MOSCOW: Farewell matches are traditionally played for world soccer Stars retiring from competition. Such a match was held for celebrated Soviet goalie Lev Yashin in 1971. Facchetti of Italy, Mueller of West Germany, Djaic of Yugoslavia, Lubanski of Poland, Viktor of Czechoslovakia, Mazurkiewicz of Uruguay and other stars took part in it.

But it was, perhaps, for the first time that soccer celebrities from all over the world gathered to mark a star’s 60th birthday. Yashin was given such an honor early in August. Tomaszewski of Poland, Carlos Alberto of Brazil, Eusebio of Portugal, Repp of Holland, Panenka of Czechoslovakia, and again Lubanski and Bobby Charlton came to congratulate Yashin.

Two matches were played between the World All Stars and the Dynamo Sports Club selects (Yashin played for Dynamo Moscow for many years). First Dynamoand ‘foreign veterans took the field followed by current players. The Worid All Stars were coached by the famous Carlos Bilardo of Argentina and Franz Beckenbauer of West Germany.

“Yashin will remain immortal so long as there exists soccer” said Bilardo. Indeed, Yashin has become a living legend.

At his peak, Yashin was named the world’s best soccer player and awarded the Gold Ball. He was selflessly devoted to soccer and stayed on the field till age 42. He is one of the few to be decorated with the Olympic Order, the highest award of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Yashin left his unforgettable trace in world soccer and introduced a lot of innovative elements in a goalies play. Unlike his predecessors, he did not confine himself to the narrow limits of the goal area but played throughout the penalty area and even on the far approaches to the goal. Yashin generously shared his mastery with younger counterparts.

His novel approach impelled coaches to revise the tactics of soccer in general and offense in particular. Yashin accomplished a revolution in the game which had long before been invented by the British and seemed rather conservative,

Yashin is adored the world over not only as a soccer star but as a personality.

Article extracted from this publication >>  September 29, 1989