Travel Diary: Saturday, March 27th, 1999 - Paris, France

The day Ukraine stormed the Bastille!

I'd arrived in Paris on the Thursday and spent the evening announcing the presence of Ukrainians in Paris. I was wearing my Dynamo Kyiv top and my Parisian friend Vadim and I ended up chatting to several locals and tourists during the course of an evening out. We must have done well as we didn't get to bed until 7am the following morning!

Belgian Ukrainians!

Friday afternoon I headed down to the hotel where the British contingent were sleeping...if that's the word. After all the greetings were done, some of the French turned up and we headed for the stadium at Charletty where the Under-21s game was being played. This turned out to be a mistake as our boys failed to turn up on the night. Four goals from Trezuguet saw the French team embarrass our side. Please, we all thought, don't let this happen again, especially tomorrow! But after the game we all headed out and celebrated well into the night anyway, entertaining a few pubs with rather loud renditions of the Ukrainian folk classics.

But Saturday was what it was all about. After meeting up at the Taras Shevchenko Square off of St. Germain des Pres in the heart of Paris, we all headed out to La Bastille to meet up en masse. I left with some of the French and German Ukrainians and as we entered the metro station a train was approaching. But louder than the train itself was the beating of a drum and singing coming from inside the train itself. We'd happened to stumble upon the same carriage as the English! What luck! In short order the carriage was bouncing along to our jumping about and the singing, I'm sure, could be heard as far away underground as the Gare du Nord! As one might have expected, we took over half the Bastille in short order. First question; How did Hnatiw cross the road? Answer; He shchupaked to the other side!

Ukrainians storming the Bastille

I needed a bite to eat so went across the road, had a baguette and chatted awhile with the barman and a few locals. The barman certainly had the feeling that France were in for some trouble, saying that he loved the style of Dynamo and thought they would win the Champions League this year. The others at the bar were a touch more...hmmm...patriotic!

Soon it was time to head to the stadium, so we hopped back on the metro and headed for the Stade de France. Upon exiting the station we marched on down the very long promenade up to the stadium itself. It's a magnificent sight as you walk up and we did it in style singing away and parading a massive Ukrainian flag at least 20 feet long and 10 feet wide! And as we arrived at the gates, still more turned up and we passed through the gates into the ground. Up a flight of about 50 steps, through the concourse and what must simply rate as the most magnificent stage it's been my privilege to witness. The Stade de France can only be best described in the French itself; Une plus grande spectacle!

Beautiful paint jobs!

Settling into our seats way up high, one couldn't help but be energised by the buzz flowing throughout the stadium. And as the massive TV screens lit up and showed the players walking from the dressing rooms out towards the tunnel and the stirring music blared to life, the stadium came alive! And soon, once again, we were shouting Shche ne Vmerla to the world! And, I must admit, La Marseillese was magnificent itself as well. But all I was thinking about as I listened to it was Ingrid Bergman...!

The French kicked the match off and took firm control in short order. Manuel Petit, Youri Djorkaeff and Nicolas Anelka all had decent chances within those first fifteen minutes. The French were all over us! But soon after the Ukrainian defence found their legs and we began to claw back some of the play. Alone up front was Serhyj Skachenko, supported wide by Serhyj Rebrov and Andrei Shevchenko. Skachenko did not impress unfortunately, but was not aided at all by an assistant referee who was having a very poor night and a very bad bout of offside-itis. The highlight of his night was being taken down in the area by Barthez, in what many of us thought was, if not a sending off then at least a penalty. Not given. The next fifteen minutes were fairly even before the Ukrainians seized the advantage and stormed the French goal the remainder of the first half. Honours even.

At the half I went up into the concourse and chatted with a few friends before bumping into an older gentleman from the south of France. He was born in Ukraine and taken by the Nazis as a 7-year-old to work in the camps. After the war, a mere 10, he decided to head for France and has lived there ever since. His eyes welled up with tears about what this match meant to him, Ukraine and Ukrainians being feted in the French capital.

National anthems

After the restart, the Ukrainians were not as bright as they were at the end of the first half. But the French were clearly no longer a threat. Our defence was organised and stopped every French move without ever giving the support reason to feel nervous. Any French strike at goal, if it was on target, was directed directly into the waiting arms of Oleksandr Shovkovsky. The French threat thus neutralised, it was up to the Ukrainians to press their advantage and take the game. And thrice, very nearly it came to fruition. A header by Holovko was fabulously saved by Barthez off the line, and within the space of five minutes Shevchenko finally came to life and showed why he is rated one of the best forwards in the world. First he took the ball on the left wing, danced between two defenders and ran to just outside the area where he curled in a magnificent ball that Barthez must have considered himself lucky to have got a palm to. And in the decisive moment of the match, the otherwise magnificent French rearguard were finally pierced by an incisive through ball from Rebrov to Shevchenko that sent him in all alone, one on one against Barthez. You'd have bet your house on him scoring, but his blast was well saved by the Monaco and France keeper. As you might have guessed, the French papers proclaimed Barthez Man-of-the-Match for his performance.

With the final whistle, all 2000 Ukrainians burst into cheers and the party began! The French could not hide their disappointment and most knew this was a defeat avoided by the narrowest of margins. The Ukrainian team came up to where we were sat, joined hands and took three deep bows to the support...a magnificent moment...before bounding off to the change rooms in obvious delight. After singing awhile longer, we all trooped off to the zabava and partied until dawn! Who wouldn't be satisfied, not to say delighted, to hold the World Champions to a 0-0 draw in the own backyard?

Heartfelt thanks and congratulations must go out to the French Ukrainians for all the hard work they did in organising a magnificent weekend programme for all the Ukrainians from all over the world who attended the match. There were Ukrainian supporters in attendance from France, England, Scotland, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Ukraine, Brazil, Canada, the United States and Australia that I'm aware of and possibly even elsewhere as well!

This was an occasion that will take some living up to!

The table after round four...

Zidane goes to Kyiv...

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