - 42 goals.
2. Oleg Protasov - 29.
3. Valentin Ivanov - 26.
4. Eduard Streltsov - 25.
5. Viktor Kolotov - 22.

Coaches of the USSR national football team

During the entire existence of the USSR national team, 17 specialists worked with it, of course, there were no foreigners among them. Some have worked with the team several times.

I will list the names of the most prominent mentors: Boris Andreevich Arkadiev, Konstantin Ivanovich Beskov, Gavriil Dmitrievich Kachalin, Eduard Vasilievich Malafeev, Nikolai Petrovich Morozov, Mikhail Iosifovich Yakushin.

• Most big wins the USSR national team won with a difference of 10 goals - September 16, 1955 in friendly match with a score of 11: 1, the Indian team was defeated, and on August 15, 1957, in qualifying match World Cup team Finland with a score of 10:0.
• The USSR national team suffered the biggest defeat on October 22, 1958 in London in a friendly match against England 0:5.
• The USSR national team five times participated in the final stage of the European Championships, and only once failed to reach the final.
• The first and last matches of the USSR national team ended in the same victory - 3:0.

In conclusion, I would like to talk about the reasons for the success of the Soviet team. Undoubtedly, it was one of the most strong teams of the world, showing consistently high results over a long period of time.

Now it is fashionable to almost idealize everything that is connected with Soviet Union. I am far from it, simply because I lived at that time, so I hope that I will be objective.

• First. The USSR simply had more human resources, the country consisted of 15 republics, each of which is now an independent country. Imagine that Andrey Yarmolenko, Yevgeny Konoplyanka and Henrikh Mkhitaryan could play for the Russian national team now.
• Second. Outstanding coaching school. Take another look at the list of head coaches for the team. These are not just outstanding masters of their craft - almost every one of them was the creator and conductor of his own style of play.
• Third. The USSR national team has always been very good physically. In the memoirs of Soviet football players, the thought constantly flashes: "they were afraid to play with us." It’s just that Soviet coaches understood that in technical terms, many teams are not inferior, or even superior to Soviet football players, and therefore acted according to the principle: “If we cannot outplay an opponent, then we must run over him.” It happened so often.

• Fourth. Patriotism. Now it sounds somewhat naive, but the players of the USSR national team fought on the field for their country, with something, and there was always complete order with ideologies in the Soviet Union. By the way, an interesting detail - among the Soviet football players there was not a single "defector" (as the USSR called people who refused to return to their homeland from a trip abroad, or who left the country fraudulently or illegally).

Like it or not, many experienced fans are nostalgic for the USSR national team. It is no coincidence that even the form of the Russian national team on home championship world is strikingly reminiscent of the Soviet.

I don’t know if it’s good to live with an eye to the past, but it turns out that we live.

11 GREATEST SOVIET FOOTBALL PLAYERS

Gold medals of the first Euro and three silver sets, five successful performances at the Olympics and the semi-final of the World Cup-66 - the USSR team is a thing of the past, but is a team of legends.

Goalkeeper

Lev Yashin. Who, if not Lev Ivanovich, who was and, it seems, will remain the first and last goalkeeper awarded the Golden Ball? I do not want pathos about best goalkeeper in history, who fifty years ago played like no one else ever, because this is not fair even to modern masters, who are also impressive, but Yashin is the most legendary goalkeeper the world, and that's absolutely right. Two decades at the gates of Dynamo Moscow, five championships, three cups, Olympic gold medals and victory in the Euro 60 final - the first in history. He also played at the World Championships, won fourth place in England. A legend of legends, and although there is also Dasaev, Lev Ivanovich is the first number.

Defenders

Vladimir Bessonov. A native of Kharkov, he played for Dynamo Kiev for a decade and a half, and although it was not always possible to play from bell to bell, he broke cervical vertebrae, survived four knee operations at a time when medicine was not as developed as it is now, but at the same time managed to become the best player in the youth world championship in the forward position, then play in the center of the field with adults and in defense, all the way to the libero position. Without difficulty, he will close the right edge of this team, because he knew how to do everything on the field. And the daughter of Vladimir Vasilyevich went to her father - Anna collected dozens of medals at European championships, world and two "bronze" at the Olympics, doing rhythmic gymnastics.

Albert Shesternev. "Ivan the Terrible" from the center of defense played all his life for CSKA, with whom he could only once become the champion of the USSR, but he successfully played for the allied team - both at Euro-64 and at the World Cup-66 he was a notable defender who performed at the level of the best masters of his time, yielding little to them and earned the fame of one of the strongest players in Europe of his time by getting into the lists of France Football. If then it was possible to leave for the West, he could well have received an invitation from prominent clubs of the sixties. It just didn’t work out, as a result, Albert Alekseevich best years spent in an army shirt, ended his career due to an injury at the age of thirty, then abused alcohol, died at fifty-three.

Murtaz Khurtsilava. The most important football player in the history of Georgia is considered by many to be the star of an old era, Boris Solomonovich Paichadze, covered in legends told with a Caucasian temperament, but in this team, the Georgian legend will be at the center of defense. Frankly, it was difficult to choose, since two Dynamo Tbilisi defenders at once took the USSR to the field with a captain's armband, playing very strong. All my life we ​​have played in our homeland, but between Chivadze and Khurtsilava we will choose the one who is older, the one who is sometimes called the strongest Georgian player of the second half of the last century. And who played in the semi-finals and finals of major international tournaments- the medal of the World Cup-66 and the silver of Euro-72 are in the honored veteran.

Anatoly Demyanenko. Dynamo Kiev was the base club of the USSR national team during the third football dawn, so it is not surprising that its representatives are in this squad. Demyanenko won the championship five times, took the Cup Winners' Cup, played at three world championships, became the silver medalist of Euro 88. Of course, one can also recall other prominent left-backs of the older generation, however, Anatoly Vasilyevich, nicknamed "Mulya" (in childhood, he mispronounced his neighbor's nickname) proved a two-core character at a time when there was no unambiguous the strongest club and the best team that could beat everyone and everyone for years.

Midfielders

Valery Voronin. Many Torpedo legends have a difficult fate - Voronin got into a car accident in 1968, from the consequences of which he did not recover, started drinking, was killed, it seems, in drunken fight. But before that he won two championships, was the best player in the USSR - also twice, was on the lists of the best players in Europe according to the poll for the Golden Ball - in the top ten, which says a lot, and received at the World Cup in England and at the Euro for two years previously the highest ratings. Alain Delon of Soviet football, unfortunately, was not as happy off the field as he was in the national team and Torpedo.

Igor Netto. He played hockey well, like Yashin, but the Spartak football club managed to pull him out of ice captivity and got a man who would win the Olympics, Euro 60 and remain a gentleman in football history, because Igor Aleksandrovich was at the World Cup 62 as the captain of the national team The USSR helped the referee not count the goal of his own team. Famous story - the ball hit the gates of Uruguay through a hole in the net. Eight years from now, Latin Americans will not respond with the same “fair play” principle, but that is another story. And Netto is the legendary midfielder of Spartak in the championship fifties, Goose is in place here.

Fedor Cherenkov. We understand that choosing another midfielder is very difficult. There were Zavarov, Muntyan, Sabo, Kipiani, many other legends, later Mikhailichenko appeared, who managed to charm many, but take a look at the whole squad and you will understand that he lacks Cherenkov. Perhaps the main person in the history of Spartak, despite the legendary Netto, and a football player who was not fully revealed in the team. Although this did not prevent the midfielder from becoming the best player in the USSR twice - there are three more such people, and only Blokhin has three awards, win the championship three times and even have time to take the Russian championship. Legend, it's a pity that he died so early - the year before last at 55 years old.

Forwards

Valentin Ivanov. Monday or Ilyin are legends, Belanov has the Golden Ball, Meskhi played wonderfully, Protasov was also an incredible class forward, skillful and productive, like many, many others, but it’s impossible not to include Valentin Kozmich in this squad, since we are talking about the same legendary forward as his competitors. How not to get lost in Russia, having been born in Moscow with the surname Ivanov? It's very simple - win Euro 60, become second in four years, losing only to Spain, be the top scorer of the World Cup in Chile, sharing the title with Garrincha, Vava and other legends, win trophies with Torpedo and earn the glory of a world-class master.

Edward Streltsov. The bully, of course, was a noble, but how he played! There should be a person in the USSR national team who was prevented from becoming the greatest Russian player in history due to the traditional corporate stupidity of that time. But a strange case and subsequent imprisonment did not prevent him from becoming a legend. Instead of going to the World Cup in Sweden, where all the experts were waiting for him, like the young star of the Brazilians Pele, Eduard went down the stage to cut down the forest, then he was irradiated with radiation at work, went bald, lost six football years and became like an old man. Although he returned to Torpedo to score goals again, he did not win everything he could. Although he was a master of an incredible level, he appeared on the lists of the best players in Europe even after returning from prison.

Oleg Blokhin. The only player of the USSR national team with more than a hundred matches in history, the top scorer, one of the three Ukrainians with the Golden Ball. He devoted almost two decades to Dynamo Kiev, with which he won seven league titles, held the cup five times, won three international trophies - two Cup Cups and one UEFA Super Cup, and then Bayern itself became Blokhin's victim. He needs no introduction, because he was the player of the year three times, taking over the baton from Lovchev (yes, the same one). In total, Oleg Vladimirovich scored almost four hundred goals during his career, that is, he scored more often than in every second match. One of the strongest forwards of his time, an unconditional and honored member of any variant of the symbolic USSR national team.

Stanislav GORIN.

GOALKEEPER

The candidacy of the "first number" in our team is not even discussed, there is clearly nothing to talk about when there is one of the greatest goalkeepers in football history. Lev Ivanovich has an absolute record among Soviet and Russian players by the number of matches in final tournaments world championships - 13. In all three championships with the participation of Yashin (1958, 1962, 1966), the USSR team went to the playoffs, and the 1966 tournament in England, where the Soviet team reached the semi-finals, remains the most successful world championship to this day in our history.

FIELD PLAYERS

Another participant in the three final tournaments of the world championships. On account of Kyiv Dynamo Vladimir Bessonov 10 matches in world championships. Bronze medalist of the Moscow Olympics, silver medalist of Euro 1988. As part of the national team, he won the European Youth Championship - 1976 (in the final against the Hungarian team he scored the only goal of the team) and the Junior World Championship - 1977, where he was recognized as the best player.

Bessonov could play in almost any position, but we remember him as a right-back. Here is the description he gave to his ward Valery Lobanovsky in 1982.

“In my opinion, Bessonov personifies the modern type of football player who can play in any position and in any arrangement. Moreover, I would even call him one of our first football players of the future, meaning football in which all players can do literally everything that this game consists of on the field.

At 23, Bessonov became the captain of the stellar Kyiv Dynamo, and this says a lot.

Bessonov was also called "The Trauma Man". Later, journalists considered that the only season that the football player spent without serious injuries happened in 1980. Spanish Championship he could miss the world due to a muscle tear, in addition, he suffered a fracture of the cervical vertebrae and four operations on his knee. And always returned to the field. Iron Man.

Incidentally, the daughter of Vladimir Bessonov Anna, was the bronze medalist of the Beijing Olympics in rhythmic gymnastics.

Shesternev he could well have played at the 1962 World Cup, by that time he had already loudly declared himself in the big leagues, but coaching staff prefer more experienced Anatoly Maslyonkin And Leonid Ostrovsky(it will be discussed below). Four years later, the CSKA defender was already the main player in the national team and its captain. In England, Shesternev played five matches and, due to a shoulder injury, missed the last one, for third place. At the same time, in the semi-finals with the Germans, he already played injured, although this became known only after the match. So given the injury Jozsef Szabo(substitutions were not allowed then) and deletions Igor Chislenko, the USSR national team played against Germany in almost eight men. However, we repeat once again, no one noticed that Shesternev plays through pain.

At the 1970 World Cup, the Soviet team also left the group, but lost to the Uruguayans in the quarterfinals in extra time. Three minutes before the end, there was an episode in which our players, seeing that Cubilla missed the ball over the goal line, stopped playing, but the referee did not give a whistle and Esparrago hit the unprotected gate. Such curiosities, however, are more than enough in the history of Soviet football.

Shesternev spent all four matches in Mexico and his game, as well as the actions of the entire defense, which conceded only two goals in four matches, was highly appreciated by experts. But this was the last major tournament of the defender in the national team, due to an injury, he was forced to end his career at the age of 30, finally managing to become the national champion as part of his native CSKA. In the era of Shesternev, the USSR national team became silver medalist European Championship (1964), reached the semi-finals of the 1966 World Cup and Euro 1968.

Leonid Ostrovsky

Probably the most little-known player of our symbolic team. If the place in the team of Albert Shesternev in the team was not in doubt, then we argued a lot about the second central defender. Candidates were named Murtaza Khurtsilava, Alexander Chivadze, Vladimir Kaplichny, but we still stopped at Leonid Ostrovsky, who played for Torpedo and Dynamo Kiev. He was in the application for the USSR national team at three world championships and played 6 matches in 1962 and 1966. In Chile, Ostrovsky spent the highest level three games, for the group stage match with Colombia, which ended in a 4-4 draw, and ours allowed the opponent to win back three goals, it is unlikely that the whole team can give themselves a good rating. In the quarterfinals, Soviet players played with the hosts of the championship and lost 1:2, and in both cases there were oversights by Lev Yashin. Which in no way justifies the persecution that the goalkeeper and Valentin Ivanov were subjected to, with whose sawn-off shotgun the fatal attack of the Chileans began, upon returning home.

At the next World Cup in England, Leonid Ostrovsky played twice, but in the decisive matches, the coaches preferred to bet on Murtaza Khurtsilava, who did not play very well, especially in the match for third place with Portugal. Ostrovsky got into the application at the last moment, along with Valery Porkuyan they were called "the team's secret weapon". Porkuyan eventually scored four goals, and Ostrovsky played reliably in two of his matches

One of the first flank defenders of a new type in world football, a man ahead of his time. If a long-term partner Anatoly Demyanenko according to Dynamo Kyiv and the USSR national team, Vladimir Bessonov could play in any position, then he spent his entire career on the left edge. But he worked on it so selflessly that the grass smoked. Demyanenko often and skillfully joined the attack, scored a lot himself and constantly helped his partners create sharpness at the other's goal. Like Bessonov, Demyanenko took part in the final tournaments of the 1982, 1986 and 1990 World Championships, only spent one match less.

The USSR national team of that period, composed mainly of Dynamo Kyiv, turned out to be terribly unlucky. In 1982, the Soviet team overcame the first group stage, but failed to reach the semi-finals in the second group. There was such an experiment from FIFA. Ours and the Poles beat the Belgians, but the opponents did it more confidently, so in the decisive match Demyanenko and Co. needed only a victory. And in the end it happened 0:0.

In 1986, erroneous refereeing decisions gave a ticket to the quarterfinals of Belgium, but four years later, the Soviet team swayed too late, when the train to the playoffs had already left.

In general, the famous Dynamo player was listed as an extreme forward, but his scope of activity on the field was never limited to a narrow edge. No, he actively worked along his entire flank, not forgetting to actively help the defenders, although in those days it was not customary for forwards to retreat deep to their goal, but he is famous for his brilliant shifts to the center. That is how he scored two goals, which later, according to FIFA, entered the top 100 beautiful goals in the history of the world championships. One happened in a match with Colombia in Chile-1962. Chislenko passed Valentin Ivanov, rushed from the flank to the center, received a reverse pass, beat two defenders and shot past the goalkeeper. The second goal was scored at the next championship, in a game with the Italians. The forward began to move to the center, gave the ball Banishevsky, he returned the ball to Chislenko with his heel, he moved along the penalty line and shot irresistibly.

“He can be considered a model of a modern extreme forward. He does not limit his actions to a narrow section of the field, but often and effectively shifts to the center, giving his movements extraordinary sharpness. Chislenko always actively fights for the ball when the opponent has it, turning into an additional midfielder. In a word, he plays the way modern football requires from an extreme forward, ”the legendary forward Vsevolod Bobrov wrote about Chislenko.

In total, Chislenko scored 4 goals in 7 matches of the two final tournaments of the world championships.

Spartakist, Olympic champion and European champion, captain of the USSR national team in her first Olympic tournament (1952), the first world championship (1958) and the first European championship (1960), played not so many matches at the world championships - only five (1958 and 1962). But there are actions before which any statistics fade.

At the Chilean championship, during a group stage match with the team of Uruguay, after Igor Chislenko's strike, the ball ended up in the opponents' goal. The Uruguayans began to prove to the referee that the ball hit the goal through a hole in the side net, but the referee does not change his decision. And here the captain of the Soviet national team Igor Netto approached him and gestured that there was no goal. The goal has been cancelled. Note that the score at that time was 1:1, and even though he suited the Soviet team at that time, but the ball conceded from the Uruguayans meant the end of the World Cup on group stage. However, this match ended successfully, a minute before the end of the match, Valentin Ivanov scored the winning goal.

“I ran up to Chislenko:“ Igor, was there a goal? ”I ask him. “No,” Chislenko answers without hesitation. Then I, as a captain, went up to the Italian referee and, as best I could, explained to him with gestures: “There was no goal.” He thanked me and canceled the goal. Well, to be honest, I felt relieved. We played fair football,” Netto himself recalled in his book.

Eight years later, in Mexico, Uruguay will beat the USSR national team in the quarterfinals thanks to an unfair goal, but none of the players approached the referee and told him that the ball was not scored according to the rules. And this only adds to the noble grandeur of Igor Netto's act.

One of the best central midfielders of the USSR of his time, and indeed in football history country, spent 9 out of 10 matches of the national team at the 1962 and 1966 World Cups. Attack designer, dispatcher, pivotal, as it is fashionable to say now, player. The only one from the USSR national team who was included in the symbolic team of the English championship, which was successful for the Soviet team.

In addition to bright football qualities, he had an attractive appearance, was a very well-read and interesting person, his own in the artistic environment of Moscow. They say that Voronin was fascinated by the English Queen Elizabeth, who once presented the player with the prize "the most elegant football player" after one of the matches in the European team.

Igor Belanov

It happens that one tournament can completely turn the fate of a person. Igor Belanov and before the World Cup - 1986 was one of the best forwards in the country, in the same year Dynamo Kiev won the Cup Winners' Cup, the second most important European Cup at that time, in which the owners of national Cups played. But Belanov ascended to the rank of a world-class star after Mexico. 4 goals in 4 matches of the only world championship in his career were brought six months later to the Ballon d'Or forward. It happens that, having never become the best player in the country, Belanov received a prize best player Europe.

Later they said that this was a consolation prize for the brilliant USSR team, which had a great start in Mexico, effortlessly overcame the group barrier, but then lost in the 1/8 finals of Belgium with a score of 3: 4, and quite a big role in this result was played by several rude referees mistakes are not in our favor. Belanov scored all three goals for the USSR national team in that match

Belanov is the only Soviet and Russian footballer who scored three goals in the playoffs of the World Cup. That is why we preferred the forward of Dynamo Kyiv Oleg Salenko, who is the top scorer in the final tournaments of the world championships in the history of our country, scoring 5 goals in one game (in total, Salenko scored 6 goals at the 1994 World Cup). The whole point is that all the goals of Salenko did not bring any benefit to the team.

Anatoly Fedorovich became the main hero of the 1970 World Cup, scoring 4 goals in 4 matches, and this despite the fact that the whole team scored only 6 times in the tournament. After losing to Uruguay in the quarter-finals, the national team was seriously criticized at home, and the general idea was that the team actually played one striker, who had no one to replace. The Uruguayans managed to close Byshovets, and the attack of the Soviet team lost all sharpness. Yes, the South Americans eventually won thanks to a controversial goal, but after all, the Soviet team in that match created essentially one scoring chance. Byshovets could play in other world championships, but was forced to end his career due to a knee injury at the age of 27.

“It’s not without reason that the Fiorentina club offered a million for Byshovets,” he immortalized Anatoly Fedorovich in one of his songs Vladimir Vysotsky. For Byshovets, however, as well as for the rest of the players from our symbolic team, European clubs really offered big money at that time.

The player of the capital "Torpedo" played 9 matches at the 1958 and 1962 World Cup, he scored 5 goals in the final tournaments. Only Oleg Salenko has more. In the piggy bank Valentina Ivanova European Championship titles and Olympic champion. Valentin Kozmich has already been mentioned more than once in this text, we recalled his decisive goal against Uruguay in the 1962 World Cup group stage and his sawn-off shot in the middle of the field, which led to one of the goals in our quarter-finals with Chile, which is why Valentin Kozmich is at home fans booed from the stands for a long time. In that ill-fated episode, the football player was credited with almost deliberate refusal to fight. What to do, the defeat in the quarterfinals in the USSR was considered a failure and the reaction, of course, was very painful. And we have always been able to look for the extreme in our country.

By the way, Ivanov became the top scorer at the Chilean World Cup, sharing this title with five more players with four goals. After the end of his career, Ivanov became a successful coach, his whole life was spent in Torpedo, before returning to the Premier League, he did not live two and a half years.

TRAINER

When it comes to the great Soviet coaches, they first of all remember Valery Lobanovsky, Konstantin Beskov, Gavriil Kachalin. Meanwhile, the biggest success of our team at the world championships is associated with the name Nikolai Morozov, who came to the national team without rich coaching experience, and even after the triumph in England, this specialist worked without much success only in Chernomorets Odessa and Shakhtar Donetsk. They say it all happened because complex nature a coach with whom it was not easy to get along.

For two years, in preparation for the World Cup, Morozov managed to seriously rebuild the team's game tactically, during which time he looked at 57 players from 14 clubs in the country, demanded from club coaches that they work with candidates for the national team individual plan, actively used the rotation of the composition and approached each new opponent individually.

“Classes under the guidance of Nikolai Petrovich,” he later said Albert Shesternev, - it was very interesting and opened even for us, who had considerable experience, more and more new horizons. If, for example, in their clubs, not only defenders, but even attackers were secretly forbidden to learn and perform strokes, work out dribbling, feints, high-speed dribbling, then in the team led by Morozov, they were charged with all this.