“But we come here every year,” said Oleg Ipatenko, a CSKA doctor, with a soft sigh. - And every year the same thing. We are brought to the old city, we go to the store, then we go to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and to the Wailing Wall.
- Does it help?
- Since 2002, have been every year and always become champions. Well, there was still a golden match where we lost. And they didn’t go only once - in 2004. Arthur Georges then took us to Portugal. But each time in a note that I leave at the Kotel, I ask that CSKA become the champion.
Some were already scared for the doctor. But he added:
- One of the points. So it is possible…
CSKA players, even those who have been in the club for more than a year, perceived the tour as a duty, which cannot be avoided. Something like autographs after the match. Only Sergey Ignashevich rebelled. According to our information, he announced that he would not go anywhere and would stay in the hotel to rest. His partners, knowing the seriousness of the head coach in such matters, did not dare to suggest what arguments the captain put forward in defense of his position. But Chidi Odia did easier: he said that he needed to solve problems with the visa at the embassy.
The tour began on the bus and continued at the Jaffa Gate.
“Two thousand Jews, one thousand Armenians and thirty thousand Muslims live in old Jerusalem,” the guide said in a loud voice.
“Now we need to add two more to Muslims,” the massage therapist Mikhail Nasibov picked up. - Me and Elver Rahimich.
Rakhimich nodded and continued the tour very interestingly. At first he tried to involve partners in a theological debate (how Catholicism differs from Orthodoxy) in a gift shop. But I came across a complete misunderstanding, for example, of Ivan Taranov. Then he visited all the sights, but did not put his hand to the Holy Sepulcher and other shrines, listened to the guide and remembered.
In the store, almost everyone was laden with souvenirs. Only Yuri Zhirkov and the Balkan legionnaires were calm. However, those had reasons.
“Ivica, give me money,” asked Milos Krasic from Olic.
“No,” the partner refused.
- But why? - Milos was indignant. - Give. Just a hundred dollars.
Olic seems to have remained adamant.
On the street, the wonders of market relations were demonstrated by Dudu. He liked the keffiyeh (headdress). He paid $ 20 for her.
“Hm,” experienced visitors to souvenir shops shook their heads. “Looks like you were deceived.”
- No! - exclaimed Dudu not without pride. - First, they asked me for a hundred dollars. But I was bargaining.
Only he told this, as several turban merchants appeared in the crowd of football players, asking for "five" for their goods. But they decided not to upset Dudu.
One of those who approached tried to put on a keffiyeh on Valery Gazzayev. But the daredevil was quickly driven away by Nikolai Latysh, who guarded the boss no worse than any bodyguard.
Everyone moved to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Valery Gazzayev knew there that a miracle was in itself. The coach even prudently grabbed a CSKA souvenir package with gifts and handed it to a monk. In response, he asked to be photographed with a dear guest.
“We will hang this picture here,” he announced. - Let them see what kind of people we have.
Elsewhere, these words would not surprise anyone.
“But before the intifada,” Veniamin Mandrykin recalled, “we with Valery Georgievich and Alania traveled all over Israel. They washed their feet in the Jordan, were in Bethlehem, Nazareth.
Meanwhile, CSKA head coach with amazing concentration chose his rosary. Probably, now he has them no worse than Kurban Berdyev’s.
- Is there a trifle? - Alexei Berezutsky began to ask partners at the end of the second hour of the tour. - I am hungry. How long will we get to the hotel? Two hours. I won’t bear it.
No one found the little things, there were only large ones. But Elver Rahimich handed the partner a bun. No one understood where she came from. Not otherwise - a miracle. Alex began to chew happily.
“Come on half,” Brother Basil immediately approached. It was impossible to refuse.
Rahimich smiled. He fed two people with one bread. And I felt at least not bad. Although, of course, there is no limit to self-improvement.
Brazilian players behaved relatively calmly (and they say that the main noise at the training camp was from them), but they constantly took pictures and discussed everything they saw. In the temple, by the way, they calmed down a bit and touched each artifact fervently, like pilgrims who had difficulty reaching the place.
Not everyone went to the Kotel. It would seem that the question of the championship of CSKA this year has not been completely decided. But Valery Gazzayev was safe. He called two Orthodox Jews to him, asked for something, and they went to pray.
Championship can not be held.
Alexey SHEVCHENKO, Jerusalem