Nine European sides qualified for the contest as they won their groups in qualification and eight more had to perform in playoffs.
When home is not your castle…
This time Ukrainians were very optimistic about qualifiers. It was quite clear that the Yellow-Blues main competitor would be Poland while Belarus and Norway would be question marks and Wales and Armenia – outsiders.
In the first matchday Ukrainians faced Poland at the NSC Olimpiyskyi. Olisadebe shocked supporters as he opened the score two minutes into the game.
Shevchenko netted the equalizer nine minutes later, but Olisadebe sent his team up before the break. In the second half visitors made the score 1:3.
After that home fixtures were a true disappointment for Ukraine. By the end of the year 2000 the Yellow-Blues played two more matches. They defeated Armenia (3:2) and Norway away (1:0). Shevchenko scored brace in Yerevan. One more goal was netted by Husin. In Oslo Shevchenko also hit the target.
Considering Poland goalless draw against Wales Ukraine regained chances for automatic qualification for the World Cup finals. Still in early 2001 Valeriy Lobanovskyi’s men didn’t manage to win a match. They drew against Belarus and Norway (0:0 both times) and twice against Wales (1:1). Due to away win against Belarus (2:0) and home victory against Armenia (3:0) Ukrainians finished second in their group. The last matchday between the Yellow-Blues and Poland was of no importance. It ended in a draw – 1:1.
15 FC Dynamo Kyiv performers featured in qualification: Vashchuk (10 appearances), Holovko (10 appearances), Nesmachnyi (8 appearances), Dmytrulin (6 appearances), Yashkin (6 appearances), Shovkovskyi (6 appearances), Melashchenko (4 appearances), Husin (3 appearances), Kardash (2 appearances), Fedorov (2 appearances), Kernozenko, Kosovskyi, Mykhailenko, Reva and Serebrennykov (1 appearance each).
Another defeat in playoffs
This time Ukraine faced threefold world champions Germany in playoffs.
On November 10 2001 Lobanovskyi’s men delivered visitors a real battle at the NSC Olimpiyskyi. Zubov opened the score 18 minutes into the match, but Ballack netted the equalizer before the break.
Five Kyivans took the field in the first leg: Vashchuk, Holovko, Husin, Nesmachnyi and Melashchenko.
Four days later Ukraine suffered 4:1 defeat in Dortmund (the Yellow-Blues only goal was scored by Shevchenko). Four players represented Dynamo that day: Vashchuk, Holovko, Nesmachnyi and Husin.
Twists of fate
Olexandr Shovkovskyi is the only player of those Kyivans, who performed in 2002 World Cup qualifiers, who hasn’t finished his career yet.
Vitaliy Reva featured for different Ukrainian clubs. Until 2013 he performed for FC Arsenal Kyiv.
After Viacheslav Kernozenko left Dynamo he played for FC Arsenal Kyiv (2001-2003), FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (2004-2008) and FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih (2009). In June of 2012 he worked as goalkeeper assistant coach for FC Sevastopol.
Olexandr Holovko spent nine years of his career featuring for Dynamo. After that he played in China for one season. In 2006 he finished his career in SC Tavria Simferopol. Today he is Ukraine U-18 coach.
In 2003 Vladyslav Vashchuk joined FC Spartak Moscow. A year later he was signed by FC Chornomorets Odesa. In 2005 he returned to Dynamo
In 2011 Vashchuk finished his career in FC Volyn Lutsk. From 2012 till 2013 he was FC Arsenal Kyiv sporting director.
Andriy Husin left the White-Blues in 2005 and finished his career in Russia. He started working as assistant coach for FC Saturn Ramenskoe. From 2010 till 2013 Husin was in charge of Dynamo-2. His staff included Vasyl Kardash, who eventually left the team with Andriy.
Andriy Nesmachnyi finished his career in 2011. He devoted 14 years to the White-Blues.
Today he is a football expert of ProFootball TV show broadcasted by 2+2 channel.
Serhiy Fedorov and Vitaliy Kosovskyi keep working for our club. The former was the main squad assistant coach until quire recently and the latter works for Dynamo U-21 alongside Valentyn Belkevych.
Yuriy Dmytrulin and Artem Yashkin work at DynamoAcademy named after Valeriy Lobanovskyi.
Olexandr Melashchenko performed for Dynamo for three years – from 2000 till 2003. Later he featured for FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (2004-2007) and FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih (2007-2009). Today he plays in amateur league for FC Nove Zhyttia Andriivka (Poltava region).
In 2002 Serhiy Serebrennykov moved to Belgium, where he played for Club Brugge KV, CharleroiSC and Cercle Brugge KSV. He finished his career in KSV Roeselare and became the head coach of this team.
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