Old habits dying hard at Dinamo

New coach Igor Kriushenko hopes a change of benches and pre-match routine will help one-time titans FC Dinamo Minsk roll back the years in Belarus.

Traditional giants
Dinamo were historically the big force in Belarussian football. Soviet champions in 1982 and USSR Cup finalists the following season, they reached the quarter-finals of the European Champion Clubs' Cup, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in the 1980s, and thrived in the years following independence too, with six titles in seven seasons up to 1997.

Downward spiral
However, the late 1990s marked the start of a downward spiral for Dinamo. Tellingly, since 1999 they have had 17 coaches, and although they won the title again in 2004, last season's ninth-placed finish was their worst since independence. Aleksandr Khatskevich replaced Petr Kachuro during that season, but the club's hopes for 2008 now rest on another new manager, Kriushenko.

BATE success
The former USSR youth international started his career at Dinamo before playing for a number of low-profile Soviet clubs and then moving into coaching. His finest years came with FC BATE Borisov, where he won a 2006 domestic double and another title last year, while also leading his side to the third qualifying round of this season's UEFA Champions League, where they lost to FC Steaua Bucuresti.

Surprise switch
Those achievements make Kriushenko pretty much the most successful coach in Belarus, so it came as something of a shock when he decided to throw his lot in with Dinamo during the winter. "Every man sometimes needs to change his environment to evolve," he said. Dinamo chairman Yuri Chizh added: "When we met, the first thing I asked Igor was if he wanted to work at Dinamo. He said yes."

New personnel
The new coach has brought a wind of change to the club. While midfielder Anton Putilo has left for Hamburger SV in Germany, decent replacements have been found, and the coach has been quick to change old habits. The home bench is now on the right of the tunnel rather than the left, and his team no longer return to the dressing room after their pre-match warm-ups.

Killer instinct
For the moment, things are going well. Dinamo reached the Belarus Cup semi-finals and took four points from their first two games of the season, including a 2-0 win against ambitious FC MTZ-RIPO Minsk. "I asked the guys to be patient, to lie in ambush like a killer and not to miss their chance," said the coach. Such guerilla tactics could yet yank Dinamo out of the doldrums.