Seven-time USSR football champion Yevgeny Rudakov defended the gates of the Kiev football club for almost his entire playing career. He was called that - the Moscow legend of Kiev "Dynamo". Of the domestic goalkeepers, he was the most titled after the famous L. Yashin.
Biography
Evgeny was born in the south-east of Moscow in January 1942. He played his first match in this city. Then there were many wastelands, which Moscow guys and older people adapted for their games. Who won then is unknown, Rudakov only remembered exactly that he was at the gate.
Later Rudakov will become a pupil of the Torpedo sports school. It was the only football team in his area, the rest (Spartak, Dynamo, CSKA, Lokomotiv) were in the northern part of the capital. At the age of 17, he will be enrolled in the youth team. However, at that time the club had quite strong goalkeepers, so coach V. Maslov advised him to find a team where he would not be on the bench.
Rudakov leaves for the Ukrainian city of Nikolaev and begins to play there for "Shipbuilder". True, not for long - already in 1963 Yevgeny Rudakov became a member of Dynamo Kiev. According to the recollections of Evgeny Vasilyevich himself, he accepted the invitation to the team only from the third time. Before that, everyone could not believe that the leadership of Dynamo really appreciated him and was ready to take him into the squad.
In 1964 Maslov came to Dynamo (everyone called him simply Grandfather). It was with his submission that Rudakov appeared in the starting lineup for the game with Wings of the Soviets.
The debut of the young goalkeeper at Dynamo turned out to be amazing - Evgeniy had nine "zero" meetings out of eleven. In total, Rudakov spent 15 seasons in the Kiev team and it was here that he received recognition. He helped the club win first place in the Cup Winners' Cup (1975) and the UEFA Super Cup.
Much credit for the professional growth of the goalkeeper belongs to Idzkowski. He forced all athletes, and Rudakov was no exception, to train to the "seventh sweat" and even more, set them technique. According to the recollections of his teammates, Evgeny's playing style resembled the style of the famous L. Yashin, who was an idol for him. Outwardly discreet, without "special effects", with exits from the gate. Of the foreign goalkeepers, Rudakov singled out the Englishman Gordon Banks - he tried to adopt the technique of catching the ball from him.
It's over, and there was fierce competition in Dynamo. Rudakov played at the same time when the team included the understudy of the famous L. Yashin Viktor Bannikov. Therefore, for a couple of years, Evgeny played more for the double than for the main team. But in 1966, Bannikov was included in the application for the World Cup, and Rudakov became the main goalkeeper at this time. He played reliably, and from that moment began to perform on a par with Bannikov.
There were such moments in Yevgeny's career when it seemed that you could forget about sports. For example, in 1970 the national team was in Colombia, preparing for the World Cup. There was a control game, and it was in it that Rudakov broke his shoulder. Naturally, this World Cup took place without Eugene. Doctors, on the other hand, were generally cautious in their predictions for recovery, many predicted the end of playing practice. But Rudakov managed to recover and return to the field, although it took a whole year for this.
Rudakov almost always played in a Dynamo jersey, even playing for the national team in other countries. This was not forbidden, because superstitious goalkeepers preferred to play in clothes that were happy for them.
Rudakov played a lot for the USSR national team - 48 official matches in the international arena plus 37 friendly. He played at the European Championship, was at the Olympics (6 matches). It will take a long time to list all of his team awards. Personal achievements include the following:
- in 1971 - the footballer of the year in Ukraine;
- three times goalkeeper of the year (1969, 1971, 1972);
- twice nominated for the Golden Ball (the best result - 12th place);
- in 1972 he entered the symbolic team of Europe;
- repeatedly entered the lists of the best football players of the USSR and the Ukrainian SSR, etc.
Coaching career
The goalkeeper's career ended in 1977. The asset had such successes:
- seven-time USSR champion
- Olympic medalist (bronze)
- three-time USSR Cup winner
And many medals, which can be used to tell the history of Soviet football.
Evgeny Rudakov did not work with adult footballers for long. These were the teams "Spartak" from Ivano-Frankivsk (in 1979) and "Flint" (in 1994). Still, he was more attracted to work with children, the first group of whom he recruited immediately after the end of his playing career. For more than ten years he trained at the base of his home club. Then he went to the Kiev sports boarding school. In general, children's football has occupied the heart of the goalkeeper for over 30 years.
A family
With his future wife Elena Antonovna, Evgeny Rudakov lived in the same house since childhood. Friendship grew into love and the young got married in 1962. They had two children. The eldest daughter Elena worked in the tax industry. Son Alexey is 10 years younger than his sister. Seriously engaged in fencing, received a master of sports. Then he went into finance and worked in the banking sector.
Rudakov died in December 2011. He was 69 years old (he barely lived to be 70), and the cause of death was a massive heart attack. They buried him in Kiev at the Baikovo cemetery.
