UPL PREDICTOR MATCHDAY 13
UPL & EUROPEAN COMPETITIONS ROUND UP
Matchday 12 was a relatively subdued affair. Mariupol beating Zorya 3-2 was the standout result whilst the league leaders Shakhtar scraped a victory against Desna to maintain their place at the top. Dynamo once again ended up as 1-0 victors against Vorskla, with Denys Boyko currently holding the record for the most clean sheets in European leagues this season. Lack of goals still seems to a problem, and the striker dilemma continues unanswered, despite Supriaha registering his first assist in the UPL for Tsyhankov’s winner.
Elsewhere Vyacheslav Shevchuk got his first ever win as a manager, with a 1-0 win over Chornomorets! FC Lviv held off to win their first home game of the season against bottom side Arsenal Kyiv whilst city neighbours Karpaty lost to the almighty Oleksandriya! What a season they’re having!
Elsewhere Vyacheslav Shevchuk got his first ever win as a manager, with a 1-0 win over Chornomorets! FC Lviv held off to win their first home game of the season against bottom side Arsenal Kyiv whilst city neighbours Karpaty lost to the almighty Oleksandriya! What a season they’re having!
In Europe, Ukrainian sides had a mixed bag of results and emotions. Shakhtar were played off the park by Manchester City in Kharkiv and it is uncertain whether they will be able to even make the Europa league group stages, looking at the fixtures they have left.
Meanwhile in the Europa League, Dynamo Kyiv won their first game in France in over 20 years! Buyalskiy’s last minute winner was enough to give Dynamo their first three points of the campaign.
Vorskla also enjoyed success! They travelled to Baku to face Qarabag, where they ended up winning 1-0 and securing a historic first EVER victory in the Europa League! To put the victory in perspective, Qarabag were in the Champions League group stages last season, so their result should not be overlooked in terms of magnitude!
SPECIAL GUEST OF THE WEEK
Andrew Todos of Zorya Londonsk Weekly will be making predictions for every UPL game this season, against a variety of guests.
Our thirteenth guest of the 2018 – 19 season is Donetsk Way member and craft beer supplier, Ewhen Chymera. In Ukrainian circles he’s usually identified as coming from Bradford. However, Ewhen clarifies that he was actually born in Chesterfield and he currently resides and work in Leeds. Despite these Yorkshire connections, due to family influence, he’s a Man United fan, whilst his main team in Ukraine are Karpaty Lviv. Like most Ukrainians, he also naturally follows all Ukrainian teams when they’re in European action.
DONETSK WAY: THE ORIGIN STORY
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| The Gold Renault Laguna |
Ewhen is the third member of Donetsk Way to feature in our Predictor this season. Whilst the group have been covered extensively in some of our previous articles, we still wanted to get some extra insight into Ewhen’s personal experiences as a member. Ewhen managed to reveal the origin story of the group’s conception. “Donetsk Way really started with a drunken chat about plans for Euro 2012 at Tarasivka in 2011 (I think only Dre may have been there). There were articles all over about the lack of accommodation and difficulty driving, so I was floating the idea of buying and converting a van into a camper for the trip to tick both boxes. This morphed in time into the purchase of a golden Renault Laguna and the trip itself…”
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| The road sign in question |
The name of the group originated from Sheffield. Donetsk Way is a street and tram stop in the area. Ewhen had been aware of this since his dad talked about it after being involved in the twinning of south Yorkshire towns with Donbas towns. Ewhen added “Barnsley is also twinned with Gorlovka, and there is an awesome imperial stout by Acorn Brewery in Barnsley named in honour of this, however at the time I was actually the street naming and numbering officer in Leeds; I literally named streets for a living so there was added interest professionally. In my role, I was trying to fit Ukrainian place names or words into the streets of Leeds. Look out for Yalta Court, and streets named after my niece and nephew.” As part of this project, he ended up researching other Ukrainian street names across the UK etc. The plan to actually ‘get’ (steal) the Donetsk Way street sign never came to fruition…
BEER OBSSESSION
Away from Donetsk Way, Ewhen has an obsession with craft beer. This has manifested into an annual Ukrainian beer festival in Bradford and the establishment of a Ukrainian beer importing company, focusing on promoting smaller scale Ukrainian breweries outside of their native Ukraine. With PyvoFest being the brainchild of Ewhen, and with this year’s event coming next month, we asked Ewhen to share with us how it all began.
He revealed “PyvoFest started weirdly enough in 2012, it’s in its 6th year and continues to grow. I was responsible for sourcing stock for Bradford Ukrainian club and discovered I was able to get more and more different Ukrainian beers, so it made sense to celebrate this with a beer festival, which also was able to promote Ukrainian culture, traditions and food beyond the normal circles.”
“The first event sold out with a few weeks to spare and every Saturday session has sold out since, which has been amazing. One of my favourite bits is that although the diaspora does support the event, it has really taken off among Bradford locals, who now won’t miss it! Since those early days we’ve added a Friday session, a personal fav, a neighbours beer bar, a flavoured Vodka bar, a secret gin snug and enjoyed some amazing beers from Ukraine that you will not see outside of the country!”
BEER BEYOND BORDERS
Additionally, Ewhen wanted to source the UK with Ukrainian beers all year round, not just Bradford or for a solitary weekend every year. This led to the creation of Pyvo UK. He explained “I remember wanting to be the first to get Ukrainian draft beer into the UK and originally wanted 1715, however when I learnt they were actually owned by Carlsberg my interest cooled, and I started looking for much smaller craft breweries in Ukraine, just as the scene exploded into the mainstream in the UK.
This is how I developed the relationship with Pravda Beer Theatre in Lviv, and we’ve worked together ever since, bringing about Pyvo UK Ltd, which is now the company responsible for bringing amazing Ukrainian beers into the UK. We are just readying ourselves to open an online shop allowing us to sell direct to the public for the first time, which will be amazing. I went to Ukraine this September and had some really good conversations with loads of other breweries that we hope to be able to work with going forward.”
PYVOFEST 2018
Speaking about the preparations for this year’s installment of PyvoFest, Ewhen seems confident. “This year’s PyvoFest is on 9th& 10thNovember and everything is coming together nicely. I can’t wait to start drinking the beers, there’s over 60 in all, with 40+ from Ukraine, with the most we’ve ever had on draft which is an added bonus. This does mean I will be building a new bar to go along with my Tryzub bar this weekend; which tells you a little about behind the scenes stuff, which started the day after last year’s festival. Thankfully Bradford’s community really pulls together and delivers a great festival, I couldn’t do it year on year without their help.”
Tickets are still available for PyvoFest 2018!
You can get them via the link below:
AWAY DAYS
Returning to the topic of football, Ewhen has been a seasoned follower of Ukrainian football for almost 20 years. Both before and after the creation of Donetsk Way, he has regularly attended games featuring Ukrainian sides. We wanted to find out which games stood out in particular but firstly which live game kicked it all off for him.
“I think my debut game was France v Ukraine in 1999 at the Stade de France, when a coach load of us went from Bradford Ukrainian Club. It was at the Stade de France and was an incredible atmosphere. We were so excited, me and my sister actually walked and talked on the way home from school, I don’t think that happened before or after!”
As far as specific experiences away days go, Ewhen’s trip to Andorra really stands out in his memory.
“There were only a handful of us there, and we met Sasha Motson for the first time. Andorra was an unbelievable place, with duty free alcohol everywhere so we enjoyed that! We also had the pleasure of meeting Tymo(shchuk) as the squad roamed the streets; although we hardly had the courage to speak as he walked past!”
In terms of specific live game moments, Ewhen counts Sheva’s goals v Sweden as a sweet memory from 2012. However, he remains slightly undecided adding “Though saying that Andriy Rusol’s goal v Saudi Arabia will always stay with me, as it’s the first goal Ukraine scored in a major finals. I have a video that Petro (Chymera) took during the moment of that goal going in, and the celebration says it all!”
TV CAMERA MAGNET
Ewhen has a knack of getting picked up by cameras during games (compared to the other Donetsk Way lads and other fans in general). A particular moment at Euro 2016 that made it into the The Mirror and onto a TV show on VICE comes to mind. We wanted to find out what the secret is to getting yourself on TV whilst attending a game.
Ewhen responded “Why am I seen more than the Donetsk Way lads? Well, Dre is looking for the best Wifi, which is never at the front; Styop is normally asleep during games and Petro is normally on a mission to redecorate an entire city in whatever sticker is flavour of the day!
But otherwise if you go to enough games, especially those where few others are – Scotland U21s v Ukraine U21s in some random Scottish backwater you’ll pop up on a camera every now and again!” We’ll keep that in mind for the future…”
Having recently returned from a trip to Ukraine, we thought it would be apt to wrap up the interview, finding out whether Ewhen got up to any football related activities whilst out there in addition to his reflection on the current season so far.
“As always I have kept an eye on Ukrainian football, though its another awful season for Karpaty. Vorskla have impressed me in Europe despite their first couple of games not going for them (though I was gutted to have to miss them versus Arsenal due to broken bones at home!!!). After this week’s Champions League result I fear for Shakhtar.”
“Whilst I was in Ukraine, I got to Mariupol v Olimpik Donetsk whilst in Kyiv, and enjoyed that game a lot. Mariupol are having a good season, and had an extra gear against OD! I also got to the Veres Rivne supporters bar/café, and had a really good chat with the lads in there about the state of that club. They have to play 40km from Rivne, gave up there UPL place and are experiencing money troubles etc. It was a real insight into the real state of Ukrainian footy, especially in how the clubs and state are still so closely entwined.
EWHEN CHYMERA’S SOCIAL LINKS:
PREDICTOR TIME
A correct result (WIN / DRAW/ DEFEAT) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns an extra 40 points.
SATURDAY
Desna Chernihiv v Mariupol
Todos’ prediction: Mariupol shocked the league last week, with a comprehensive win over Zorya Luhansk and I feel they’ll carry some momentum in this fixture against an inconsistent Desna. Mariupol to steal a win. 1-2
Ewhen’s prediction: A narrow victory on the road for Mariupol. 1-2
RESULT: 2-0: BEZBORODKO (5′ & 47′)
Arsenal Kyiv v Shakhtar Donetsk
Todos’ prediction: Shakhtar will want to put their performance against City to one side and get their scoring momentum back after last week’s late winner against Desna. Regardless of line ups, Shakhtar should see off Arsenal with ease and it could get ugly for the Kyiv side. 0-5
Ewhen’s prediction:‘Even after Man City showed their class in Kharkiv on Tuesday, Shahktar though likely much changed will stroll through this one.’ 0-4
RESULT: 0-3: ALAN PATRICK (44′), BOLBAT (55′), KOVALENKO (63′)
Zorya Luhansk v Oleksandriya
Todos’ prediction:This game is a battle of the over and underachievers this season. Zorya have been very poor this season, whilst Oleksandriya continue to fend off opposition to third place. I feel Zorya will be desperate to get a win but against such opposition, spoils will be shared. 1-1
Ewhen’s prediction:‘Zorya have to start winning at some point, the quality is there they just seem to be conceding for fun though, hence the high score!’ 3-2
RESULT: 0-0
SUNDAY
Chornomorets Odesa v Karpaty Lviv
Todos’ prediction: Chornomorets’ recent form has been woeful. They’re living up to the pre season prediction of battling relegation. They face the perennially inconsistent Karpaty Lviv, who will look to try and turn their season around after a spate of poor results. Neither side really has the defensive ability to hold onto a lead. 1-1
Ewhen’s prediction:‘Both teams need a win – it’ll be awful.’ 0-0
RESULT: 0-5: SHVED (2′), PONDE (48′), MYAKUSHKO (79′, 90+5′), HUTSULIAK (90+7′)
Dynamo Kyiv v FC Lviv
Todos’ prediction: Dynamo surprised everyone and got a victory in Europe this week, now they will look to continue their hot form in the league. 1-0 has been Dynamo’s most popular score line this season and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see it again here. 1-0
Ewhen’s prediction:‘Dynamo don’t score enough goals to ever make anything comfortable.’ 2-0
RESULT: 0-1: TAYLOR (21′)
Vorskla Poltava v Olimpik Donetsk
Todos’ prediction:Vorskla will still be high off the buzz of their first ever Europa League win in midweek but I feel this may lead to a hangover in the league. Lack of goals have been a problem for Vorskla and Olimpik this season and it will end up being evident during this game. 0-0
Ewhen’s prediction: ‘This will depend how Vorskla are after their European travels, but should have enough to nick it.’ 2-1
RESULT: 2-1: SNURNITSYN OG (44′), KULACH (67′) / POLITYLO (16′)
MATCHDAY 13 WINNER:
EWHEN CHYMERA – 60 POINTS
EWHEN CHYMERA – 60 POINTS
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GUEST LEADERBOARD
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Total scores after week 13
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Todos
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490
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Guests
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660
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Todos v Guests
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P13
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W6
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D2 L5
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ZORYA LONDONSK 