Ilya Pavlovich Gvozdkov (1910–1941) - Soviet footballer, speaking in the position of defender.
 Ilya Gvozdkov | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| general information | |||||||||||||
| Full name | Ilya Pavlovich Gvozdkov | ||||||||||||
| Was born | 1910 Moscow , Moscow Province , Russian Empire | ||||||||||||
| Is dead | 1941 | ||||||||||||
| Citizenship |  the USSR | ||||||||||||
| Position | defender | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Biography
Gvozdkov began his career in the Moscow club ZIF, where he spent five seasons. In the season of 1936 (autumn), he moved to the Moscow "Kazanka", which from the next season began to be called " Lokomotiv ".
His new club used the “five in line” tactical scheme characteristic of Soviet football in the 1930s, it provided for only two defenders on the field. Gvozdkov played in a pair with Ivan Andreev , this tandem most experts recognized as the best pair in the era of the first USSR club championships . Despite the clear-cut game interaction, they both on the field and in life were complete opposites. Quarrels between them in the dressing room were commonplace. Lokomotiv coach Mikhail Sushkov later admitted that he was unable to reconcile them.
Andreev was more temperamental, Gvozdkov, in his turn, was more tall and wide in his shoulders, showed and at every opportunity he used his physical strength.
“Ilya Gvozdkov, the left back of the Lokomotiv team, is distinguished by great calm in the game. His hitting the ball is strong and accurate. Only occasionally manifested rudeness spoils the first-class style of his game. Nails is undoubtedly a growing player. Already, he is one of the best beks of the Union. ”- “ Red Sport ” .
The leading scorer of “Lokomotiv” of those years, Viktor Lavrov , compared Gvozdkov with Apollo and paid tribute to his skill in single-handed combat.
| Outwardly, he even seemed somewhat gruff, but at the same time he had such a remote speed that even the fastest forwards rarely managed to get away from him. The main qualities of Gvozdkov were exceptional courage and dedication in the game. I remember cases when, at a critical moment, he managed to head off to remove the ball from his leg as he prepared to strike a striker. In the victorious final of 1936, when the score was 2-0, a real barrage of attacks from Tbilisi Dynamo came down on our gates. However, Gvozdkov, like his partner Andreev, was on strike that day, only once they let Boris Paichadze into a shock position. |
In 1937, Gvozdkov played two matches against the national team of the Basque Country on the last tour of the USSR : for the native Lokomotiv and as a guest player for Dynamo Kiev . Against the Basques, the duet accustomed to the style of the game of domestic forwards was not easy:
“The ball is at the gate of Lokomotiv.” The nails calmly “fit in”. Suddenly, because of his back Langar pulls the ball and from the move hits just above the gate. " - match transcript
The experience of playing against European-class footballers made Gvozdkova be more circumspect, and in the championship that began soon, the defense of the “railroad workers” was once again one of the most reliable - fewer goals than Lokomotiv, only Spartak missed. The coming to the club of promising Ivan Stankevich destroyed a bunch of two opposites: now Andreev, then Gvozdkov were forced to give way to a newcomer. They reunited in 1940 after Stankevich’s transfer to Dynamo Moscow .
In June 1941, Ilya Gvozdkov went to the front in one of the first volunteer detachments and did not return - he died during the Great Patriotic War .
Links
- Profile on FootballFacts.ru
- Heroic character