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Russian Football: British Eyes (Part 1/3)
by Martyn Fisher
Rubin Kazan's 2-1 triumph at the Camp Nou is quite rightly heralded as
one of Russian soccer's greatest results. Nevertheless, in terms of the
game's growth outside the Federation (specifically; here in Blighty),
I don't believe the win over a six-trophy-bagging Barcelona side rates
as the most pivotal of 2009. Instead, that accolade goes to CSKA Moscow
holding Manchester United to a thrilling 3-3 scoreline in England's North
West.
Granted, both results occurred with all to play for at the Champions League
group stage; although rather incongruously, the draw ended up as the more
significant result in terms of a Russian side's progression to the next
stage. Yet the reason that 1-point haul resonates further is because in
a game between sides from the two nations, here at last was a result achieved
on a big stage, in conditions favouring the (English) heavyweight, and
crucially, coming with no strings, Anglo-centric blunders, or artificial
pitches attached. On the back of a season when Russian football was belatedly
televised here in the UK, CSKAs efforts may yet convince ESPN to stay
on and pick up the tab for 2010 (nowhere near a foregone conclusion given
a certain international side's failure to book their ticket to the World
Cup Finals).
On an island where Russian football - and the country and culture in general
- is perceived negatively and dismissed readily, the network's decision
will be crucial in facilitating popularity-expansion of one of the sport's
most pertinent accents in this samey, globalized world: perhaps also potentially
aiding a continual smoothing of relations and understandings between two
different yet simultaneously analogous-veering societies.
In this look at recent encounters representatives of the nations - split
into 3 parts for reasons of length - I intend to decipher how and why
Russian football doesn't get much written-love from the British media.
The language employed, interview quotes used and context offered are all
intended to shoo the bothersome Russian wasp away, while nuzzling the
chin of the family chihuahua that is the EPL. Such reportage of our WWII
ally's football is very much applicable to other topical issues and world
events too. Using Manchester United 3 CSKA Moscow 3 as the proverbial
turning point, I'll also indicate why I believe such perceptions are in
the midst of change.
So how and why is Russian football recognised and covered as it is here
in Europe's largest island? Given the wealth of European competitions
and accompanying matches, encounters between club sides from the two nations
have actually been sporadic - and usually in favour of British sides result-wise.
Yet win, lose, or draw, when it comes to continental competition match-ups,
England is especially unique in possessing a coin with just the one face.
Perhaps the most vital encounters between sides from the two nations occurred
over seven decades ago. Prior to the four-match British tour undertaken
in November 1945 by Moscow Dynamo - champions of the Soviet Union - there
had been no previous sporting contact with the Soviet Union at any level.
On the pitch, Dynamo held Chelsea to three-each, hammered Cardiff City
10-1, edged Arsenal 4-3, before concluding their UK tour and its London
team-Celtic nation team pattern with a two-goals-each stalemate at Ibrox.
Naturally, it is important to set the tour in the context of British-Soviet
relations as the wartime alliance crumbled into suspicion and hostility.
But in terms of the impact on a sport, British soccer fans were particularly
starved of exciting and fresh opposition at this time. As Kowalski and
Porter note:
'Even without the political dimension Dynamo's visit was an important
milestone. Matches between British and foreign club sides were rare events.
The British associations had become isolated from the world game having
withdrawn from FIFA in 1928 and turned their backs on the World Cup.'
Given the anticipation and excitement surrounding these encounters with
the Other - compounded 8 years later with the similarly triumphant visit
of the Hungarians and the to-this-day adoration of them - you'd like to
think Russian football would hold a weightier impact than it does here
in the UK. However, the onset of Cold War paranoia, Stalin's veiling of
the footballing set-up as a political tool, and the very odd plight of
Eduard Streltsov (Russia's greatest ever player, and one the world never
got to acclaim) that saw him miss the 1958 World Cup put paid to that;
deeply entrenched negative perceptions of a nation and culture were instead
left to cast.
Therefore, in a globalized, transient and multicultural world that all
societies and cultures immerse themselves in, assessing encounters between
sides since the dissolution of the Soviet Union better complements this
investigation. Speaking, writing and living as a twenty-something British
citizen, I feel the world in which we understand and experience today
is far removed from the one of Cold War times: and this is why I cannot
understand how such outdated notions and perceptions still exist. I will
return to political and cultural implications later, but in this age of
NOW, trying to evaluate them from their (post-)modern perspective.
35, 042 people were at Anfield to witness the home side and Spartak Vladikavkaz
fire blanks during a 1995 UEFA Cup meeting. Rather than praise the visitors
for a strong showing against a side that had just scored a bucket-load
of goals in the league, the headline in one leading British newspaper
spoke of the Liverpudlians having an 'off-day'. The Reds did progress
at the expense of the team now called Alania; Jamie Redknapp netting a
winner in the first leg to make the aggregate score 2-1.
In the 2002-03 Champions League group stage, Liverpool secured 5-0 ("the
scoreline didn't flatter us", noted Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier)
and 3-1 victories over Spartak Moscow. As it was, neither side advanced.
However, Liverpool did go on to win the competition a few years later,
and then overcame CSKA Moscow 3-1 (AET) in the UEFA Super Cup. The BBC
match report informs us that the Russians 'paid the price for their negativity'
- it's funny how similar deployment of such tactics by Manchester United
to win the Champions League in 2008 get spoken of in terms of legendary
managerial acumen. Said report also includes a comment by a fan futilely
noting that Liverpool had won more European trophies than anyone else
in the four-year-old century, and a snippet from an interview with boss
Rafael Benitez in which he's quick to assert that the Merseyside outfit
"always controlled the game". The result on its own clearly
wasn't sufficient; hence the BBC treble-slapping a steely imperialist
hand over the faces of malleable British subjects and Russia for good
measure.
And what of other English sides' recent fares against their Russian counterparts?
On Matchday Five, Arsenal edged Spartak Moscow 1-0 in the 2000-01 Champions
League second group stage. This season, Manchester United beat CSKA Moscow
1-0 when it was CSKAs turn to host. While acting as sandwich filling,
we have Chelsea's 1-0 and 2-0 wins over the same opposition in Group H
of the tournament's 2004-05 edition (story-covering of which focused solely
on whether Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich owned both clubs).
Lokomotiv Moscow - 5 years from winning only a second ever league championship
- cropped up in the 1999-00 UEFA Cup. Leeds United destroyed (7-1 agg.)
a team monikered by their rivals as 'the fifth wheel of the cart' in Moscow.
Rather than reflecting how lovely it is to get an opportunity to visit
such a fabulous city under the guise of *work*, manager David O'Leary
used his pre-match interview to get in the customary token joke about
the weather. The comedian had "set off with long-johns packed".
The gathered throngs of writers presumably rolled in the aisles.
The Independent overlooks the domestic context of the side a Yorkshire
outfit in their prime were facing, choosing instead to revel in one-upmanship:
"AS AWAY legs go in Moscow, Leeds enjoyed a nerveless night in the
Russian capital as they cruised through to the third round of the Uefa
Cup. [:] Leeds unsurprisingly took their foot off the pedal, and invited
Moscow to come at them, albeit without any purpose or penetration."
Yet the mother of all victories came from the national team itself: England
3 Russia 0 - supposedly the result that sealed Steve McClaren's men a
place at Euro 2008. Most succinct in displaying the arrogance of the British
press is this offering from The Guardian during their minute-by-minute
report of the game:
'40 mins: Russia substitution: Semshov off, Bystrov on. But you're not
particularly interested in that, are you? Because let's face it, you've
probably never heard of either of them.'
As if to crown such an oozing of hubris, Rio Ferdinand's dancing feet
in build-up to the result-securing goal mocked the red-shirted upstarts
for having the nerve to try. The bolshy brush-yer-shoulders celebration
that followed acerbated the punishing.
Russian
Football Now, January 28th, 2010
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