Athletistic/Football. From the history of Russian football, one can easily cite a large number of unpleasant memories. But October 13, 2004 stands out from the others.
The team, led by Georgy Yartsev, flew to Portugal in mid-October for a 2006 World Cup qualifier in Germany. Less than four months have passed since Euro 2004, where the Russians lost to the tournament hosts with a score of 0:2 in the group stage match and ultimately lost their chance to reach the playoffs . The class of teams was initially uneven, but in the continental championship match there was no impression that Portugal was head and shoulders above the Russian team.
The qualifying match for the 2006 World Cup took place at the José Alvalade stadium in Lisbon. Eight months later, on this field, CSKA will lift the first UEFA Cup in the history of Russian football, but this stadium will first witness not the triumph of Russian football, but its incredible shame.
The Portuguese approached the match seriously. Four days before the meeting with the Russian national team, they sensationally lost points in a match against the not the strongest Liechtenstein team (2:2). Russian fans laughed at this result and predicted that Yartsev’s team would now be able to give an equal fight to the “European Brazilians” and even take revenge for their defeat at the European Championship. However, the opposite happened.
Russia, by draw during the selection for the 2006 World Cup, found itself in the third group, where its rivals, in addition to Portugal, were the teams of Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. Before the start of the qualifying tournament, it was expected that the Russians would occupy at least second place, which would give them the right to participate in the play-offs. Then the current legends of national football played in this team: Andrei Arshavin, Dmitry Sychev, Sergei Ignashevich, Vadim Evseev, Alexander Kerzhakov, Alexey Smertin and many others. But from the first qualifying match, the Russian team lost points in the home match against Slovakia (1:1). In the next match, Yartsev’s team defeated Luxembourg (0:4) and was inspired by this success, because the Russians approached the match against Portugal with an equal number of points (4) and a chance to compete for first place.
Portugal starting lineup: Ricardo (VR), Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Jorge Andrade, Miguel, Costinha, Deco, Maniche (c), Cristiano Ronaldo, Simão, Pauleta.
Russia starting lineup: Malafeev (Vr), Anyukov, Bugaev (the same one who is now accused of trying to sell drugs), Evseev, Ignashevich, Sennikov, Smertin (k), Aldonin, Arshavin, Sychev, Bulykin.
Photo source: Alexandre Fedorov / “Sport-Express”
Due to the abundance of injuries and the strength of the opponent’s attack, Georgy Yartsev chose an extremely defensive formation – 5-3-2. As it turned out later, this was a huge mistake. Portugal took the initiative from the first minutes and in the 24th minute, Pedro Pauleta opened the scoring. Interestingly, this goal should not have been counted, since Deku, who participated in the episode, was offside. But the introduction of VAR was still far away.
Before the end of the first half, the ball hit Vyacheslav Malafeev’s goal twice. During the break, the situation demanded drastic decisions, so Yartsev made two substitutions at once, abandoning the 5-3-2 formation. Midfielder Rolan Gusev appeared on the field instead of defender Dmitry Sennikov, and Dmitry Sychev gave way to his namesake Kirichenko on the field. But this in no way affected the progress of the match. In the 68th minute, young Portuguese talent Cristiano Ronaldo shot from 25 meters and scored twice. It is the future winner of five Ballons d’Or who will become the best player of this match.
Photo source: Alexandre Fedorov / “Sport-Express”
After 11 minutes, Andrei Arshavin managed to break the score and give hope that the match would not end with a devastating score. However, this only further inflamed the Portuguese, after which they distinguished themselves three more times. When the score became 1:6, Georgy Yartsev could not bear the shame and went to the grandstand hall before the final whistle. The national team doctor, Yuri Vasilkov, ran after him. As it turned out later, Yartsev at that time was in a pre-infarction state. And in the end, the whistle of Greek referee Kiros Vassaras recorded a humiliating 1:7 on the scoreboard.
Absolutely always, after failures, a wave of criticism begins against the Russian team. But this case was special. After this “dark night” in Lisbon, even Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly expressed his indignation at the team’s performance, calling the game and the behavior of the players and technical staff a shame. Demands began to be heard from the permanent president of the Russian Football Union (RFU) Vyacheslav Koloskov for the resignation of the entire coaching staff, headed by Yartsev. This match was called “Night Shame” in the Russian media, by analogy with the popular film “Night Watch”, released on cinema screens in the same year.
Interestingly, Yartsev continued to lead the national team and worked at its head for three more meetings. After losing points in a match against Estonia (1:1) in March 2005, he was still dismissed and Yuri Semin was invited to his place in the national team. This will upset the team a little and until the end of the qualifying round they will not suffer any more defeats, but they will not even be able to get to the play-offs, losing to Slovakia due to a worse goal difference. It is these 1:7 that have become the main stumbling block.
Photo source: Alexandre Fedorov / “Sport-Express”
This result is perhaps an important step in the tectonic shift of Russian football. It is after him that a new management, headed by Vitaly Mutko, will come to the RFU and the national team will undergo a major restructuring: Guus Hidinka will be called to the position of foreman. It is with him that in four years this generation of Russian footballers will be able to achieve great things. At Euro 2008, the Russian team will reach the semi-finals and win bronze medals. However, the “Night Shame” in Lisbon will long be remembered by longtime fans.
Russian fans can only hope that this defeat against Portugal will remain the biggest in the history of the Russian national team and that Russian fans will never again be so ashamed of the country’s main team.
Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
