We remember that day to the smallest detail. Yes, it was noisy in the Lokomotyv Sports Centre, but we only heard the ringing silence that followed the final whistle in the terrible final match with the team from Manevychi. We saw the faces of the boys and the tears in their eyes. We were saying something to them in anticipation of the award ceremony, which lost its meaning. But no words mattered on the day of the most painful blow in the team’s history: the champions’ title that was so close just slipped away.
Three days before, Phoenix did the almost impossible: having won four victories in four matches of the last on-site tour of the Ukrainian Futsal Championship, we broke through from fourth to first place, beating two direct competitors on the way to gold. In the closing match, it was just necessary not to lose in normal time to the team that was in seventh place ...
One of the journalists who had been following the team’s performance from the very day of its existence then said: ‘If you win gold, it would be too perfect a tale of Cinderella: highly implausible. This does not happen in real life.’ I remembered someone's comment under the article about Phoenix on the Tribune: ‘They would have made a film about you on Netflix, were you in the US.’
Never before had we experienced such frustration and devastation as on that February day. We were close to giving up in despair. We learned the most painful lesson that taught us to understand the importance of the final step.
A little later, this lesson was finally consolidated in Belozirye at the League Cup. In the final we lost to the eternal rivals from Valki.
Generally, it was a striking season, in which fate seemed to be laughing at us, holding us back a step before the top step of the pedestal, giving us one disappointment after another - if, of course, one may view the vice-champion’s title in the main youth tournament of the country as a disappointment, or the bronze of the Ukrainian Cup, or the silver in the League Cup.
It felt like endless work at mistakes, leading to the same mistakes in the end.
We learned to take that final step. We talked a lot about things; we sweated even more during practice sessions and workouts. Our game became even more organized and accurate, disciplined and technical.
Emotions seemed to shrink, to be left behind on the pitch of the Lokomotyv Sports Centre on February 26, 2021. Phoenix matured that day ...
At times we seemed to have forgotten everything, winning the matches with the usual stability. But things would change on the eve of the finals: the fear that everything would repeat became an obstacle that we could not overcome.
First place was not our sports aim. It has become a psychological aim. We had to step over this line. Defeat ourselves to move on.
That is why the spectators of the final match of the Ukrainian Championship U16 did not witness any emotions after the final whistle. The holiday of waiting for the holiday, which lasted six years, ended outwardly calmly and even routinely. This is not to say that the championship did not bring happiness. It brought much more – relief. Phoenix did cross the line. The team freed themselves from the burden they had been carrying for ten months.
At the end of 2021, 2216 days after the inception, Phoenix wrote a new chapter of its ‘tale with trials and tribulations’. In just over a month, the team made a golden brace, winning the Ukrainian Cup and becoming the country's champion in its age category.
Nearly 950 hard workouts. 492 matches played in 53 tournaments. 142 defeats and 1225 goals conceded. Tens of thousands of kilometers, a number of cities and hostels.
Patience on the way from the lowest positions of the city tournament standings. From 19th place in the Kharkiv Championship in 2016, and 29th in the traditional tournament dedicated to Children's Day of the same season.
Phoenix begins a new chapter in its history in December 2021. There is the same faith in a dream and the same confidence that nothing is impossible for those boys.