In Valwijk, the 50,000th suburb of Tilburg, all life spans between the cathedral, the disco and the stadium. By seven in the evening on the street almost no cars and passers-by. Absolute darkness, light frost and silence: it seems that the most intense thrillers were shot against the backdrop of such silent scenery.
At the stadium, the alarm recedes. Here even local football hooligans peacefully ride on bicycles and make friendly conversations with the police.
The tiny arena, which can accommodate a little more than 7,000 people, is seething in anticipation of football, like a tablet of soluble aspirin in a glass of water: one of the leaders, Twente, came to visit the local CSW, firmly bogged down in last place. Two dozen peanuts, aged seven to ten, dress up as mascots and prepare for the 11-meter-high kick tournament during half-time. Two older teenagers take out bags of coins from their pockets and patiently count out 25 euros - this is the cost of the cheapest, children's ticket. Although for the football that they will see in the next hour and a half, it’s a pity even the Euro-quarterman.
While Twente, slowly and without straining, organizes a new defeat for the outsider hosts, one of the Twente substitutes carefully warms up at the edge of the field. A tall and strong young man crouches, runs with his knees raised high, imitates feints. He will wait for his chance only in the 91st minute: the reserve judge picks up the plate with number 20, and the announcer in the stadium for some reason says in a sad voice: “Anatoly Gerk”.
Three minutes later, a whistle sounds, and Herc leaves the field with meager personal statistics: one single combat won, one touch of the ball. “In general, the guys and I thought that I would go out at the base,” Gerk tells me the next day. - It turned out for me: I moved to Twente a year ago and played the first three matches at the base. In the third game, he torn his muscle and dropped out for five months. In the new season, a new coach and manager came to the club and I was on the bench. The standard, in general, situation for a legionnaire. ”
Gerck's situation is standard not only in this. The 22-year-old striker is the most striking example of how dozens of young football players left Russia for fame at the beginning of the century, and soon could not find a convincing explanation for the fact that in the match of the Dutch championship they didn’t even make it to the match with an outsider.
TALENTS ON THE CONVEYOR
Herc was born in the late autumn of 1984 in the town of Polevskoy *, a small district center hidden between the Ural Mountains. I went to the football section there. At one of the tournaments, he was seen by coaches of the youth team under 15 years old. For several games in its composition he became interested in new hunters - breeders of the Akademika team. Its owner, the country's leading agent at that time, Konstantin Sarsaniya, was the first in Russia to decide to turn staff training into a business project.
The plan was as simple as a football goal. Talented children were brought to Moscow from all over the former Soviet Union. An experienced youthful coach Yevgeny Lapkov worked with them. Two dozen boys played in the championship of Moscow under the guise of "Labor reserves". The annual maintenance of the school cost Sarsania $ 200,000-300,000. About one young, but well-promoted player cost about the same, so any successful deal paid for the annual expenses. Then began net profit.
“It was good at Academic,” Gerk recalls dreamily. - We did not get out of Cyprus and Turkey, ate from the belly, constantly chased the ball. 14-year-old boys who came from the hinterland did not even dream of such things in New Year’s dreams. ”
The first issue of Sarsania has gained strength, won several youth tournaments in Europe. The time has come to employ young people. Budyansky, Kovalenko and Zeytullaev liked Juventus, Pavlenko went to Lausanne, and Gerka was called to Anderlecht.
Parents by Phone
He moved to Brussels at age 15. So that the guy did not disappear from loneliness, he was settled in the same house with the Ukrainian midfielder Yashchuk, a floor above. Yashchuk at that time was so accustomed to the Belgian capital that he moved his parents there. At first, Gerku was provided with home-made food and communication in Russian. A year later, Anatoly's father quit the Polevsky pipe-rolling plant, where he worked all his life to be closer to his son. “Mom, a nurse in the hospital, stayed home, and dad began to come to me for a month or two. As a result, he visited me for long visits and spent a total of six months a year next to me. It helped a lot: at first I missed my parents so much that I didn’t get out of the telegraph for hours and kept calling and calling them. ”
For five years, Herc has played only eight matches for Anderlecht, although in the youth team he finished every season with the top scorer. In the fall of 2004, in his first game for the main squad, Herc scored a goal and made an assist, Anderlecht won. After the match, the site of the club’s fans, calling themselves “Purple Dynamite”, exploded with a virtual ovation: 55% of fans considered Gerk's debut as excellent, another 33% as good, and then coach Hugo Broos made a statement: “We have been waiting for this moment for several years. When I came to Anderlecht, everyone considered him a great talent, but later almost everyone lost hope in him. He has changed a lot lately - let's hope that he can confirm our expectations. ”
I couldn’t. In the next year and a half, Herc appeared before the general public only once, having replaced the Champions League - the coaches threw him into battle with Inter 15 minutes before the end of the match.
- It turns out that the so-called performance for Anderlecht is simply a lost time? - I come to a disappointing conclusion. - Neither to you playing time, nor money, nor fame ...
- No, this is not a lost time. Training in a large European club with great partners is very useful. I didn’t find Jan Koller, but working with Radzinsky, Aruna Dindan, Mbo Mpenza is a very good level. And despair for these five years I did not appear even once. Yes, when I was very young, I missed the house. But it’s not that he said: “Why did I leave so early?”, I was simply sad. And here and now everything seems to be getting better.
Homeland Smell
Here - this is in Enschede, the capital of Twente, in the far west of Holland, near the very border with Germany. Now - this is the 2006/07 season, which promises to be the most successful for the local club in recent years.
“Since Kostya Sarsania has ceased to maintain relations with me, I have not had such an agent,” says Herc. - There is only a manager who just helps me. Last winter he told me that there is an option with Twente. Their financial conditions were better, plus promised a place in the composition. “I decided to switch immediately and after three days I changed the team.”
A dream stumbled over an injury - for a year on the account of Herc, there were hardly a dozen exits on the field and not a single goal in official meetings. “In general, I'm not quite a striker. When I was 18 years old, in Anderlecht they decided to make me a midfielder. With the 4-3-3 scheme, I am one of those who form the first three. ”
Herc says these words in a small restaurant in the central square of Enschede. On Sunday, this is almost the only place open to visitors.
- Hmm, to live here normally, you must either score 30 goals per season and become a hero of the city, or retire already, - I share my impressions.
- Do not say, even in comparison with Brussels it’s very boring here, I’m silent about Moscow! - Picks up Herc. - I heard such a joke here: if you are traveling across Europe and cows suddenly began to appear on the sidewalks, it means that you have already arrived in the Netherlands. Thank God my girl is Russian.
- And where are the players who have not crawled out of Europe for seven years, get acquainted with Russian girls?
- In airplane. A year ago, we flew on the same flight Moscow - Brussels.
There are things that could make Gerka return to their homeland: a house in the Moscow region and a limit on foreign players, which adds value to players with Russian passports. “We met with the manager of Saturn, in my opinion, his name is Mikhail (CEO Mikhail Vorontsov - PROsport),” says Gerk. - But this is just a meeting for educational purposes. I will not hide: of course, I would consider proposals from Russia. At the command level, I focus. Clubs like Rostov, Tom or Khimki could well have attracted me. ”
“When I was coming to you, I was sure that you were thinking about ending your career - seven years as a reservist, you can tire anyone,” I share the assumption with Gerk.
- What is the end of a career, what are you? These years did not break me at all - I just matured quickly, and that’s it. But I will fight for big football anyway. I have such a character that I cannot reconcile myself to defeats. Do not doubt: Herka is still ahead.
Yuri DUD, PROsport
| No. 3 (70) February 12 - February 25, 2007 |
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Juventus tempers character Cover: Maria Sharapova
Photo: BRIAN SMITH / CORBIS OUTLINE / RPG |