7 February 1997 - Two Nations Weren't Big Enough To Hold Him

On 7 February 1997, USSR-born defender Akhrik Tsveiba joined an exclusive group when he made an appearance for his third national team.

In 1990, at the age of 33, Tsveiba (pictured) started his international career with the Soviet team, making 25 appearances for them through the summer of 1992 (the last seven of those appearances were with the Soviet Union's successor team, the Commonwealth of Independent States).

On 26 August 1992, after the dissolution of the CIS team, he made a lone appearance for Ukraine in a 1-2 friendly loss to Hungary. Then, just over five months later, he switched his allegiance to Russia. His first appearance for them came on 7 February 1997 in the opening match of the Carlsberg Cup, which Russia won over Yugoslavia on penalties, 1-1 (6-5). (Russia went on to win the tournament with a win over Switzerland in the final.)

He proceeded to make another seven appearances for Russia, bringing his career total to 34 before retiring from international play in 1997.

While players with caps from two different national teams are not uncommon, Tsveiba is one of only seven who have played for three different teams. Three of the others--Yury Nikiforov, Andrei Pyatnitskyi, and Sergei Mandreko--were former USSR players in similar situations to Tsveiba. The other three are Josef Bican (Austria, Czechoslovakia, and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia), Laszló Kubala (Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Spain), and Karel Burkert (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Bohemia and Moravia).

5 June 1968 - A Little Luck Goes A Long Way

On 5 June 1968, a coin toss sent hosts Italy into the European Championship Final over the Soviet Union. Italy went on to win the Final in a replay.

Only four teams--Italy, the Soviet Union, England, and Yugoslavia--participated in the tournament. The two semifinal matches were played on the same day, with Italy hosting the USSR in Naples, while England met Yugoslavia in Florence. In the latter, Yugoslavia edged to a 1-0 victory with an 87th-minute goal from Red Star Belgrade winger Dragan Džajić.

The other semifinal was even closer, as Italy and the USSR struggled to a scoreless draw. Under the rules in place at the time, the victor was determined not by a replay, extra time or a penalty shootout, but by a coin toss, which Italy duly won. They advanced to the Final, where they played Yugoslavia to a 1-1 draw. For a Final draw, the tournament rules required a replay, which Italy also won, 2-0.

It remains Italy's only European Championship. They returned to the Final only once--in 2000--where they lost to France.

6 January 1939 - The Man Who Powered Dynamo

Iconic Dynamo Kyiv player and manager Valeriy Lobanovsky was born on 6 January 1939. He would eventually guide Kyiv to the first major European honor for any Soviet club, winning the 1975 Cup Winners' Cup.

Born in Kyiv, Lobanovsky joined Dynamo's youth team, then played there professionally from 1957 to 1964. He was a prolific scorer, especially from set pieces, tallying 42 goals in 144 league appearances for his hometown team while winning the club's first Soviet Cup (1954) and league title (1961). He retired from playing in 1968, after two seasons each with Chornomorets Odessa and Shakhtar Donetsk.

He moved quickly into management, taking charge of Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in 1969 before Dynamo called him back in 1974. There, his then-novel scientific approach to training and diet helped the club to European victory in his first season, beating Ferencváros in the 1975 Cup Winners' Cup.

Lobanovsky remained with Dynamo until 1990 (taking a brief break in 1982-83 to manage the Soviet national team). During his tenure, they won eight league titles, six Soviet Cups, and the 1986 Cup Winners' Cup. He returned again in 1997 and picked up where he had left off, winning five consecutive Ukrainian Premier League titles and advancing to the semifinals of the 1998-99 UEFA Champions League.

In 2002, he suffered a stroke after a match and died one week later. In honor of his service, Dynamo renamed their stadium in his honor.

21 November 1973 - The Soviets Avoid A Chile Reception

On 21 November 1973, Chile beat the Soviet Union 1-0 in a World Cup qualifying play-off match. It helped that the Soviets didn't bother to show up.

For the first time ever, World Cup qualification pitted a European team against a South American team in a playoff for the final spot in the tournament. The two teams drew 0-0 in the first leg, played in Moscow on 26 September. The second leg was scheduled for the National Stadium in Santiago, which had recently been used as a prison camp during that year's Chilean coup d'etat led by US-supported General Augusto Pinochet against Soviet-backed President Salvador Allende.

The Soviets refused to play in the stadium, effectively withdrawing from the tournament. The match went ahead as scheduled, though, with the Chileans kicking off before a crowd of thousands. They passed the ball down the pitch to their captain, who kicked it in from right in front of the goal. FIFA, however, declared the match a forfeit.

Immediately afterward, Chile hosted a friendly against Brazilian club Santos and lost 5-0.

24 July 1980 - That's No Way To Treat An Old Friend

On 24 July 1980, the Soviet Union rolled to any easy 8-0 victory over fellow Communists Cuba in the first round group stage of the Summer Olympics. Striker Sergey Andreyev contributed a first-half hat-trick on his way to becoming the tournament's top scorer.

The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan the previous year sparked a boycott led by the United States, so that 64 countries refused to participate. Most of the traditional football powers competed, however, with the lone exceptions being Uruguay and World Cup holders Argentina. Cuba had not qualified for the tournament originally, but took the place of the withdrawn United States.

Playing at Dinamo Stadium in Moscow, the two sides were playing for the group's top spot, with both having won their first two matches over other group members Zambia and Venezuela. But the Soviets quickly staked their claim, with Andreyev finding the back of the net in the 8th minute. The Cubans were heavily outmatched - the scoreline was 5-0 by the break and three second-half goals extended the lead to the final score of 8-0.

Despite the beat-down, Cuba finished second in the group and progressed to the second round, where they lost 3-0 to Czechoslovakia. The Soviets advanced to the semifinals, but were beaten 1-0 by East Germany, then took bronze by defeating Yugoslavia in the third-place match.

15 June 1986 - Belgium Shreds The Iron Curtain

On 15 June 1986, the Soviet Union fell to Belgium 3-4 (a.e.t.), despite a hat-trick from Dynamo Kyiv striker Ihor Belanov, that year's Ballon d'Or winner.

The two teams met in the World Cup's first knockout round, the Round of 16. Belanov (pictured), who had scored only one goal in the tournament's group stage, put the Soviets ahead in the 27th minute with a powerful blast from the right edge of the box. They held their lead through the first half, but in the 56th minute, Belgian midfielder Enzo Scifo slipped behind the Soviet back line to receive a well-timed pass and prodded it past the keeper for the equalizer.

They traded goals again later in the half; an unmarked Belanov received a pass in the box and slotted it home in the 70th minute, then seven minutes later Belgian midfielder Jan Ceulemans again caught the Soviet defense napping to take a high arcing lob on his shoulder and knock it into the goal. The second half ended at 2-2 to send the match into extra time.

In the 102nd minute, center back Stéphane Demol gave Belgium their first lead with a powerful header, then striker Nico Claesen extended it eight minutes later. A 111th-minute Belanov penalty kick gave the Soviets a lifeline, but they were unable to find another.

The Belgians continued their run with a quarterfinal win over Spain on penalty kicks, 1-1 (5-4), before losing 2-0 to eventual champions Argentina in the semifinal, then to France, 4-2 (a.e.t.), in the third place match.

31 May 1970 - The Reds See Yellow

On 31 May 1970, Mexico and the Soviet Union kicked off that year's World Cup before a crowd of 107,000 at Mexico City's Estadio Azteca. The match did not go as the hosts had hoped, ending as a scoreless draw.

Controversy erupted even before the players took the pitch, as FIFA scheduled several matches, including the opener, to start at noon. They claimed the early start time was intended to facilitate live television coverage for Europe, but many of the players complained that the noon starts would be too hot and would favor sides from warmer climates.

Despite El Tri's home advantage, the Soviets were heavily favored, having advanced the semi-finals of the previous World Cup, then finishing in fourth place in the 1968 Europeam Championship. Mexico, meanwhile, had never gotten out of the first round in any prior World Cup. On the day, however, neither side managed to threaten the other, making it an anticlimactic start to what would eventually become one of the most celebrated tournaments thanks to a dynamic Brazil side that won the trophy, their third, after beating Italy 4-1 in the Final.

The match did see the World Cup's first-ever tactical substitution, as well as the first-ever yellow card in a World Cup match. Before 1970, substitutions were allowed only in case of injury and, while cautions and expulsions were used before 1970, the tournament was the first to use the card system. The first substitute was the USSR's Anatoliy Puzach, who came on for Viktor Serebryanikov in the 46th minute, while the first yellow card - one of five issued in the match - went to Evgeni Lovchev in the 40th minute.