Page 43 - 368603 LP250721 AWY AWY AWY Book (238pp A5)

Three days later, on the Saturday, we hosted the U.S.S.R.’s 1-0 victory over Italy when the great Lev Yashin played in goal. He was pushing thirty-seven, which seemed ancient to a kid like me. As I mentioned, it wasn’t his first appearance at Roker Park as he’d played there for Moscow Dynamo in a friendly against the Lads in 1955. Anyway, I recall being on a very packed but very well-dressed train between Newcastle and Sunderland around 2 o’clock on that Saturday in 1966 and it was extremely hot and sweaty so I was most relieved when nearly everyone piled out at Seaburn Station.
The last group game at Sunderland was the U.S.S.R.’s 2-1 win over Chile the following Wednesday when Lev was on the bench. Meanwhile the Koreans had produced a major shock the night before when they’d beaten Italy 1-0 on Teesside. The last game at Roker Park was the Quarter Final in which the U.S.S.R. beat Hungary 2-1 on Saturday 23rd July when Ferenc Bene got one back for the Magyars. I remember his pleasantly unusual surname together with that of his team- mate Florian Albert because they were partly responsible for the only occasion when my Nan got excited about football. I rang her doorbell on the evening that Hungary came back from one goal down to beat Bulgaria 3-1 to be met by a torrent of her words as she opened the door, “Eeeee! Y’ll never believe it!” One of the players, I can’t remember which, had broken his arm but had returned to the pitch with it in a splint and this is what had particularly impressed her. The Soviet team’s training camp was at Maiden Castle in
35