This week, all eyes have been on the Ukrainian soccer team, as speculation mounts that the Football Federation of Ukraine is looking for someone other than current coach Oleksiy Mykhailychenko.
Last week, the rumors were about Dynamo Kyiv’s coach Valery Gazzaev moving to. Russia to coach its national team. This week, all eyes have been on the Ukrainian team, as speculation mounts that the Football Federation of Ukraine is looking for someone other than current coach Oleksiy Mykhailychenko, whose contract ran out after the World Cup playoff loss to Greece last month.
Mykhailychenko said after that match that he wanted to stay on, but that depended on Hryhoriy Surkis, head of the federation. There have been calls for the next coach to be a foreigner after the team was out-battled by a poor Greece side in the 1-0 defeat. Mykhailychenko’s decision not to play Barcelona defender Dmytro Chygrinskiy and Andriy Voronin, who he reportedly argued with, also led to criticism.
Being coached by a foreigner has certainly worked for some teams – England looks rejuvenated under Fabio Capello, for example, except for their lackluster defeat against Ukraine a few weeks ago.
Former Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini has been linked with the role, and he has said he’ll consider all offers, although he is thought more likely to coach Russia.
In an even more audacious move, Surkis this week said he would like to see Shakhtar Donetsk’s Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu in the role. There has been plenty of bad blood between Surkis and Shakhtar president Rinat Akhmetov in recent weeks, and it seems Surkis wants to pour more fuel on the fire by trying to prise away the coach who took Shakhtar to UEFA Cup glory last season.
But Lucescu wasn’t impressed by the approach, saying that Surkis should get in touch personally rather than talking about it in the press.
Undeterred, Surkis sent an open letter to Akhmetov, published on the federation website, complaining that the Shakhtar chief wasn’t answering his phone, and asking for a face-to-face meeting. Akhmetov responded he wasn’t against negotiations, and took a pop at Surkis for his “unprofessional” approach. “He needs to change the way he invites [coaches], or Hryhoriy Mykhailovych (Surkis) will end up coaching the team himself.”
It was always highly unlikely Akhmetov would let such a successful coach go, and sure enough, Lucescu came out on Dec. 2 and said he didn’t want the job. Surkis must surely have known this all along, so what is he playing at?
First, it was probably a bit of PR revenge against Akhmetov, who criticized him for setting high ticket prices for the Ukraine-Greece match in Donetsk. If Akhmetov had said no, Surkis could have retorted that he doesn’t care about the national team. But Akhmetov agreed to let Lucescu negotiate with the FFU, presumably as he knew the Romanian would refuse.
Second, if Surkis fails to secure a big-name foreign manager, he’ll be able to at least say he tried when the team is still selected by Mykhailychenko next year.
Which may not be a bad thing. Ukraine’s coach will have the task of building a team capable of putting in a strong performance at Euro-2012, which should be a home tournament if UEFA gives the go-ahead in a few days’ time. Mykhailychenko has brought on a number of young players during this qualifying campaign, and took the under-21 team to the final of the European Championship in 2006. Perhaps the faith he has shown in the youngsters will begin to pay off as they gain more experience at the highest level.
Whatever the outcome, soccer politics in Ukraine is just as cloak and dagger as the real thing, and we can’t say with any certainty who’ll be running the show (in soccer or politics) come January. Although a 40-something with flowing blonde hair has a good chance for both roles.
James Marson can be reached at marson@kyivpost.com
