place for the 1968 European Championship qualifying match against Finland on 30 August 1967, Streltsov missed three Soviet Union matches. He regained his place for an away friendly match against Bulgaria on 8 October, scoring a goal as the Soviets fought back from 1–0 to record a 2–1 win. He retained his place for the rest of the calendar year, and scored a hat-trick away against Chile on 17 December. He was voted Soviet Footballer of the Year at the end of the season, although he scored a relatively low six league goals during 1967, his lowest for a full season since his debut year of 1954. Streltsov was dropped from the Soviet team for the first three national team matches of 1968. After featuring in a home friendly win over Belgium in April, he made his final appearance for the USSR in the 2–0 1968 European Championship quarter-final first leg loss to Hungary on 4 May 1968. The Soviets beat Hungary 3–0 in Moscow a week later, without Streltsov, to qualify for the final tournament on aggregate. Streltsov was left out of the tournament squad, and never played for the USSR again; after his final appearance, his international tally stood at 25 goals in 38 matches. Torpedo won the Soviet Cup during the 1968 season, overcoming Uzbek side Pakhtakor Tashkent 1–0 in the final. Streltsov retained his title of Soviet Footballer of the Year after scoring the highest seasonal total of his career, 21 (in the league), but was moved back to midfield before the 1969 season and did not score in 23 league matches during his final two years. He retired from football in 1970, at the age of 33, leaving his final league record for Torpedo over both spells standing at 99 goals from 222 games. Post-retirement career Following a footballing career spent exclusively with Torpedo, Streltsov, a supporter of Spartak Moscow, repeatedly complained about his failure to play for his favourite team. After his retirement, Torpedo continued to pay his salary to fund his study of football coaching at the Institute of Physical Culture. Streltsov returned to Torpedo in the capacity of youth team manager following his qualification; he also spent a brief spell as manager of the first team before returning to the youth team in 1982. He also took part in matches contested by former players before dying in 1990 from throat cancer, which