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Experience World Cup fever with SI.com's writers in the World Cup Pub Blog, a daily journal of pitch passion, on-site pub reporting and reader-driven discussions.
6/19/2006 06:50:00 PM

Ukrainian Glee

Oakland Arena
The Ukraine Sports Club saw much more joy today than the last time the Ukraine team took the field.
Photo by Jose Martinez
Posted by Jose Martinez

Ukraine-Saudi Arabia, Ukrainian Sport Club

NEW YORK -- The guy selling $10 Ukraine T-shirts out of three cardboard boxes wasn't happy. No one was buying.

"Everyone's upset," said Oleh Mykhaylyshyn, who drove up from Trenton, N.J., with a half-dozen different shirt styles. "We lost to Spain, so now I don't sell much."

The bartender was getting surly too, muttering that he expected a crowd three or four times the size of what turned up.

"I've been counting money since before you were born!" Jaroslaw Kurowyckyj boomed at one patron who seemed to be struggling with his command of American currency.

I shuddered to think what the mood inside the Ukrainian Sport Club must have been like on Wednesday, when the country's first-ever World Cup squad was on the wrong side of a 4-0 match with Spain. But on this afternoon, the Ukrainians were dominating Saudi Arabia, and there was that score again. It was 4-0, Ukraine, and the 100 or so expats inside this members-only club in Manhattan's Little Ukraine could finally allow themselves to celebrate.

"I'm goal hungry," Kurowyckyj says. "I wanted to see a fifth goal."

Oakland Arena
Jaroslaw Kurowyckyj, president of the Ukraine Sport Club, smiles after his team's 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia.
Photo by Jose Martinez
Yet Kurowyckyj, 73, happily settled for a win that put his beloved homeland's name back on the global sports map. He began reeling off the names of Ukraine's best-known sporting exports, from Olympic gold medal winners to track and field stars to heavyweight boxing champions.

"Oksana Baiul, Denys Yurchenko, the Klitshckos," said Kurowyckyj, whose family has run the Kurowyck Meat Market around the corner for three generations. "When your athletes win, then people learn about your country.

"And it's not Russia," he says, cracking a smile.

Kurowyckyj guided me to a corner of the 83-year-old club to show off trophies and a scrapbook documenting a Ukrainian soccer team that brought him as much pride -- if not more so -- than the one that was cruising to victory on the televisions overhead.

The New York Ukrainians -- based out of this same Second Avenue clubhouse -- won the 1965 U.S. Open Cup, defeating a team from Chicago. Kurowyckyj was the team's manager, and in the lovingly crafted scrapbook, he appeared in a few photographs, standing proudly next to his team's players.

Oakland Arena
Nobody was happier with Ukraine's blowout win over Saudi Arabia than T-shirt salesman Oleh Mykhaylyshyn.
Photo by Jose Martinez
"This is me in my young days," he said, before pointing me to the photocopy of a congratulatory letter sent to the Ukrainian Sport Club from Sen. Robert Kennedy.

After Saudi Arabia was officially dispatched, Ukraine's soccer present looked every bit as promising to Kurowyckyj as that 1965 scrapbook season. Even Mykhaylyshyn could celebrate, as he finally sold several T-shirts as soon as the match ended.

"Now we're in business," said the suddenly cheerful T-shirt salesman.
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3 Comments:

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Posted: 1:40 AM, June 21, 2006   by V. Boychuk
Excellent game for Ukraine. They are back in the running for 1/8 final. I hope Ukraine wins against Tunisia.
Posted: 9:00 PM, June 27, 2006   by Lena Howansky
Thanks for the report on the Ukrainian Sports Club. They are doing a great job. I've been watching many of the World Cup matches there and greatly appreciate the Club's hospitality.
Ukraine to beat Italy in the quarter-finals!!!

www.mypace.com/vatrausa
Posted: 9:05 PM, June 27, 2006   by Lena Howansky
The Ukrainian Spirts Club is doing a great job! I've been watching many of the World Cup matches there and I greatly appreciate their hospitality. Plus, the beer is cheap.

Go Ukraine in the quarter-finals!

www.myspace.com/vatrausa
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