It is a long time observation – consoling finals are not Phoenix’s thing. It is painful for the team to part with hopes and motivation for any other possible results tends to fade away.
That was the story with the 4Sport Cup in Slovakia in February 2019, when the team, having shown great play, was beaten by Yuventus Children Sports School from Hungary in penalty shoot-outs. The disappointment was so great that the violets failed to pull themselves together to play against Pokrova from Lviv for the 5th place. In October same year, having lost to the Master of Ball in semi-final of the Kharkiv Cup, Phoenix extorted the bronze from Volna Sports School. In June 2018 after Phoenix had lost to the same old Volna in the semi-final of the Tournament devoted to the Day for Protection of Children, a match for the bronze followed where the win over the Master of Ball was forced out with incredible effort and will power.
Needless to say, today’s match for the rather prestigious to many clubs third place in the Ukrainian Cup was not something the guys had been dreaming of, given how brilliantly they had played in the group round and the leading position they had got to. Phoenix players had all the grounds for high hopes after they had beaten Energiia of Lviv and Chorne More, the latter becoming the Cup holder at the end of the day, with one loss - to us. The only match Phoenix lost was the match in which the team was defeated by its own fears, the match to dash the high hopes.
Phoenix players knew it was better to return from Chernomorsk with bronze medals than with no medals at all, that is for sure. So, the match to follow, against Ilichovets, the host team, Phoenix perceived as a routine task to be done mechanically. Such atmosphere before the game with the leader of AFU’s ranking among children clubs and sports schools was quite disquieting.
Despite all the circumstances Phoenix started off in a rather sprightly manner. One could not say the team was in full control, still in a more or less even game ours showed a slightly better control of the ball and created a bit more dangerous moments. Those moments led to goals scored – twice by Bezruk, then by Boldyzhev and had turned into a comfortable 3:0 by minute 12 of the match. Oleksandr Kaplun, the coach of the hosts, let the junior reserve out – the players born in 2008 and even in 2009. That is when Phoenix players lost interest and thought they got it all done and dusted.
They should not have thought so. The age-diverse host team managed to punish the violets twice within one last minute of the first half. That is when the comforting 3:0 crashed with no trace left.
Phoenix players were so flabbergasted by two goals into their empty net that the instructions of the coach in between the two halves fell flat on them. Just as the whistle for the beginning of the second half blew, the host team, more and more frequently staffed with junior players, started to demonstrate to Serhii Hrytsenko and Yurii Vashchenko’s players the energy one should show when dealing with seniors. Ilichovets would create one moment after another; Phoenix seemed to be coping quite easily, failing to get the combination play going, though. The violets were playing in a rather relaxed manner, wasting one moment after another, failing to pass, where it was appropriate, shooting for goal, where it was unneeded. Neither of the two four-player squads managed to fully get the team back into the game. The violets should be thankful to Eldar Bratchuk, who played beyond all praise, - out of 49(!) shots for goal only two ended up in our net (one of them being a penalty kick).
By the end of the second half the situation started to look quite disquieting, given that Phoenix failed to make use of the most advantageous few moments it managed to create. Meanwhile, the situation at our goalmouth was getting more heated. So, Ivan Konkov’s goal, scored in minute 21, became the last goal of the match and an actual relief to everyone.
The final whistle evoked no emotion in Phoenix players. Their minds remained in yesterday’s semi-final with Olympic.
The bronze medals of the Ukrainian Futsal Cup could have made many boys happy. The dreams of 14 players of Phoenix, though, are more ambitious than that. Their ambition, for sure, could have been quite realistically achieved.
No matter what, let us thank the boys for the result. We surpassed such clubs as Energiia of Lviv and Uragan of Ivano-Frankivsk, becoming the only team which beat Chorne More – the winner of the tournament. Our guys were signified in individual nominations: Demyd Yevsiukov as the best defender, Danylo Khodatsyi as the best player of Phoenix. We showed excellent play, which is inspiring. It is important to make most of Chornomork lessons, though. Whether they’ve sunk in or fallen flat we will see tomorrow, at Futsal Fair, launched in Lutsk, where Phoenix is heading as last season’s High League Champ.