AUGUST 20, 1999
***Kryvbass Krivoy Rog beat CSCA, 2-1, and separated itself from the nearest teams,
becaming the solitary leader of the Championship.  It leads Metallist by three points
and Dynamo by six, but the Kiev footballers have two games in hand.  It's great
to see a real race for the gold medals this year, and, as much as I love Dynamo,
it is refreshing to see a different team in first place.  Competition in the league is
what will bring the level of play up, and we ARE starting to see competition!!!
Congratulations to Kryvbass, and the best of luck to them!

***Dynamo Kiev beat Metallurg Donetsk, 1-0; the only goal was scored by Rebrov
on a penalty kick in the 41st minute.  Mamedov, a newly acquired footballer
played the entire game.
   Today's matches featured a few incredible results, such as Dnipro's victory over
Metallist and Tavria's thrashing of the disillusioned Karpaty.  Chernomorets also
managed to get a point by drawing the lowly Zirka, and Vorskla made a strong
statement against Nyva.

***Brief summaries of Day 4:

    Dynamo 3-0 Karpaty         The dry series of the Karpaty footballers at "Dynamo" stadium lasted exactly 200 minutes.  On the 34th minute, however, it was interrupted after Sergey Rebrov played a wall with Andrey Gusin and hit the back of the net with a shot from 25 meters.  In the second half, Sergey twice closed out successfull crosses from his teammates.  After scoring five times in four matches of the championship, Rebrov is the most productive goal scorer so far.

    Chernomorets 0-1 Metallist   This is the third Metallist victory in this championship by the score of 1-0.  As for Chernomorets, most football specialists agree that the Odessites are simply not ready to return to the premier league - the difference in goals scored and allowed is a horrendous 1-9.

   Metallurg D 0-0 CSCA     The players from Donetsk played their penultimate game under the rule of Mihkhail Sokolovskiy - it is alreadey known that starting August 5th, Semen Altman, the head of Zimbru Kishenev will become coach.

   Zvezda 1-1 Nyva  On the 49th minute one of the hosts, Belozerskiy, was ejected.

   Tavriya 1-0 Metallurg M   There were two red cards shown in the match.

   Dnepr 1-1 Prykarpattye  This game became the first home game for the new coach Nikolay Fedorenko, who will be at helm of the team at least until the end of the first round (15 games).  Denis Filimonov could have given the home team a victory in the last minute from the penalty spot, but the visitor's goalie Chumak parried his shot.

    Kryvbass 1-0 Shahter   The advantage of the hosts was felt throughout the match, the Shahter's keeper Virt performed magic in goal.  He was hapless only once, on Granovsky's shot  from 40 meters in the last minute.

    Vorskla 3-0 Metallurg Z    This was a solid Vorskla victory.

***Here are a few short reports of the Day 3 matches of the Ukrainian Championship:

    CSCA 3-0 Chernomorets      Despite the fact that in the previous meetings the teams did not score much, Vladimir Bessonov's players managed to hit the back of the net three times yesterday, gaining their first points of the championship.

    Metalurh M 3:0 Zvezda        What is interesting is that in all previous home matches in Mariupol, no goals were scored, and three out of four matches between these teams ended in a draw.  This time, however, Metalurh scored three times and got its second straight decisive victory at home.

    Nyva 3-0 Metalurh D            This match went along with the tradition between these two clubs - each wins at home.  After two defeats, Nyva got a one in the win column and three points along with it.

    Metalist 1-0 Karpaty              In this match, the tradition was broken, and this made the hosts  happy.  Before this match, the Lvovites always scored one goal in Metalist's net, but this time,
Mikhail Fomenko's players kept their goal untouched.

    Vorskla 1-2 Dynamo              Dynamo showed mediocre football once again as they scored a goal in extra time to propel themselves to a win over Vorskla.  Dynamo largely won on class,
which usually doesn't work.  Kosovsky and Belkevich should return soon, which will, no doubt,
help Dynamo's cause.

    Metalurh Z 1-2 Kryvbass        Kryvbas got its second victory in a row at the expense of Metalurh losing its first points of the chamionship.  In eight games in Zaporozhie, Kryvbas lost only twice.

    Shakhter 2-0 Dnepr               The last time Dnepr got points in Donetsk was in 1995, which is when they scored their last goal here.   After that game, Dnepr lost four times with the overall score of 10-0.  Byshovets' players, showing inarticulate football in this match, won largely on class, and became the leaders, having lost no points yet.  Dnepr, on the countrary, has zero points and the same number of goals.  Shakhter has not allowed a goal yet.

    Prykarpatye 0-2 Tavria          In the meetings between these two teams, a draw has never been recorded.

***Day 2 of the Ukrainian Championship took place today.  Dynamo dominated the game against Metalist, but only managed a 2-1 win.  This was partly due to the excellent 
play of the Metalist goalie who stopped every shot possible and partly to poor luck--Dynamo
hit the post three times.  In the first half, a nice Dynamo combination resulted in Serebrennikov opening the  scoring in the sixth minute, but the Kiev defense let a breakaway occur and were forced to foul in the penalty area on the 38the minute, as a result of which the game was tied
at the half.  In the second 45 minutes, Dynamo totally controlled the ball, but were able to score no sooner that the 69th minute when Rebrov was fouled in the penalty area and converted the penalty kick himself.  Rebrov now has two goals, both coming on penalties.
Karpaty beat CSCA; this was the second consecutive 0:1 loss for the Kievites.  Kryvbas destroyed Vorskla, Metalurh Z beat Dnipro, Shakhtar defeated Tavria, and Chornomorets got its first win of the season at the expense of Nyva.  

***In yesterday's draw with Kryvbas, Dynamo was missing the Belorussian link,
Belkevich--Hatskevich, which reflected adversly on their play.  The team seemed lazy and 
unwilling to do what it takes to achieve a victory.  They were lucky to escape with a draw 
after earning a questionable penalty kick just four minutes from time.

***Day 1 brought a few surprises.  Dynamo managed a draw with Kryvbas when a penalty kick was awarded in Kiev's favor on the 86th minute, a pk that was not deserved (?).  Kryvbas had scored just three minutes earlier when a great combination caught the Dynamo defense napping. Chernomorets was routed by Metalurh Mariupol, Dnipro by Vorskla; Karpaty and Shakhtar recorded one-goal victories.

***The eight Ukrainian National Championship gets underway on the 12 of July.  With three teams to be relegated, the competition for survival is promising to be tough and an interesting one to watch.  After a surprise Tavria Simferopol victory in the first championship, Dynamo has held the other teams in check and first place under control, winning six consecutive gold medals.  They will be looking to repeat this year.  Standing in their way is the promising Shahter Donetsk.  With Anatoliy Byshovets, who coached the USSR Juniors to an Olympic gold in 1988, at helm, the team has its eyes set on ending the Kiev dynamsty and emerging as a new European powerhouse.  The confident veterans feel they have what it takes to win the gold.  Karpaty and Kryvbass don't figure to be in contention for first place, but they hope to be third, if not competing with Shakhtar for second.  Joining the contenders is Chernomorets Odessa.  After a long absence from the primier league, they are back with young, enthusiastic players, and sponsors, which will certainly help them in contention for a place in European Cups next year.  The Ukrainian National team is also gearing up for the season.  In a crucial three game stretch, its fate will be decided.  After starting out with three straigt victories, there have been huge disappointments, including draws with Iceland and Armenia.  If not for Russia's victory over France, Ukraine would have been in second place; it is now holding the lead over France by just one point and by three over Russia, which has a very favorable schedule.  Team Ukraine must gain at least four points in matches against France and Iceland, and then prepare for a fight in Moscow in the last game of the qualifying.  The goals, the saves, the excitement, it's all coming up in the new and, hopefully, glorious season.

***The Ukrainian Professional Football League Union has decided to cut the number of teams in the premier division to 14, starting in the 2000/01 season.  This year, three teams will be relegated to the first league and only the winner of the first league will advance.  This change is due to the huge amount of games that Dynamo players have to play--the European Champions' League, the national championship and cup, and the national team matches (players from DK make up the bulk of the national team).  This reduction will make it easier on the players.