“I have always been rooting for Torpedo and always worried” – Kavazashvili

The former player of Spartak and the USSR national team Anzor Kavazashvili, in a conversation with KP Sport, shared his expectations from the release of the Moscow Torpedo in the RPL.

– Torpedo returned to the big leagues, I want to congratulate you on this. Will you root for Torpedo?

– I always supported Torpedo and always worried. When this general crisis situation happened, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and everyone was already allowed to go to the market, to trade, they gave away all the land, the factory buildings were demolished, it was very disappointing. Because the football team “Torpedo” went from hand to hand. Either they called him “Moscow”, then “Luzhniki” …

– At one time there were actually two “Torpedos”.

– It turns out that we, from a great team, a wonderful club with many thousands of factory fans, have done nothing, a dummy. And it was so embarrassing. And I have said many times both in the press and at meetings at the plant with workers: at least one ruble, let’s collect and restore the Torpedo football club so that the team is again at the same level. And what happened? The team was sold, the stadium was sold. Thank God that they managed to name the Torpedo stadium on Vostochnaya Street after Eduard Streltsov.

Of course, I root for them and will continue to do so. Because I honed all my skills in Torpedo for eight years. And at the peak of my skill, I moved to Spartak and did what I did. And he participated in the national team, stood at the gates of the national team for seven years. Next to our legendary Lev Yashin. Of the numerous goalkeepers, class goalkeepers of the Soviet Union, I was the only one who lingered, I was always next to Yashin, at first the second, replaced, and then became the first, main goalkeeper. At the World Championships in Mexico in 1970, I played all the games, and Lev Ivanovich was in my reserve. This already suggests that I also had good success in football.

In the first round of the WORLD RPL, Torpedo lost to Sochi at home (1: 3). In the next round, the club will play away with Dynamo.