“We didn’t lose, we won by defeat.” Cherchesov’s club devastatingly flew into a European dwarf

On October 14, 1998, in the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, at the Laugardalsvellur stadium, the home team of Iceland hosted the Russian national team as part of the qualifying tournament for the 2000 European Championship. In the 89th minute, after a cross from the left wing, Yuriy Kovtun tried to kick the ball for a corner, but in the end, with a nice “fish” jump, sent it to the far corner.

The dumbfounded goalkeeper of our team Stanislav Cherchesov stopped and could not understand what had happened. The resonance of that defeat hovered over the Russian team for a long time, they say, how could they lose to Iceland, because I am a well-known outsider in European football and especially our group? It seemed then that this shame would be impossible to wash away.

In the second leg of the first qualifying round of the 2023/2024 Champions League at the Groupama Arena stadium in Budapest, the Ferencváros coach’s team hosted the KI Klasvik team from the Faroe Islands. The first match turned out to be unconvincing, the Hungarians failed to realize their advantage in the match, they played a sensational draw, postponing the winning emotions for the home match. However, in front of their devoted and very die-hard fans, the local top club managed to lose face so hard that even the battered fans didn’t immediately believe it.

It was the same 89th minute of the match. The Ferencváros players thought of nothing more, except to quickly retire from their stadium to some pub to pour the pain into something very strong and bitter. The rival, whose club name you will not remember from the first time “KI Klasvik”, left no stone unturned from the most successful club in Hungary, disassembling the wards of the former helmsman of the Russian national team into components. 0:3 on the scoreboard looked more than disgusting.

Photo source: FC Ferencváros

Cherchesov was borderline with exactly the same facial expression as it was then, in 1998 in Iceland. Today, the unfortunate Yuri Kovtun turned out to be all his brave team, which wins the entire national championship for five rounds to the end, being legally determined in the Champions League. And certainly not KI or Klasvik to obviously show more status Europeans how to play football. Salamych has never received such a slap in his coaching career.

Yes, there were all sorts of failures with Dynamo Dresden and Austrian Tyrol, but that was a playing career and Cherchesov could not influence anything at that time. At least with Faroese clubs, or even with the national team of this exotic region, the conversation was always short. Where can they learn to play soccer? And let them no longer collect armfuls of balls outside the gate, but try to play competently in a European way, like their Icelandic brothers, but the time has not yet come when football players from cold lands will be taken seriously.

Photo source: FC KI Klasvik

Now it looks like I have to. KI Klasvik, to the delight of the entire population of the island, which, by the way, is almost inferior to the capacity of the Budapest stadium, goes to the next round of the Champions League, sending the most serious club in the Champions League to scrap in the first round. There is a suspicion that not a single team at the start of the main European club tournament wanted to compete with the Hungarian favorite. And Ferencváros must quickly wash away such a shame and try to draw conclusions from this super instructive match. If the players do not run, throwing their caps at an obviously weaker opponent, this is primarily a problem for the coach, who has failed to convey to his guys that any opponent needs to play.