Andrea Pirlo - "Professor", "Architect", for the ability to manage the game of the team and build intricate combinations Antonio Cassano - "Peter Pan". One of the most gifted Italian football players, has long been listed as a potential world-class star, but has never been able to unlock the potential of the "fantasy". His childish nature makes Cassano look like Peter Pan, a boy who will never grow up. 
Alexandro Pato - Duckling. Pato is Portuguese for "white duck". 
Yuri Zhirkov - Nikulin. For external resemblance to a famous actor. 
Adriano Galliani - "Uncle Fester" (the hero of "The Addams Family"). One of the most colorful figures in world football received this nickname for his striking resemblance to the character of the Addams Family. 
Alexander Anyukov - AN-22. The combination of the first two letters of the surname and the player's game number. 
Andreas Iniesta - Casper. For amazing similarity and good looks. 
Arjen Robben - The Glass Man. One of the most talented wingers in the world, Robben has been unable to reach his full potential due to the constant injury that has plagued him over the years. 
Bastian Schweinsteiger - "pig"; Germany midfielder. Fans affectionately call him Pig, because the "schwein" in German means "pig". 
David Beckham is a Spice Boy midfielder for England. One of the most famous football players mira got an ironic nickname after he married Victoria Adams, a former member of the Spice Girls, and began to pay a lot of attention to appearance. 
Gianluigi Buffon - Batman. For their "superpowers" and the ability to "fly" in the frame of the gate. 
Fernando Torres is the "baby" striker of the Spanish national team. The striker's nickname is due either to the youthfulness of facial features, or to the early disclosure of talent. It is possible that both of them at the same time. 
Francesco Totti - "Emperor of Rome" - The symbol of the team of the eternal city, its long-term leader and captain simply could not get another nickname. 
Frank Lampard - Lamppost. An example of "subtle" English humor, Lampard = lamps = lamp-post (lamp post). In the game, fortunately, such qualities are not observed behind him. 
Javier Zanetti is a "tractor", the Argentina midfielder got his nickname for the fact that for more than a decade he has been plowing the flank from end to end - both at Inter and in the national team. 
Lionel Messi is a "flea" for his small stature and the quickness with which he eludes the opponent's defense. 
Michael Essien - Terminator. For the ability to burn out the center of the field and demoralize your opponents with a sideways glance 
Michael Owen - Golden Boy. Former hope of English football. 
Mesut Ozil - "Nemo" This nickname was invented by Mesut's teammates for his resemblance to a cartoon character. Oh that look! 
Nicolas Anelka - "Incredibly gloomy." Try to remember his unbridled joy after celebrating a goal. Does not work? This fact and always strained relations with partners and club management became the reason for the nickname. 
Pepe - "Psycho". For violent temper, crazy antics on the field and outright rudeness towards the opponent. 
Ryan Giggs - "The Welsh Wizard" - The most experienced player of the Welsh national team, a living legend English football and Manchester United. Ryan clearly draws his source of longevity from a magical environment. 
Roman Pavlyuchenko - Sleeping Giant. The perfect nickname coined by Guus Hiddink. When “Pav” wakes up, even he himself does not know. 
Sergey Ovchinnikov - "Boss". For a sharp, explosive character and his desire to prove who is in charge on the field. Even the referee. 
Gennaro Gattuso - "Braveheart", "Rino", "Rhino", "White Davids" - for fearlessness and the desire to fight to the last drop of blood on the football field 
Wayne Rooney - Shrek. For his phenomenal resemblance to the famous cartoon character. 
Walter Samuel - "wall", defender of the Argentina national team. The origin of the nickname is obvious: acting impeccably on the defensive, Samuel stands in the way of the opponent's attackers with an impenetrable wall. 
Vladimir Bystrov - "34th ambulance". For my incredible speed and, possibly, cruising along the route "St. Petersburg - Moscow - St. Petersburg". 
Jan Koller - Dinosaur Dino. Huge growth and good-natured disposition make distinguish both characters. 
In Soviet times, there were many outstanding football players - and we made up a symbolic team of them. When selecting, they were entirely guided by the titles of the players - both personal and team. The players of the symbolic team played in different decades, starting from 1945. Pre-war football of the USSR is a topic for a separate publication. The game scheme of this fictitious team is 4-3-3, but it so happened that all the defenders in the selected team are central, and one of the midfielders is a winger. Judge for yourself.
Goalkeepers:
Lev Yashin
Yashin is a legend of world football, the main goalkeeper in history. Yashin, who played for Dynamo Moscow, spent 16 years in the national team. won the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956 and Euro 1960, a five-time champion of the USSR. In 1966, Lev Yashin was recognized as the best football player in the world. The "Black Spider" is immortalized both in officialdom and in folklore. He is also remembered abroad: in 2002, he entered the FIFA dream team, and on the eve of the Russian World Cup, football publications around the world recalled the game of Lev Yashin.
Subs: Alexey Khomich, Rinat Dasaev
Defenders
Albert Shesternev
Albert Shesternev was called Ivan the Terrible in the English press. The defender was born in Moscow two days before the start of World War II. Shesternev made his debut in CSKA at the age of 17 (he will spend his entire career in the army club), and at 21 he became a captain. Kapitanil Shesternev was also in the Soviet national team in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s. The defender has made the most appearances as captain of the national team. As part of the national team, Shesternev won silver at the 1964 European Championship and participated in the 1970 World Championship. For four years in a row, from 1968 to 1971, he was one of the contenders for the Golden Ball. This is a unique indicator for a defender.
Murtaz Khurtsilava
Albert Shesternev's defense partner in the Soviet Union national team, and then heir as captain, Murtaz Khurtsilava spent almost his entire career in Dynamo Tbilisi, with whom he became the champion of the USSR in 1964. In the national team, Khurtsilava was especially successful in 1972 - it was in this year that Khurtsi (as his fans called him) won the silver of the European championship and the bronze of the Olympic Games. In 2003, Khurtsilava was recognized as the most outstanding Georgian football player of the last 50 years.
Anatoly Demyanenko
Dynamo Kiev captain Lobanovsky was a key player in the USSR national team in the late 1980s. Demyanenko was able to win the silver of the European Championship in 1988, and at the club level he won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1986. Reliable game Anatoly Demyanenko is well remembered. The defender was included in the symbolic team of France Football magazine throughout the history of the European Championships and several times claimed the Golden Ball.
Vagiz Khidiyatullin
The pupil of the Rostov sports boarding school was a symbol of Spartak, although Khidiyatullin, as a result of a muddy story, ended up in CSKA, played in France, and ended his career in Dynamo Moscow. Khidiyatullin played in the obsolete position of the last defender. Rapidly began his career - he was compared with Beckenbauer. Khidiyatullin was characterized as a tenacious defender and a born leader. In different periods he achieved success with the national team. In 1980 he won bronze at the Moscow Olympiad, and in 1988 he won silver at the European Championship.
Subs: Evgeny Lovchev, Alexander Chivadze, Anatoly Maslyonkin, Revaz Dzodoushvili
Midfielders:
Igor Netto
Captain of the legendary Soviet national team of the 1950s and 1960s. It was with Netto that the USSR national team won the Olympics in Melbourne and Euro 1960. Igor Netto was the unquestioning leader of the Moscow Spartak, in which he spent 18 seasons. He started as a midfielder under Stalin. If the symbolic team had a captain, then it would be Netto.
Valentin Ivanov
Valentin Ivanov played as a winger or winger, but let there be a pronounced flank player in the midfield of the symbolic team. Ivanov is a representative of the golden generation, a partner of Igor Netto and Lev Yashin, and then Albert Shesternev. Valentin Ivanov won gold in Melbourne, became European champion in 1960, and won silver at the next European Championship. Ivanov scored a lot - he is in third place among the top scorers of the Soviet Union, and at the 1962 World Cup he became the best sniper of the tournament. The entire club career of a football player took place in the Moscow "Torpedo". Ivanov twice became the champion of the Soviet Union as part of the torpedo team.
Alexander Zavarov
Dynamo Kyiv playmaker Valery Lobanovsky. It was from the passes of Alexander Zavarov that Blokhin, Protasov and Belanov scored. As part of the Kiev team, Zavarov won the 1986 Cup Winners' Cup. For the national team of the Soviet Union, the midfielder did not play long, but brightly. In 1988 he won the silver of the European Championship. Alexander Zavarov was called twice to play for the world team in the 1980s. And in 1988, Zavarov moved to Juventus, where he spent two seasons.
Subs: Valery Voronin, Fedor Cherenkov, Sergey Oleinikov
Forwards:
Edward Streltsov
Forward “Torpedo”, who was called the “Soviet Pele”, was deprived of seven years of his career. On a strange far-fetched charge of rape, Eduard Streltsov was arrested on the eve of the 1958 World Cup. The striker was only 20 years old. Streltsov spent five years in the camps, and the striker tried to return to football for another two years. Even despite the torn seven years, Streltsov became the fourth scorer in the history of the national team - in 38 matches, the torpedo player scored 25 goals, Streltsov managed to win gold medals in Melbourne.
Oleg Blokhin
The main scorer of the Soviet championship and the national team. His statistics are amazing: 215 goals in 432 matches for Dynamo Kyiv and 45 goals in 112 games for the USSR national team. The best striker in the history of the Soviet Union. Oleg Blokhin in 1975 received the Golden Ball, a prize for the best football player in Europe. With Kiev "Dynamo" striker twice won the Cup Winners' Cup. A career in the national team, of course, was a success, but Blokhin managed to win only two bronze medals in the Olympic football tournament.
Vsevolod Bobrov
Vsevolod Bobrov on the right Vsevolod Bobrov played football in the summer and hockey in the winter. In both sports, Bobrov was very successful. As a football player, he played in the CDKA, in which Bobrov scored 80 goals in 79 matches. Together with Dynamo he went on a legendary tour of Great Britain in 1945. He scored six goals in four matches with English clubs. Alas, a little Bobrov did not reach the main victories of the USSR football team, but he was a two-time world champion and an Olympic hockey champion.
Substitutes: Igor Belanov, Oleg Protasov, Viktor Ponedelnik
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 don’t want pathos about the 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. Played on 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 is 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 of Cups, played in three world championships, became silver medalist 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? Very simple - win Euro 60, become second in four years, losing only to Spain, be top scorer World Championship in Chile, sharing the title with Garrincha, Vava and other legends, win trophies with Torpedo and earn the fame of a world-class master.
Edward Streltsov. The bully, of course, was a noble, but how he played! The USSR national team should have a person who was not allowed to become the greatest Russian player in history by the traditional corporate stupidity of the 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.
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.
The best football player of the country in 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 everything 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. At the radio points that transmitted the broadcast football match gathered up to a hundred people.
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. Famous coach 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 game young football player, asked Maslov - they say, where did he find 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 became the top scorer in the 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 the Olympic gold medal received Simonyan, and not the top scorer of the Streltsy team. This replacement was allegedly made at the insistent request of Anastas Mikoyan, a member of the Central Committee of the party.
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 ...
Quantity 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 delivered to the region of the lumbosacral region, chest, head and hands. 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.
Football legends are passed down from generation to generation. Without these gossip, football would have lost half of its charm. There are epic heroes in our football.
VASILY BUTUSOV (1892-1971)
The star of Petrograd football, he was the best forward of the last decade of the Russian Empire and one of the pioneers of Soviet football, he played in the famous St. Petersburg "Unitas", and in the 1920s - in "Spartak" of the Vyborgsky district. A thunderstorm of goalkeepers, he knew how, having quickly processed the ball, unexpectedly and powerfully punched on goal. The first representative international tournament in which the Russian football team took part was the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm.
Vasily Butusov was the captain and leader. It was he who scored the first goal of the Russian team in official tournaments there, in Sweden. True, Russia lost that match 1:2. Moreover, she lost to the Finnish team, which was part of the Russian Empire, but performed separately at the games. He was twice in German captivity - during the First World War and the Great Patriotic War. In the 1930s, he was held "on the case of the Industrial Party", was imprisoned, but was acquitted. The Butusov dynasty thundered in the 1910s–1920s: six brothers - six football players. Vasily Pavlovich was respected as the first captain.
NIKOLAY STAROSTIN (1902-1996)
The patriarch of Spartak football, football sage - this is how he remained in the memory of the fans. The eldest of the four football brothers, he was born on Presnya and from the age of fifteen he could not imagine himself outside of football. In the early 1930s, Nikolai Starostin, a high-profile striker, was the captain of the Soviet Union's national team. On April 19, 1935, the All-Union Sports Society "Spartak" was born, of which the football team became a part.
The name was proposed by Nikolai Starostin. He also sketched the logo himself - a red and white rhombus with a crossed out letter "C". Starostin became a coach and a brilliant organizer of football. From 1942 he spent several years in prison. After the removal of the criminal record, he returned to football and for decades managed the affairs of the football Spartak.
MIKHAIL YAKUSHIN (1910-1997)
They called him Sly Micah. The organizer of the Dynamo game, he led opponents by the nose in every game. “Mikhail Yakushin's passes were distinguished by great ingenuity. His famous heel kicks were unexpected, witty and useful during the game, ”recalled the coach Boris Arkadiev. Yakushin is a unique athlete. He happened to be the champion of the USSR in football, and in bandy, and in ice hockey. Still, he preferred summer game. Already in the 1940s, Yakushin became one of the best coaches Soviet football. It was he who coached Dynamo Moscow during a tour of Great Britain in 1945.
GRIGORY FEDOTOV (1916–1957)
A worker from Glukhov near Moscow (now a district of the city of Noginsk) became best football player of his time. He was the first Soviet forward to score 100 goals in official matches. But statistics are not the point. According to contemporaries, Fedotov was a football miracle. Flexible, flexible, instantly recognizable on the field in any weather.
“This Fedotov is a really great player, he is now a sensational figure in Moscow. Even those who don’t go to football are aware and talking about him, ”the writer admired Yuri Olesha. “The blow is the same from both legs, especially from the fly. The technology was great. His favorite shot - from a half-flight, when the body was "laying" parallel to the ground, and, taking the ball on a leg lift, hit the goal hard - worked out specially, ”the football player recalled Valentin Nikolaev. During the time of Fedotov, our team did not take part in the main international tournaments. Otherwise, his name would still be remembered by millions of fans not only in Russia.
KONSTANTIN BESKOV (1920–2006)
Muscovite Konstantin Beskov was famous for his shot and was one of the leaders of the Moscow Dynamo in the 1940s. He became the national champion and top scorer. He took the game seriously: the fans recognized him by his carefully ironed uniform and polished boots. In those days, the players themselves washed and cleaned precious ammunition, and Beskov's character was fully manifested in this matter. And then Beskov became an outstanding coach.
He led the USSR national team to the silver medals of the 1964 European Championship. Then in the final match our team lost in an equal fight in Madrid to the hosts, the team of Spain - 1:2. This defeat was perceived as an insulting failure. Later, coach Beskov created several bright teams, the most memorable of which was Spartak Moscow in the 1980s.
VSEVOLOD BOBROV (1922–1979)
Fedotov's brother in the famous post-war "team of lieutenants" of the CDKA, he was considered the genius of a football breakthrough. How can you not remember the poetic praise Evgenia Evtushenko:
In his strikes on the move, from the fly
there was something from the Russian song.
Protection wet with sweat
clung to a T-shirt and shorts,
but he left anyone
Chaliapin Russian football,
Gagarin pucks in Rus'.
He led the USSR hockey team to victories at Olympic Games, at the World and European Championships. A football attempt at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics ended in a tragic defeat from the Yugoslav national team. It was a defeat "with political overtones": Soviet officers had no right to lose to the envoys of Marshal Josip Tito.
Bobrov left. big football, switched to "puck". According to many, he could become a world-class star in football, a star for all time. The British remembered him from several matches in 1945: Bobrov remained unstoppable.
LEV YASHIN (1929–1990)
Best football goalkeeper Of the twentieth century, the only goalkeeper to win the Golden Ball, Dynamo Moscow Lev Yashin became a symbol of national football. Almost all the high-profile achievements of our team are associated with it: victory at the 1956 Olympic Games, the 1960 European Cup, silver medals at the 1964 European Championship, fourth place at the 1966 World Cup. Yashin was the first in the history of the Soviet championships to play "to zero" 100 matches. He was the innovator of football.
Yashin was the first to go far out of the goal, put the ball into play with his hand, and lead the team's defense. He quickly "read the game", foresaw the actions of opponents. It was impressive. In Europe, he was respectfully called the Black Panther. friendly, strong man, a recognized master, he is the decoration of world football in the 1960s.
EDUARD STRELTSOV (1937–1990)
At the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, young Streltsov was the leader of the attacks of the Soviet team. As you know, the case ended with Olympic gold. At the age of 16, Streltsov became a player in the Moscow Torpedo. There he played his entire career as a striker - with a forced six-year break for a prison term. He was imprisoned on the eve of the World Cup in Sweden. It is possible that there he could shine no less brightly than the young Pele. The fans who caught Streltsov still remember the variety of his techniques, his ramming power, the stroke technique, the dandy heel pass ...
Streltsov himself used to say this: “We are eleven people. We speak the Pas language. Pass connects us. You can circle around beautifully, hit effectively, jump picturesquely. You can even run beautifully. It is possible and necessary. But the most important thing is the pass. And it should be soft, precise, timely. It must be smart, that is, unexpected, catching by surprise.
VICTOR MONDELNIK (born 1937)
Forward Viktor Ponedelnik was born in Rostov-on-Don and has sports life was loyal to his hometown. The history of the European Football Championships began in 1960. The then tournament was called the European Cup. The USSR national team victoriously reached the final. And for the gold of Europe had to fight with Yugoslavia. By that time, relations between the Kremlin and Tito warmer, the envoys of Belgrade were no longer considered enemies and politics were not mixed with sports.
The Yugoslavs scored first. The main time of the match ended in a draw - 1:1. And in the 113th minute, British-style Monday completed the attack with a header. Victory - and the European Cup went to Moscow. “It was the highlight of my entire life. For the goal I can't help but thank my partner Mikhail Meskhi, our left winger from Georgia, who made a brilliant cross,” recalls Viktor Ponedelnik, an athlete and journalist.
RINAT DASAEV (born 1957)
A born gatekeeper was born in Astrakhan, and the best football years spent in the Moscow "Spartak". In the 1980s, he was the backbone of the USSR national team. Our team shone at the 1988 European Championship. Then in Germany Soviet football players won silver medals. In a bright semi-final, we managed to beat the strong Italians - 2:0. And, although in the final it was not possible to defeat the Dutch, and Dasaev did not save, the authority of our goalkeeper did not suffer. He entered the symbolic team of the championship. And at the end of the season, Dasaev was rightfully recognized the best goalkeeper peace.
FYODOR CHERENKOV (1959–2014)
Light, technical Cherenkov was the soul of Spartak in the 1980s and a real favorite of the fans. “Such players do not fit into any specific coaching schemes. They go out on the field to create, always bring their understanding of the game to football, color it with the unique colors of their palette. Cherenkov is the player for whom it is worth going to the stadium, ”said Konstantin Beskov, Main coach in Cherenkov's fate. Every move he made on the field was extraordinary. He played beautifully and effectively.
In November 1983, Cherenkov almost single-handedly defeated Aston Villa in Birmingham, one of the strongest teams in Europe. Shy and good-natured Cherenkov was not distinguished by good health and played in the national team for a relatively short time. But at the Moscow Olympics and in qualifying matches By the 1984 European Championship, he remained the leader of the Soviet team.
Arseny ZAMOSTYANOV
