News And Notes: Dynamo Player Attacked After Porto Match

By: Yevy | November 7th, 2008

As if the outcome of Wednesday’s Champions League encounter with Porto was not disappointing enough, Ukrainian tabloid БЛИК is reporting that a “fan” broke through the police cordon and struck a Dynamo player. Right back Betao was heading off the pitch, probably still trying to process the events that lead to the shocking finish, when he was sucker punched in the face. As the stunned Brazilian checked for damage to his cheek, the police quickly apprehended the enraged hooligan, though their initial alertness must be questioned. The offender was charged with disturbing the peace, given a “stern warning”, and fined 170 Hryvnia, or about $34. Dynamo has not pressed charges or commented on the incident so far.

Thankfully, Betao appears to be OK. It will not be lost on anyone that the attacker chose one of Dynamo’s three black players as the target of his frustrations. Never mind that Betao had just shut down Porto’s danger man Cristian Rodriguez for 90 minutes. While fan violence will always be a dark cloud hanging over the beautiful game, the apparent racial motivation makes this particular act that much more despicable. The irony of the situation is that when in a few years Betao blossoms as a player and asks for a transfer to a bigger club, the same people who would take a swing at him after a loss will assail the Brazilian for his perceived lack of loyalty.

In the face of such sad events, the results on the pitch become secondary. Dynamo fell victim to one of the oldest adages in football – if you do not score when you are supposed to, you will get scored on. It happened in their first group match against Arsenal, and it happened again on Wednesday. Dynamo had a handful of clear cut opportunities to put the match out of reach or retake the lead, but they could not take advantage of them. Moments before Lisandro Lopez took off on his last minute pilgrimage up the pitch, no fewer than four Dynamo players tried in vain to stuff the ball into the Porto net from close range. Before that, Ognjen Vukojevic hit the post with the goal at his mercy, and Oleksandr Aliyev failed to convert several golden chances throughout the second half.

Perhaps the most immediate cause of Dynamo’s failure to preserve a point was their reluctance to bring down Lisandro in the dying moments. In the aftermath manager Yuri Semin, as well as several ex-players like former captain and manager Anatoliy Demyanenko and his fellow 1986 Cup Winners Cup holder Vasiliy Rats, admitted that a tactical foul was in order. “In this situation (Valeriy) Lobanovskiy would have justified it,” said Rats of Dynamo’s late legendary manager. “Such decisions seem obvious in hindsight,” mused another ex-Dynamo defender, Serhiy Fedorov. “The players were trying to get the win and make it into the knockout round, and in the end did not have the energy or experience to prevent the outcome.”

With Arsenal inexplicably held to a nil draw at home by Fenerbahce, the situation in Group G remains clouded. All four teams still have at least a theoretical chance to advance. I will examine the possible permutations and how they affect Dynamo at a later time. For now, the focus shifts back to the Ukrainian Premier League and Sunday’s home fixture against struggling FC Lviv.