Dynamo tour to Great Britain 1945. Tour of Great Britain
19 to 9. Anniversary of the legendary Dynamo tour of the UK
70 years ago, Dynamo Moscow played the opening match of the legendary tour of Great Britain. Their rivals were Chelsea players.
On the gray London morning of November 13, 1945, residents of the British capital flocked to its western part - to the Stamford Bridge stadium located in the Fulham area. Many of them left their homes ahead of time - in complete darkness. They were afraid of being late for the first post-war show - an international football match between the local Chelsea and the Dynamo team from the distant Land of the Soviets. An English fan was in a hurry to go on a date with “silent men in blue coats,” as the British tabloid press dubbed the Dynamo football players.
Tickets for the Chelsea - Dynamo (Moscow) match, despite the fact that it was Tuesday, sold out in the blink of an eye. The game was scheduled for half past three days, but those who did not get the coveted tickets cherished the hope of breaking into the stadium. Anticipating such a turn of events and fearing a crush, the London authorities opened the gates of Stamford Bridge at nine in the morning. But the police could not resist the pressure of the human mass. A few minutes before the referee's starting whistle George Clarke the public swept away the cordons and broke through to the football field. True, the fans behaved quite peacefully - according to official reports, only 14 people were taken to the hospital that day from the vicinity of Stamford Bridge. The rest filled the free space near the edge and, as far as possible, tried not to disturb the players and other fans located in the stands. The Stamford Bridge bowl alone accommodated an incredible 85,000 people. And how many more of them were sitting on the roofs of nearby buildings!
A minor incident arose only in the first minutes of the match, when some tipsy Englishman, noticing the Russian goalkeeper lying in the goal Alexey Khomich bottle with a clear liquid, I decided to taste its contents. He convinced his neighbors that the Dynamo goalkeeper was drowning his fear of English football stars with strong alcoholic drink. With the words “Oh! Russian whiskey!” the drunken Englishman reached for the treasured vessel and took a couple of sips. After which, with a sigh of disappointment, he returned the bottle to its owner: the expectations were not met - it was ordinary water.
Dynamo greatly surprised the English public by running onto the field in friendly formation a quarter of an hour before the game. “The Russians’ watches are broken!” - they laughed in the stands at Stamford Bridge. And the wards Mikhail Iosifovich Yakushin, not at all embarrassed, and most likely not understanding why they were pointing fingers at them, they began their usual pre-game warm-up. And this caused a “culture shock” among the spectators, since local football players were warming up in the locker rooms - that was their custom.
The British public was also amazed by the fact that the guests did not come to the match empty-handed. According to the unwritten Soviet tradition, each Dynamo player had a lush bouquet of flowers with him, which he handed to the opposing player. The British, who had not prepared return gifts, were embarrassed, but did not refuse flowers. And the spectators whistled in displeasure - they still could not forgive the tour organizers for the delay in accommodating the visiting team. In order to save money, they decided to settle the Dynamo players in the royal guard barracks. Our players were asked to sleep in a poorly heated room on ordinary bunk beds with skinny mattresses and shapeless pillows. When they reasonably refused, and information about this was leaked to the press, many London residents, who were very friendly towards the envoys from Russia, vied with each other to invite them to their home.
Everyday issues were eventually resolved, and now it was Dynamo’s turn to be surprised: they were sure that they were preparing for the match on a normal basis. football stadium. But it turns out that their enterprising owners sent them to a cheaper arena, intended for greyhound racing. A football goal was hastily dug in and the appropriate markings were applied. However, the quality of the lawn turned out to be so high that the replacement was not immediately noticed...
Put up for the game against Chelsea optimal composition Dynamo, reinforced by those who played for other clubs Vsevolod Bobrov(CDKA), Boris Oreshkin And Evgeny Arkhangelsky(both from Dynamo Leningrad), failed. Already in London, the midfielder fell ill with jaundice Alexander Malyavkin- spent the entire tour in a hospital bed, suffered a knee injury Vasily Trofimov. And the situation itself was a wonder. At our stadiums the fields were framed Treadmills, and in England the audience literally breathed in their faces. Not to mention the fact that our fan in those days behaved much more restrained. And then it seemed that in just a second, the English, sedate in everyday life and incredibly emotional in football, would rush to help their team.
However, the guests spent a few minutes adapting, and now Chelsea keeper Woodley was forced to enter the game three times in a row. When he too was powerless, the hosts were frankly lucky - after Arkhangelsky’s shot, the ball hit the net with outside, and Beskov and Bobrov made the London team groan at the crossbar and goal post.
“Who should I keep?” - one of the Chelsea defenders reacted angrily to the coach’s remark. The players of the London club could not keep up with the fast Soviet forwards, who were constantly changing places. This was not the case in English football: here they played strictly along the groove and kicked the ball only forward. And the “organized disorder” of the Russians sometimes made the British dizzy.
At the most tense moment, cries of “Fausend! Fotin fauzend! This is what Chelsea fans, upset by the passivity of their idols, reminded the central striker to Tommy Lawton that he is the most dear player in the history of world football. Shortly before this, Chelsea bought him from Everton for an astronomical sum for 1945 of 14 thousand pounds sterling!
Chelsea (London) – Dynamo (Moscow) - 3:3 (2:0)
Goals: Gulden, 23 - 1:0, Williams, 30 - 2:0, Kartsev, 65 - 2:1, Arkhangelsky, 71 - 2:2, Lawton, 77 - 3:2, Bobrov, 83 - 3:3.
Missed penalty: L. Solovyov, 37 (bar).
"Dynamo":
Judge: J. Clark (England).
November 13, 1945. London. Stamford Bridge Stadium. +10 degrees, clear. 85,000 spectators.
“Cardiff City” (Cardiff) – “Dynamo” (Moscow) - 1:10 (0:3)
Goals: Bobrov, 6 - 0:1, Beskov, 10 - 0:2, Arkhangelsky, 25 - 0:3, Bobrov, 49 - 0:4, Beskov, 54 - 0:5, Bobrov, 61 - 0:6, Arkhangelsky, 62 - 0:7, Beskov, 65 - 0:8, Moore, 70 - 1:8, Beskov, 85 - 1:9, Arkhangelsky, 90 - 1:10.
Missed penalty: Clark, 73 (goalkeeper).
"Dynamo": Khomich, Radikorsky, Semichastny (k), Stankevich, Blinkov, L. Solovyov, Arkhangelsky, Kartsev, Beskov, Bobrov, S. Solovyov.
Judge: A. Davies (Wales).
November 17, 1945. Cardiff. Ninian Park Stadium. +6 degrees, clear. 45,000 spectators.
The classic British ram Lawton, brilliantly operating on the “second floor”, would have been happy to do something, but he was actively prevented by the defender of the Muscovites Mikhail Semichastny, who chose his position well. The Dynamo player accurately calculated the trajectory of the ball and successfully played ahead.
In one of the episodes, Lawton knocked the ball out of the hands of Khomich, who had taken possession of it. Foul? No! Before the match, the opponents agreed to play according to English rules, according to which the attacker has the right to knock the ball out of the goalkeeper's hands. There was a pass to Gulden, and the score was opened – 1:0 in favor of the hosts.
Dynamo responded by going one-on-one with Bobrov, but the CDKA striker, who easily understands such situations with goalkeepers, lost his composure - trying to shoot over the keeper who rushed at his feet, he sent the ball over the crossbar. The payoff came instantly - Williams got ahead of Khomich and Semichastny, who did not share the ball. 2:0 in favor of Chelsea!
But Dynamo did not give up. Bobrov was taken to the ground in the Chelsea penalty area. Penalty! The blow was executed Leonid Solovyov, but hit the post. And soon the whistle sounded for a break. Maybe Leonid Solovyov shouldn’t have taken on such serious responsibility? After all, exactly a month before the match at Stamford Bridge, the Dynamo forward, taking a penalty in the Cup final Soviet Union, hit the CDKA goal post in exactly the same way. And Dynamo lost – 1:2. However, what was lost cannot be returned...
In the middle of the second half, Dynamo still managed to open the Chelsea goal - a long-range shot reached the goal Vasily Kartsev. And six minutes later, Kartsev successfully acted as an assistant: he feinted free from the slow captain of the London team, Harris, entered the penalty area from the right, waited for another defender to “pull out” at him, and passed the ball to Arkhangelsky. Another home team player rushed across the line, but the ball hit his leg and fluttered in the net. 2:2!
In a double-edged game, Chelsea mobilized and took the lead again. Having heard enough criticism, Laughton headed the ball into Khomich’s goal. However, Dynamo had the last word: one of the Muscovites literally put the ball in Bobrov’s foot: a cannon shot, a slight rebound - and a goal! 3:3.
Seven minutes later, referee Clarke blew the final whistle, and the London fans, excited by the performance they had seen, ran onto the field. The audience carried Kartsev, Khomich, Semichastny and Bobrov into the locker room in their arms before they left. So exactly 70 years ago, on November 13, 1945, Dynamo Moscow’s legendary tour of Great Britain began...
What happened next? From London, Dynamo went to the Welsh city of miners - Cardiff. Where four days later we played with the local club Cardiff City, which played in the English third division. Only in the first minutes did the hosts' left winger Clark make the Soviet team nervous. When did the blue and white right back take charge of him properly? Vsevolod Radikorsky, nicknamed the Barin for his sedateness, Dynamo's advantage became overwhelming.
For wards Mikhail Yakushin it was that very day when literally everything works out. Good weather after the greyness of London, an excellent field, the friendliness of the public, and the orchestra, which performed the Russian song “Polyushko-Pole” before the match, created an excellent emotional background for our players. Well, the opposing team, as recommended, turned out to be very fast, but young and less skilled. Having conceded three goals by the 25th minute, the Welsh wilted, but our players, on the contrary, kept getting better and better. It’s no wonder that the score turned out to be devastating – 10:1 in favor of Dynamo! Distinguished himself among the winners four times Konstantin Beskov, scored three goals each Vsevolod Bobrov And Evgeny Arkhangelsky. Moreover, the last, 10th, ball flew into the Cardiff City goal net a few seconds before the final whistle. And with the score 8:1, Khomich parried the penalty. By the way, Soviet radio organized a live report from Cardiff, which was conducted by Vadim Sinyavsky.
The result of this match was a good additional incentive to attract spectators to the third game of the tour - against London Arsenal, which then, as now, was one of the flagships of British football. “No English team could beat Cardiff City 10-1!” - this is how the London press fueled the interest of the public and set the Gunners up for revenge.
Pressure from the newspapers worked: fearing for their prestige, Arsenal representatives said that with the current squad they were unlikely to be able to defeat Dynamo, and invited reinforcements in the form of five players, among whom the famous right winger stood out Stanley Matthews from Stoke City, who nine years later would become the first Ballon d'Or winner, and a powerful centre-forward Stanley Mortensen from Blackpool. Back then, this was the order of the day – for friendly matches. English clubs Football players called guests were often invited from other teams. And in relation to Dynamo, this did not look like a “setup”, since the guests also played for the blue and white - “army man” Bobrov and Leningrad Dynamo players Arkhangelsky and Oreshkin.
Due to the fact that the Highbury arena, which belongs to Arsenal, had not yet been restored after the German bombing, the match was held at the stadium of the Gunners' principal rival, Tottenham. Unfortunately, we were again unlucky with the weather: despite the fact that the match started at 14:15 local time, there was thick classic British fog over the field. Yes, such that, being at one goal, it was impossible to see what was happening on the other half of the field. It got ridiculous: the players of both teams, who played in blue and red T-shirts, received the judge several times Nikolay Latyshev(by agreement, the Soviet, English, Welsh and Scottish referees worked at the tour matches in turns) for their own and gave him the ball. During the break, Nikolai Gavrilovich even decided to change the traditional black referee uniform to white, having previously rejected the proposal of Arsenal representatives to stop the match.
Arsenal (London) – Dynamo (Moscow) - 3:4 (3:2)
Goals: Bobrov, 1 - 0:1, Mortensen, 12 - 1:1, Mortensen, 35 - 2:1, Ruk, 38 - 3:1, Beskov, 41 - 3:2, S. Solovyov, 48 - 3:3, Bobrov, 63 - 3:4.
"Dynamo": Khomich, Radikorsky, Semichastny (k), Stankevich, Blinkov, L. Solovyov (Oreshkin, 39), Trofimov (Arkhangelsky, 65), Kartsev, Beskov, Bobrov, S. Solovyov.
Judge: N. Latyshev (USSR).
November 21, 1945. London. White Hart Lane Stadium. +4 degrees, cloudy, thickening fog during the game. 55,000 spectators.
“Glasgow Rangers” (Glasgow) – “Dynamo” (Moscow) - 2:2 (1:2)
Goals: Kartsev, 3 - 0:1, Kartsev, 24 - 0:2, Smith, 40 - 1:2, Young, 75 - from the penalty spot - 2:2.
Missed penalty: Waddell, 7 (goalkeeper).
"Dynamo": Khomich, Radikorsky, Semichastny (k), Stankevich, Blinkov, Oreshkin, Arkhangelsky, Kartsev, Beskov, Bobrov (N. Dementyev, 60), S. Solovyov.
Judge: T. Thompson (Scotland).
November 28, 1945. Glasgow. Ibrox Stadium. +10 degrees, clear. 90,000 spectators.
The coaches, who were then located behind the gates of their teams, also found themselves in a difficult situation, and therefore the Dynamo coach Mikhail Yakushin goal scored in the first minute by Bobrov from a pass Sergei Solovyov, didn’t see it - this happy news for him was passed along the chain by the football players. Further more. The game did not reach the goal where Yakushin was located, and on the opposite side in the fog, from where the roar of the public was constantly heard, blitzes of photojournalists broke out every now and then. But as soon as our coach went along the edge to the opponent’s penalty area to see what was going on there, the game moved towards the Dynamo goal, and Mortensen equalized the score. Mikhail Iosifovich did not see this goal either. And shortly before the break, two consecutive Arsenal flank attacks ended in goals from Mortensen and Harry Rook.
Fortunately, Beskov evened out one goal almost immediately, and as soon as the second half began, Sergey Solovyov regained balance. Another quarter of an hour later, Bobrov finally brought Dynamo ahead - 4:3. “It was an excellent match, which, due to the vile weather, no one saw except us, the players,” the Arsenal captain summed up the results. Bernard Joy. A Mikhail Yakushin later wrote in his book: “Of the five goals in the first half, I saw only one. This is a unique case in my coaching practice!”
The next day, London newspapers were outraged by Latyshev’s actions: in their opinion, taking advantage of the fog, he counted the third and fourth goals of the blue and whites, scored from offside, and canceled another goal scored by Ruka long-range strike. Before processing the pass, the Englishman hit our defender in the face with his elbow Mikhail Semichastny, who waged a tough power struggle with him.
Articles from the English tabloids did their job: before the final match of the tour in Glasgow against Rangers, tension reached its climax. Our team really wanted to remain undefeated, while the Scots simply wanted to beat the Soviet team also in order to prove their superiority over their bitter rivals the British. They say that you couldn’t cope with the Russians, but we can cope, which means we are stronger.
Mindful of Mortensen’s double, the Soviet delegation categorically objected to participation in the game on the hosts’ side, which had not yet been formally declared for them James Caskey from Everton. Like, our “jokers” Bobrov, Arkhangelsky and Oreshkin were known before arriving in Foggy Albion, but we didn’t agree with you that way. The owners had to retreat.
As a result, according to various sources, from 90 to 120 thousand spectators gathered in the Ibrox stands - noticeably more than in London and Cardiff. He opened the scoring in the third minute with a free kick Vasily Kartsev, then Khomich parried the penalty, and Kartsev brought the result to 2:0 in favor of Dynamo. However, before the break, the goalkeeper and defender of the Soviet team fought for the ball with the hosts’ striker Bill Smith, ricocheted off the Scottish forward's chest and into the goal.
And in the 75th minute a controversial episode occurred. After a collision between Dynamo defender Radikorsky and the hosts’ striker in the Dynamo penalty area, the referee awarded a free kick in favor of the guests, but the assistant referee intervened and the referee pointed to the spot. Khomich failed to parry the second 11-meter shot. Draw - 2:2.
Thus, Dynamo won two matches, drew two, scored 19 goals, and missed 9. This tour played a huge role for the further development of football in the USSR. Realizing that our teams were quite competitive on the international stage, the following year Soviet sports officials agreed to the USSR Football Section joining FIFA. In our championship, they began to put numbers on the players' T-shirts, full match reports appeared, in which team compositions, substitutions, deletions were entered, and the authors were recorded goals scored. International friendly matches at club level were regularly held later, but none of them had such internal and external resonance as the legendary Dynamo tour to Great Britain in the autumn of 1945.
Dynamo's 1945 tour to Great Britain was a series of four friendlies.
They were played by Soviet football players of the Dynamo Moscow club in November 1945. We played with the strongest professional clubs in England, Wales and Scotland.
Many sources tell this event almost like a detective story.
Starting with the fact that our team arrived in England, and, they say, they were placed in an inappropriate manner.
Only the intervention of the Soviet embassy helped the team move to the Imperial Hotel, a decent hotel in central London.
Well, these were friendly matches, and besides, in the USSR they apparently didn’t know that they had to arrange the placement of their team themselves. There were few such collective trips behind the very “Iron Curtain”, let’s forgive them. Is this true? It was too long ago.
And also, is it true what shocked the British - our ultimatum put forward a number of wild demands, for example, we will play without numbers on our jerseys.
Our players were not known by name and were given nicknames. This is how the British dubbed one of our players, Vsevolod Bobrov, “Sandy” (“Sandy”) for his light hair color.
Matches must be played on Saturdays
Football players and members of the football delegation will eat only at the USSR Embassy.
Well, that's right, in England they cook so-so, they won't poison you, but they won't pour borscht. What kind of food is “chips & fish”?
It is a masterpiece:
Do not distract the team with events that have nothing to do with football.
That is 14 points presented by wild people. Frightening.
“Ours” were amazed by the film information that the KGB provided for training to Dynamo players.
It turns out that the English, Welsh and Scots are not the same people, and what was also shocking for the Dynamo players was the fact that the ball can be hit with your head, and accurately.
Mutual shock therapy has been sorted out. Now the game. It was an event for both “us” and “them”.
So, Dynamo in England, in 1945.
Our Dynamo players in England in 1945 played as if they were fighting in a war, they tried very hard, but this won’t sound cynical, not for the sake of money, but for the idea. Where are these football games now?
The players of the Dynamo Moscow club won two matches. Two matches were drawn. The goal difference is 19:9 in favor of Dynamo.
In England they love football, play football, live football. 275,000 English people attended the 4 matches. And only 600 came from the USSR.
The Dynamo Moscow team in England in 1945, of course, did not have the opportunity to freely communicate with the “home team”. But our players amazed their opponents with their humanity - they gave the British flowers.
Of course, England was on the alert - such players had arrived! These 1945 games went down in glorious sports history.
Dynamo's 1945 tour to Great Britain had an incredible impact on the overall development of football in the USSR.
Football was loved, respected, and there was passion. The successful outcome of the tour showed the competitiveness of Soviet football players in international football. Joining FIFA followed.
Victoria Maltseva
100 great football matches Vladimir Igorevich Malov
1945 Chelsea - Dynamo Moscow. International friendly match
On May 13, 1945, just four days after the victory in the Great Patriotic War, the new championship THE USSR. In a country that had suffered the scourge of war, a football boom was growing. Now interest in football, which was a colorful, and at the same time gambling, dramatic action, was becoming a truly national phenomenon.
From the very first rounds, only two teams competed for the title of champion - CDKA (the full name of the main army team was then the Central House of the Red Army) and Dynamo Moscow. Everyone else was falling behind before our eyes. The next five championships were destined to take place under the sign of the great confrontation between the Moscow army team and Dynamo.
The young Dynamo coach Yakushin was quickly nicknamed “the cunning one” - he knew how to find a weak point in each opponent and based his game on this. And for this, he had at his disposal excellent football players and the great goalkeeper Alexei Khomich, who in 1945 became one of the main heroes of the national championship. The field players were his match. The attack line consisted of Sergei Solovyov, Vasily Kartsev, Vasily Trofimov, Konstantin Beskov, the future great coach. Vladimir Savdunin, Vsevolod Blinkov, Leonid Solovyov, the namesake of Sergei Solovyov, played in midfield; Mikhail Semichastny played unsurpassed in defense.
The magnificent team of Dynamo Moscow was opposed by a bright, powerful, explosive, gambling “team of lieutenants” - that’s what CDKA was called, because almost all the players bore this title. Only center forward Grigory Fedotov had military rank captain. All the lines of the army team were strong, starting with goalkeeper Vladimir Nikanorov. Ivan Kochetkov, a former front-line soldier, played in the place of the central defender. In the midfield, CDKA a little later had its own Solovyov - Vyacheslav Solovyov, the namesake of the Dynamo Solovyovs.
The army club's special pride, however, was the famous five forwards: Alexey Grinin, Valentin Nikolaev, Vladimir Demin, Grigory Fedotov and Vsevolod Bobrov. He was the youngest of the five, but then he eclipsed everyone with his fame, becoming truly a folk hero and shining not only in football, but also in hockey.
Dynamo became the champions in 1945, beating the Army team by one point. But the USSR Cup that year was won by the army team, defeating the same Dynamo team in the final match, which took place on October 14, 2:1.
However, the final match for the USSR Cup was the first post-war football season, which became a huge event for the country, did not end. Two best teams The Soviet Union went on trips abroad.
The CDKA route lay in Yugoslavia, with which the USSR still had “brotherly” relations. In Belgrade, the army team beat Partizan 4:3 and Crvena Zvezda 3:1 in friendly games. In Split they defeated Hajduk - 2:0, in Zagreb they tied with the local Dynamo - 2:2.
But Vsevolod Bobrov was not among the army team. The country's sports leadership decided to “send” him to Dynamo Moscow, which had another trip ahead. Showing respect for their recent allies, the British invited the USSR champion. Russian football was a novelty for them, but they had no doubt about their superiority. However, the English tour of Dynamo Moscow turned into a sensation and became legendary.
On the eve of departure, the team was received in the Kremlin by Stalin himself; Beria was also present at the meeting, instilling that under no circumstances should one yield to representatives of the capitalist system, and at worst, only a draw is permissible...
Dynamo, together with Bobrov, who was also passed off as Dynamo, arrived in London on November 4, and the first meeting with Chelsea was scheduled for November 13. The players had time not only to train, but also to get to know the capital of England. Londoners showed great interest in Soviet football players, and this was understandable: the Soviet Union was England's ally in the war against Hitler, and both countries became winners.
Crowds gathered to watch Soviet football players appear on the streets of London. To tell the truth, the team was dressed rather ridiculously: everyone was wearing the same drape coats, and often the wrong size. They didn’t have time to specially sew outerwear for the Dynamo players; they were hastily selected from the warehouse.
Russian football players managed to surprise the British in other ways: as soon as they arrived in London on four Li-2 planes, they began unloading mysterious boxes covered with black fabric from them. English reporters made the most fantastic guesses about their contents, but the secret, however, was simple - the Dynamo team brought a supply of food with them. They were delivered to the airfield in boxes made of rough boards. To give the containers a more noble look - they were flying to a civilized country after all - already during the flight the Dynamo team lined the boxes with black satin that happened to be at hand...
Despite the interest with which London greeted the Soviet people, who seemed to the British to be exotic aliens from another world, no one took Dynamo seriously as football players. On November 9, for example, the Sunday Express newspaper wrote about them this way: “These are simply novice players, they are workers, amateurs who go to the game at night, using their free time.”
Other newspapers reported the following: “The Russians are representatives of backward football, which has long been forgotten on the islands,” “If Dynamo Moscow had decided to participate in the English Championship, it would not have risen above twentieth place.”
But whatever the disdain for Soviet football players, on November 13, 1945, London's Stamford Bridge stadium was overcrowded. Some of the spectators even broke through to the football field and lined up like a human wall along the side and end lines. People filled the roofs of nearby houses and even climbed onto billboards. There was a continuous hum of voices and rattles in the stadium.
Chelsea had the then famous goalscorer Tommy Laughton. From the first minutes, he led a massive attack on the Dynamo goal, but goalkeeper Alexey Khomich played brilliantly. Once he pulled the ball out of the corner, a few minutes later he collected the ball at Loughton's feet. And yet, in the 23rd minute, Dynamo conceded the first goal: the same Lawton, breaking through the center, unexpectedly rolled the ball to an open partner, who scored it into an empty net.
A few minutes later the English scored their second goal. But in the 37th minute, a sharp attack from Dynamo finally followed, and Konstantin Beskov was brought down in the penalty area. However, Leonid Solovyov, who took the penalty, sent the ball wide of the goal to the delight of the stadium. Usually he took penalties brilliantly, but his rare failures were destined to go down in history: he didn’t score against the army team in the final match of the Cup, and Chelsea didn’t score either.
The teams went into the break with the score 2:0 in favor of Chelsea. Radio commentator Vadim Sinyavsky, who had flown to London to report on matches for the Soviet Union, looked into the Dynamo locker room and said that in Moscow they listen to him even on the streets, gathered around the loudspeakers.
Perhaps it was precisely the fact that their game was being watched at this moment in their homeland that made the Soviet football players finally believe in their strength. Be that as it may, by the 71st minute the score was level - goals were scored by Vasily Kartsev and Evgeniy Arkhangelsky.
And yet, thirteen minutes before the end of the game, Tommy Laughton sent the third ball into Khomich’s goal with a high jump. Then the British, almost the entire team, retreated to their goal to maintain the winning score. The minutes melted away, but in the end Kartsev managed to bring out Vsevolod Bobrov with a pass to the English goal. He managed to strike before the defender blocked it. The legendary match ended with a score of 3:3.
Already in the evening editions the tone of English newspapers changed. In the News Chronicle, for example, one could read: “There is not a single player in the Russian team who would not grace any English first-class team. However, the Russians shone not as players, but as a team. Every player was in the right place at the right time, and their short or long passes were never aimless.”
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Seventy years ago, in the November days of 1945, domestic football celebrated its first resounding success on the world stage. The tour of the USSR champion Dynamo Moscow to Great Britain turned out to be triumphant: two wins and two draws with a goal ratio of 19-9. Among Dynamo's rivals were London's Chelsea and Arsenal - their names alone still thrill rivals, specialists, and fans. Our story is dedicated to the anniversary of that famous trip.
A REFLECTION OF MILITARY GLORY
Somewhere in the early 50s, a neighbor in a Moscow communal apartment, Uncle Misha Kulagin, seeing how I spent hours kicking a ball with the boys in the yard, and hearing the voice of Vadim Sinyavsky, glued my ear to the loudspeaker, one day brought into the kitchen a greenish brochure with the numbers “19 -9" on the cover. Judging by how reverently he treated the book, one could understand that this was one of the most dear relics to his heart. It seemed like he had something to be proud of. The order block on his chest in two rows said a lot about him as a front-line soldier, a retired lieutenant colonel, who experienced the joy of the great Victory. But the importance and solemnity of his facial expression betrayed the feeling of his involvement in the great football event, even by the presence of this “19-9”. Dynamo's victories in English football arenas meant no less to him than in the battles of the Great Patriotic War. And subsequently I met a lot of people who enthusiastically recounted the events of the unforgettable November days of 1945. And as an adult, I often learned that the British also remember the heroes of those football battles and continue to devote newspaper articles and even volumes to them. At the end of the 20th century, a voluminous book by the historian David Downing, “The Passer,” was published in England, which he gave with a dedicatory inscription to one of the three surviving participants in those matches as part of Dynamo, Konstantin Beskov.
70 years have passed since “eleven silent men in blue coats,” as the famous Pravda political commentator Yuri Zhukov called the chapter of his book dedicated to the Dynamo tour, conquered Britain on football fields. It is no coincidence that the tour was covered by such a reputable journalist. Dynamo's visit caused not only a crazy sporting, but also a political resonance.
What a time it was,” Beskov recalled. - A long, terrible war has just ended, and the Soviet people emerged victorious. And when, according to a columnist in the London Daily Express, all Russians were viewed as “supermen,” the British saw the brilliance of military glory reflected on the T-shirts of visiting Russians. Well, Russians, as it turns out, know how to play football.
Winston Churchill's famous speech, which marked the beginning, had not yet been made. cold war", and the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition were euphoric from the great Victory, the international military brotherhood. Delegations of Soviet trade unions, diplomats, as well as participants in the World Youth Congress visited England. How could it have happened without sports contacts. On October 13, 1945, the secretary of the Football Association of England, and subsequently the president of FIFA, Stanley Rose, at half-time in the Chelsea - " West Ham“asked representatives of the Soviet embassy: “Would Soviet and English football players be able to meet?” And in the early morning of November 4, three (according to some sources, four) LI-2 aircraft with Dynamo football players on board took off from a Moscow airfield for England.
34-year-old Dynamo coach Mikhail Yakushin was previously summoned to high party and government authorities with the only question: will Dynamo be able to withstand British professionals? Cunning Mikhey, as Yakushin was nicknamed in football circles, did not promise triumph, but said: we will look decent. And the go-ahead for the visit was received from the top officials of the country.
But “Dynamo” was essentially heading into the unknown. The coach's request to provide him with at least some newsreel materials about the game of British clubs remained unanswered - they simply were not found in the country.
The best club in the Soviet Union was received extremely warmly. “No president has ever received such a welcome from the people of London as Dynamo received,” the Evening Standard newspaper later wrote. “These are athletes who play brilliantly for the sake of the game itself. But it was not only the exciting game that caused the crowds of Londoners to destroy everything obstacles, climbing onto the roofs of houses adjacent to the stadium. This was not just curiosity. It was a long-cherished desire to see. sports champions a people whose exploits in war made him legendary"…
November 1945. London. Dynamo Moscow's tour of Great Britain aroused increased interest in the English press. Photo of FC "Dynamo"
BREAK FOR VODKA AND CAVIAR
And British football experts had no idea about the guests. They fantasized about everything. For example, the Sunday Express, under the headline “Don’t expect much from Dynamo,” reported that workers had come to visit the British and were allowed to play football at night. And the Daily Mail, the day after the Muscovites arrived, stunned its readers with its own discovery : “Today the Soviet Dynamo players have a break for vodka and caviar. Silent Soviet football players will sing to the wild, annoying sounds of the balalaika and shout “hurray” or other words, expressing delight.”
And the Russians began to surprise others. Yakushin asked for 11 balls for training, although the British, as a rule, made do with one. The British were also struck by Dynamo's pre-match warm-up, which now precedes everything football matches. And the British later adopted a lot from Yakushin’s training arsenal.
Upon arrival, the Dynamo coach insisted on the need to see his rivals in action - the English Championship was not held during wartime, but best clubs competed in regional tournaments. And Yakushin succeeded. The Soviet side drew up a 14-point memorandum, which stipulated that Dynamo would play only with clubs, among which should be Arsenal, with the right to replace injured players (which was not practiced in world football at that time), etc. and so on.
Dynamo in Trafalgar Square. Photo of FC "Dynamo"
PERFORMANCE "WANDERING FORWARDS"
Dynamo began with a match against Chelsea, which two months earlier had acquired England's best center forward, Tommy Lawton, from Everton for the then unheard of sum of 14 thousand pounds. Yakushin managed to watch the Chelsea - Birmingham match, which was also filmed by Yeshurov’s camera crew, which accompanied the team.
“I noticed that the British did not hold each other tightly,” the Dynamo coach later said. - Players have freedom of action and therefore calmly manage the ball. The English players punctually adhered to their positions in the formation according to the then generally accepted tactical system of “double-ve”. And back in 1940, Dynamo Moscow developed a game with changing places, which journalists dubbed “organized disorder.” Our attackers, clearly interacting with each other, constantly changed places, which completely confused the opponents. At that time it was an interesting tactical novelty. In any case, we quite surprised the British with it.
The English then played together and powerfully, but each in their own zone, in their own “groove,” Beskov confirmed. - And our performance called “Wandering Forwards”, well organized and rehearsed in advance, baffled the Chelsea defenders. It seemed to them that not only Beskov, but three were playing in the place of the central striker: then Beskov, then Kartsev, then Sergei Solovyov, the left winger. And inside Bobrov suddenly found himself on the edge.
The British had no doubts about Chelsea's victory; bookmakers' bets were accepted in a ratio of 3:1 in favor of the Londoners. “They are too weak to play on an equal footing with our great professionals,” was the general opinion on the eve of the match in the Sunday Express.
On November 13, the stands at Stamford Bridge could not accommodate everyone who wanted to watch the match, and spectators surrounded the football field in a tight ring. According to English journalist Frank Taylor, that day a record was set for attendance at English stadiums at club team matches.
When the players dispersed to their starting positions on the field, Dynamo goalkeeper Alexey Khomich placed a half-liter bottle in the corner behind the net, which attracted the attention of the spectators surrounding the goal. "Russian vodka?" - they shouted at him questioningly from the crowd. And the policeman standing outside the gate even decided to take a sip from the bottle. “Water,” he disappointed the audience. Khomich always took a bottle of water to the field, sometimes sweetened, so that the ball would stick to his gloves better.
Simultaneously with Beskov’s initial hit on the ball, the unique timbre of the unsurpassed radio commentator Vadim Sinyavsky began to sound in the microphone in a hoarse patter.
Dynamo immediately seized the initiative, carried out a series of sharp attacks, but Vsevolod Bobrov missed when going one on one with the goalkeeper, and then Vasily Kartsev shot inaccurately from an advantageous position. And half an hour later the hosts were already leading 2:0. Dynamo picked up the pace, took 11 corners, and then defender Russell brought down Beskov in the penalty area. But the excited Leonid Solovyov hit the post from the 11-meter mark.
The British were not asleep either, and now Lawton struck a powerful blow at the top nine, but Khomich hit the ball back in a fantastic throw. From that moment on, he received the nickname Tiger from the British.
“The first-half score in favor of Chelsea contradicted the entire course of the game,” the London press later noted.
And after the break, a real “Russian hurricane” flew into the Chelsea penalty area. But goalkeeper Woodley took the most difficult goals from Bobrov and Beskov. And yet, after the combination of Sergei Solovyov with Beskov, Kartsev, with his signature “whip,” opened the scoring for Dynamo goals in the British Isles.
The stands started making noise, shouting: “Hurray!” to support Dynamo, someone even unfurled the Soviet flag. And after a breakthrough by Beskov, who tried to stop Russell in a tackle, the ball bounced to Evgeniy Arkhangelsky, invited from Dynamo Leningrad due to the injury of Muscovites right winger Vasily Trofimov, and he equalized the score. And six minutes after Lawton’s goal, Bobrov completed the Kartsev-Beskov combination with an irresistible strike from about ten meters away.
“Russians can play football!”, “Dynamo are players upper class"- the English newspapers were full of headlines. “If Dynamo had won with a big score, it would have been fully deserved,” the News Chronicle columnist admired the guests’ performance. - The spectators watched in amazement the skillful play of Dynamo. In my memory, no team has shown the best class of football." And former Arsenal forward Charles Buchan noted on the pages of the same newspaper: "There is not a single player in the Russian team who would not grace any English first-class team. However, the Russians shone not as players, but as a team. Every player was in the right place at the right time and their short and long passes were never aimless."
“Dynamo are like lightning. They are the most mobile team I have ever seen,” said a Daily Mail columnist. And on the pages of the Daily Express, Chelsea captain John Harris spoke: “The Russians showed a wonderful game. Their training and teamwork are excellent. I have never had to spend so much effort to find my direct rival, center forward Beskov. He was everywhere. Left edge Sergei Solovyov found himself in the center as quickly as the best English sprinters ever reached the finish line." And Lawton categorically stated: “Dynamo players can beat all the teams in Europe. I can’t help but say about Khomich: I made at least two missed shots, but the opposing goalkeeper managed to deflect them in tiger leaps.”
During the gala reception, Chelsea Vice President, First Lord of the Admiralty Alexander added about the Dynamo goalkeeper: “If I were the leaders of our Football Association, I would not let Khomich leave England. We really need him here!”
Konstantin BESKOV (in the center with flowers) scored 5 goals and made 8 assists on the tour. Photo of FC "Dynamo"
"TEN JOKING HEADS"
Unheard of defeat by Dynamo next opponent Cardiff City (10:1) shocked the British football community. “Dynamo amazed 50 thousand spectators with the most amazing game ever seen in Wales,” the London Reynolds News correspondent did not hide his emotions. And the Sunday Express dedicated an article to the match under the headline: "Dynamo's walk. Ten goals in jest."
“The match consisted of purebred horses competing with nags,” she wrote. “Give miner's light bulbs - good idea. If the Russians had put them on, the Cardiff players would have been able to see where they were running."
“They were strong, like Cossacks, and firm, like a road in the steppe,” the Daily Mail correspondent did not skimp on epithets. “It seemed that scoring the ball into the opponent’s goal was no more difficult for them than throwing an orange into a basket. This is a wonderful team, she has everything one could wish for."
Dynamo players warming up. Photo of FC "Dynamo"
GOALS IN "PEA SOUP"
The next opponent, Arsenal, for the meeting with Dynamo, strengthened the squad with the best forward in the history of English football, Stanley Matthews (Stoke City), and two more first-class masters, Stanley Mortensen (Blackpool) and Ronnie Rooke (Fulham). "Arsenal is calling on the stars to help fight the Russians," wrote the News Chronicle. Dynamo protested against the unexpected change in the opponent's lineup, but that was all.
On the morning of November 21, London was plunged into thick fog, and the coaches, along with the Soviet referee Nikolai Latyshev, deliberated for a long time whether to start the match. In the end it took place, going down in the annals as “the most fantastic in the history of English football”.
The crowded stands could only make out the silhouettes of players in red and blue T-shirts in the “pea soup,” as Londoners dubbed that fog. Before the stopwatch hand had time to count 30 seconds, Sergei Solovyov bypassed two defenders, and Bobrov opened the scoring with his pass. And then Matthews on the right flank began to outplay Ivan Stankevich, and the left flank also gained ground, after a cross from which Mortensen equalized the score. Khomich had to help out the team in the most difficult situations, but he capitulated twice - 1:3. And then the injured Leonid Solovyov left the field, replaced by another Leningrad Dynamo player Boris Oreshkin. But after Vsevolod Blinkov joined the attack and the skillful dribbling of Vasily Trofimov, who soon, unfortunately, suffered a relapse of the injury, Beskov reduced the gap in the score.
During the break, the British offered to stop the match, but ours refused. And the second half had barely begun when a new combination of Trofimov - Beskov - Bobrov led to a goal by Sergei Solovyov. And soon another Dynamo multi-move ended with Bobrov hitting the top nine - 4:3.
The owners' disappointment knew no bounds. “Dynamo players are clearing away the fog with lightning strikes,” stated the Evening News. "The Russian superiority in collective ball control was clearly noticeable. Moscow's victory was deserved," the Times stated.
The last hope of the British was the Scottish Rangers. The Scots considered their football stronger than English, confirming this message with statistics of meetings between national teams, which testified in their favor. To save strength, they did not field their leaders for the previous calendar match. And from the very first minutes they began to fiercely confront the guests. However, already in the 3rd minute Kartsev opened the scoring with his signature blow, and then after a “wall” with Beskov he doubled it. In between these events, Khomich once again shocked the British public by saving a penalty.
Only at the end of the half did Smith manage to go one-on-one with Khomich - 2:1. The frantic attacks of the Scots in the second half were broken by the precise defense of Dynamo and the brilliant play of Khomich. But in the 75th minute, Dunkenson collided with Vsevolod Radikorsky near the penalty line. The referee recorded a foul on the Scot's part, but after a meeting with his assistant, he unexpectedly placed the ball on the 11-meter mark. The result is 2:2.
November 13, 1945. London. Chelsea - Dynamo - 3:3. Our team goalkeeper Alexey KHOMICH is in the game. Photo of FC "Dynamo"
"DYNAMO" = COOL FOOTBALL
Arsenal captain Bernard Joy analyzed Dynamo's brilliant success on the pages of the Star. We present it with abbreviations.
"The main factor determining the success of the Russians is their positional play. This was clearly evident in those moments when the Russian footballers had the ball. At least five players rushed forward in readiness to receive a pass, which ensured maximum use of the opportunities hidden in possession of the ball, for passing it on to a player whom no one is guarding, The best way attack development. Dynamo players rarely try to beat their opponents one-on-one. Therefore, defenders practically never meet with Dynamo forwards. Throughout the game, the defenders can only chase disappearing shadows."
Recently, there have been strange attempts to belittle Dynamo's post-war success with explanations that many English football players were then in the army and were not allowed to play matches against our team. That the English championship had not yet been held, and Dynamo arrived as the champion of the USSR. It’s surprising that the British themselves, admiring Dynamo’s performance, did not look for such excuses; our Russian well-wishers took up the matter. Hinting that with the presence of Bobrov from CDKA in the attack, the British clubs were actually opposed by the USSR national team.
Although Yakushin once explained: if Alexander Malyavkin had not fallen ill with jaundice, Bobrov would have remained in reserve. The same goes for Arkhangelsky, who replaced the best right-winger of Soviet football, Trofimov, who tried, despite the injury, to play against Arsenal, only aggravating the sore.
But for some reason, none of the fronters take into account the compelling fact that Dynamo, after the USSR Cup final on October 14, had no match practice for a month - we had never played football in November before, while its rivals played regular matches. How important this factor is can be judged by the fact that it played a dominant role in the transition Russian football to the season formula “autumn - spring”, so that our European Cup participants do not lose their gaming tone in November.
Journalist Roland Allen in the August 1963 issue of Football Monthly magazine dedicated a special article to Dynamo of 1945. Calling the team great, Allen wrote: “In the teamwork of the game, in anticipation, control of the ball, combinational gift, scale and effectiveness, Dynamo Moscow was far superior to all foreign teams at any level who have ever visited the UK."
“Twenty years have passed since we first saw Russian football players,” the great Englishman Stanley Matthews recalled in his article “Memory” in 1965. “Since then, the words “Moscow Dynamo” have been in the hearts of people who lived through those days. are invariably associated with the concept of “cool football”.
"For many years after that, Dynamo was the only foreign club, known to the average English fan,” wrote Daily Express columnist Derek Hodgson in 1965.
CHELSEA - DYNAMO - 3:3 (2:0)
Goals: Gulden 23 (1:0). Williams, 30 (2:0). Kartsev, 65 (2:1). Arkhangelsky, 71 (2:2). Lawton 77 (3:2). Bobrov, 83 (3:3).
Missed penalty : L. Soloviev, 37 (bar).
Chelsea (London): Woodley, Tennat, Harris (c), Bacuzzi (Fulham), Russell, Taylor (Fulham), Dolding, Williams, Lawton, Goulden, Bain.
"Dynamo" (Moscow): Khomich, Radikorsky, Semichastny (k), Stankevich, Blinkov, L. Solovyov, Arkhangelsky, Kartsev, Beskov, Bobrov, S. Solovyov.
Judge: Clark (England).
CARDIFF CITY - DYNAMO - 1:10 (0:3)
Goals: Bobrov, 6 (0:1). Beskov, 10 (0:2). Arkhangelsky, 25 (0:3). Beskov, 54 (0:4). Bobrov, 61 (0:5). Arkhangelsky, 62 (0:6). Beskov, 65 (0:7). Bobrov, 69 (0:8). Moore, 70 (1:8). Beskov, 85 (1:9). Arkhangelsky, 90 (1:10).
Missed penalty : Clark, 73 (goalkeeper).
Cardiff City: McLaughlin, Leaver, Stansfield (c), Raybold, Hollyman, Lester, Moore, Kepsis, Gibson, Wood, Clark.
"Dynamo" (Moscow): Khomich, Radikorsky, Semichastny (k), Stankevich, Blinkov, L. Solovyov, Arkhangelsky, Kartsev, Beskov, Bobrov, S. Solovyov.
Judge: Davies (Wales).
ARSENAL - DYNAMO - 3:4 (3:2)
Goals: Bobrov, 1 (0:1). Mortensen, 12 (1:1). Mortensen, 35 (2:1). Mortensen, 38 (3:1). Beskov, 41 (3:2). S. Soloviev, 48 (3:3). Bobrov, 63 (3:4).
Arsenal (London): Griffiths (Brown, Queen's Park 46), Scott, Joy (c), Bacuzzi (Fulham), Holton (Bury), Bestine, Matthews (Stoke City), Drury, Rooke (Fulham) ), Mortensen (Blackpool), Kamner.
"Dynamo" (Moscow): Khomich, Radikorsky, Semichastny (k), Stankevich, Blinkov, L. Soloviev (Oreshkin, 39), Trofimov (Arkhangelsky, 65), Kartsev, Beskov, Bobrov, S. Solovyov.
Judge: Latyshev (USSR).
RANGERS - DYNAMO - 2:2 (1:2)
Goals: Kartsev, 3 (0:1). Kartsev, 24 (0:2). Smith, 40 (1:2). Young, 75 - from the penalty spot (2:2).
Missed penalty : Waddell, 7 (goalkeeper).
Rangers (Glasgow): Dawson, Lindsay, Young, Shaw (c), Watkins, Simon, Waddell, Gillick, Smith (Dunkenson 72), Rey, Johnston.
"Dynamo" (Moscow): Khomich, Radikorsky, Semichastny (k), Stankevich, Blinkov, Oreshkin, Arkhangelsky, Kartsev, Beskov, Bobrov (Dementyev, 63), S. Soloviev.
Judge: Thompson (England).
Reverse of 1 ruble 1997 “100th anniversary of Russian football”
On November 13, 1945, the first of four matches took place between the Soviet champion and the professional teams of England, Wales and Scotland. To the surprise of the local public, they received a well-trained team whose players were no worse than the British stars.
Fourteen demands
The English side proposed holding a series of matches in the fall of 1945 through the Soviet embassy in London. The national champion was invited. It is interesting that the USSR championship in 1945 started four days after the surrender of Germany. On May 13, Dynamo Moscow tied with Spartak, but then winning streak. We lost only at the finish line of CDKA, when the match no longer decided anything.
Before departure we trained in Mytishchi. It was already winter in the Moscow region, so every day our players first cleared the field of snow. Dynamo, weakened by injuries to its leading players, decided to strengthen it with players from other clubs. CDKA loaned to fellow countrymen Vsevolod Bobrov, and Leningrad teammates – Evgeniy Arkhangelsky and Boris Oreshkin.
We traveled to England on two Douglas planes. Local newspapers claimed that one should not expect much from the Soviet champion. They say that the Dynamo players are not going to win, but to train in order to better prepare for the match between the USSR and England national teams, which was supposed to take place next year. But you can't fool an English fan. Four matches involving Dynamo Moscow were attended by 295 thousand spectators, that is, an average of more than 73 thousand people per match. In Glasgow, 90 thousand spectators watched the confrontation between Rangers and Dynamo, and one hundred thousand came to the very first game with the participation of Chelsea.
Dynamo Moscow football players in London
Our football players were not used to the attention of journalists; they were frankly embarrassed when they were surrounded by a swarm of photojournalists. The next day, Dynamo were called in the press silent men in blue coats.
What was a little unusual was that the leaders of the Soviet delegation put forward a number of demands to the receiving party. There were 14 of them in total. One of them sounded like this: “Football players and members of the football delegation will eat only at the USSR Embassy.” They also demanded the opportunity to watch the upcoming opponent in the English Championship match. And Dynamo definitely wanted to see Arsenal as one of their rival teams.
Everyday problems and a wonderful game
Since the arrival of Dynamo Moscow was constantly postponed, the hotel where our players were expected was canceled. The players were offered to spend the night in military barracks, but, looking at the huge room with beds without mattresses, our delegation refused such a “cordial welcome”. As a result, the players were placed in different hotels, and the next day everyone moved to the Imperial.
We must pay tribute to the English press, which, having learned about what had happened, smeared the local bureaucracy over the wall. They wrote that sports officials did a good job of creating a negative image of England. The Soviet embassy received hundreds of calls from the British, offering to accommodate Dynamo players in their homes.
The crush before the game was extraordinary, several people were seriously injured, and five fans suffered fractures. Before the start of the match with Chelsea, which took place on November 13, 1945, Dynamo presented their opponents with bouquets of flowers. And then they began to surprise us on the field. The game ended with the score 3:3, the delighted fans carried away the Soviet players who had not managed to hide in the tribune area in their arms.
Alexey Khomich. Photo by Mstislav Botashev. 1950
English newspapers wrote with admiration about the play of Soviet football players. You had to see what Khomich was doing in the goal! (There are video footage - watch it, you won’t regret it.) The British nicknamed him the tiger for his tall and unusual jumps.
Miner's light bulbs and uniform defeat
Before the match, the Cardiff City players presented the Dynamo team with miner's lamps. To be fair, let's say that Cardiff City at that time played in the third English league, so the forces were initially unequal. But Dynamo's victory with a score of 10:1 still impressed the British. The newspapers wrote that not a single top English club could score ten goals against Cardiff.
On the day of the match with London Arsenal, fog fell on the capital of England. The British have several definitions of its strength. On that day on the scale local residents there was pea soup. During the break, the English side even suggested that Dynamo not continue the match. But by that time ours were losing 2:3 and were eager to win back. In the second half, the Soviet football players scored two goals and snatched victory, however, the British blame the chief referee Nikolai Latyshev for the defeat (this was the only match with our refereeing), who did not count Arsenal’s clean goal.
Curiosities arose due to the fog. For example, the removed Arsenal player returned to the field after some time, and Latyshev did not notice this.
Dynamo played their last match in Scotland with Glasgow Rangers on November 28. The Scots were on edge. Our delegation refused to allow the host team to allow the young talented player James Caskey, whose transfer from Everton had almost already taken place, to take part in the game. Soviet functionaries objected because several “foreign” players were seen on the London Arsenal roster.
There was a real war going on on the field. The Scots immediately turned on the pressure, but Dynamo easily dealt with it, scored two goals and continued to have the advantage. The fate of the match was decided by the actions of the referee, who awarded two penalties against us. Khomich coped with one of them, but not with the second. The game ended in a 2:2 draw. The mayor of Glasgow said tens of thousands of Scots had fallen in love with the Soviet players' game. Experts noted excellent combination play and tactical training.
At home, Dynamo players were greeted as national heroes. After all, our football players rubbished the noses of not just anyone, but the founders of football.
