Posted:
04.11.2021 14:13:00
Gold mining
Shakhtyor became the champion of Belarus ahead of schedule: for the second time in a row and the third time in history
Having won the away game against Gomel (3:2), the players of Soligorsk Shakhtyor — three rounds before the end of the national championship — were 10 points ahead of their nearest rivals, making themselves unattainable and noisily celebrating their victory with jokes, songs and champagne. We can say that they ate a pound of salt (during the championship they changed two head coaches) and took on the world.
The fans of the Soligorsk squad have every reason to believe that their beloved Shakhtyor did not turn out to be a flash in the pan, but confidently took (or at least seriously expects to take) the top spot, which once belonged to BATE. A quirk of fate, however, is that in the current team there are as many as six players who belong to the same legendary period of Borisov’s monopoly for gold: Alyaksandr Hutar and Syarhey Chernik, Egor Filipenko and Ihar Stasevich, Maksim Skavysh and Yuri Kendysh. And together with coach Aleksei Baga — there are seven of them! The decisive championship ball, by the way, flew into the goal after a kick by Egor Filipenko in the match against Gomel. He also scored the first goal while the second one was hit by Skavysh. Whatever one may say, Borisov’s trace in Shakhtyor’s victory is more than tangible. Imagine if all these guys hadn’t changed their club registration. If Borisov’s managers succeeded in finding a consensus with them on the amount of contracts, shook hands and they would have continued to play for BATE. Would Shakhtyor then become the champions? So, the current loud joy of Soligorsk team is nothing more than an echo of Borisov’s former domination, of which (now we can speak about this with confidence) hardly anything was left: Shakhtyor completely ‘swallowed’ them.
Do you want to predict? Next year, when the team will most likely be faced with the task of making it to the Champions League group stage, Shakhtyor’s roster will be replenished with a couple more recruits from BATE. Why aren’t Pavel Nekhaichik or Mikalai Signevich, for example, candidates for the move? And Evgeni Yablonski or Maksim Volodko? It would be also nice to have Stanislav Dragun, but he recently extended the agreement with BATE until the end of 2022. In any case, in order to solve serious and ambitious aims in European competitions, Shakhtyor needs to strengthen, looking for decent performers both on the domestic front and smart legionnaires. It seems that the issue of prolongation of the agreement with Baga has not yet been resolved either. Surely, Shakhtyor’s management is likely to cast their rods in order to catch larger fish, keeping the current mentor as a backup, but with quite an acceptable result.
What else is remarkable about Shakhtyor’s current championship title? Firstly, by the fact that it is the second in a row. Hence, it is not accidental.
This is definitely not the story of Dinamo Brest, which was forgotten. In this regard everything is professional in Soligorsk and the attitude towards the club at Belaruskali is certainly serious. In addition, until now, only a couple of clubs in the history of Belarus championships could boast that twice in a row they came to the finish line first: BATE and Dinamo Minsk. Shakhtyor came third in this group. Secondly, there have never been champions who have changed coaches during the season like gloves. The Ukrainian specialist Roman Grigorchuk, who was fired after flying past the Champions League, started the campaign, followed by Sergei Gurenko, who was sent home after a series of completely incomprehensible fights, while Aleksei Baga is finishing though his prospects for next year, as we have already said, are also rather vague. Thirdly, Shakhtyor of the current model is a rather ‘old’ team: eight players who played very significant roles in the victory have already passed 30. Ihar Stasevich is 36, Alyaksandr Sachywka — 35, Egor Filipenko will turn 34 in spring... At the level of the domestic championships they are still quite good fellows and assistants to the team, but if we talk about European prospects, then, alas, they are past their best. So, the question of infusing fresh young blood before Shakhtyor, I think, will be quite acute this offseason.
A few more interesting facts: Shakhtyor goalkeeper Alyaksandr Hutar becomes the national champion for the third time in a row, and in 2019 he won the championship with Dinamo Brest. Before that, at the dawn of his career, he also took gold with BATE. However, Shakhtyor boasts an even more prolific footballer in terms of league titles — Yuri Kendysh. This guy has been winning first places for six years in a row with four different clubs from three countries: Lithuanian Žalgiris, Moldovan Sheriff, BATE and Shakhtyor!
Thus, the 2021 championship determined the champions (Shakhtyor) and two clubs that will not be in the major league next year (Sputnik and Smorgon). It remains to find out who will get the silver and bronze (the key here will be the match of the 28th round, where, on November 6th, BATE and Dinamo Minsk will meet each other like water and stone, ice and fire), as well as identify the club that will take the 14th place and undertake play-offs with the third team of the first league. Heat is also expected here, because as many as six teams may be such: Neman, Torpedo-BELAZ, Energetik-BGU, Minsk, Slutsk and Slavia. And who after that will say that the national championship is not interesting in our country?
By Sergei Kanashits
