“Bulls” continue to break away from their pursuers, “leopards” settle at the bottom

FC Krasnodar advanced to the next stage of the Russian Cup and broke away from their pursuers in the national championship. PFC Sochi lost its ninth match in a row. Alexander Tochilin’s team risks losing its place in the elite of domestic football.

They will win even if they play poorly

The victorious march of the “bulls” in the 2023/24 season continues. In the middle of last week, Vladimir Ivich’s team hosted Paris Nizhny Novgorod at home as part of the fifth round of the Russian Cup.

The outcome of this meeting, in general, was predetermined from the very beginning. Krasnodar was the undisputed favorite. At first the match looked quite boring, but over time the hosts were able to shake up the guests’ defense. The game was, as they say, one-sided.

In the 33rd minute of the match, Paris Nizhny Novgorod midfielder Essien Ededem did not clear the ball very well from the line of the penalty area. The shell landed directly on Alexander Ektov, who struck hard. Here the visiting goalkeeper Ivan Kukushkin came to the rescue with a jump. The ball bounced off to Ilzat Akhmetov, who got ahead of the defender and sent the ball into an empty corner. In the 66th minute, Krasnodar won a corner. Mihailo Banjac crossed to the near post. Moses Cobnan threw the ball into the goalkeeper’s area, where Nikita Kakkoev was able to reach it. But Georgy Harutyunyan managed to put his foot down and the ball flew into the net. In the seventh added minute of the match, Krasnodar players ran into a counterattack. Kadi Borges played to John Cordoba, the Colombian burst into the penalty area from the left, escaping Viktor Alexandrov. As a result, he carefully shot from an acute angle under Kukushkin who went out of frame – 3: 0.

After five rounds, the Bulls were level with Dynamo on points (both teams had eight each) and took third place in Group D. Krasnodar has a chance to immediately qualify for the Russian Cup playoffs. To do this, you need to beat Spartak in the final round on November 1 and expect Dynamo to lose points.

The match of the eleventh round of the Russian Championship between Krasnodar and Rostov did not foretell anything special. It seemed that the leader of the Russian Premier League would easily defeat their poorly performing neighbors. The data showed this: the “black-greens” conceded the least in the tournament (three goals), the “yellow-blues”, on the contrary, conceded the most (twenty-one goals). In addition, the “bulls” hosted Rostovites at home.

However, at the beginning of the match it seemed that the guests were the leaders and favorites. Valery Karpin’s team rushed forward without fear, began to attack, put pressure, and the Rostovites were successful. Ivic’s team became confused and began to make mistakes in their strong line – defense. Nothing worked in attack either. There were blows, but they lacked precision.

In the 23rd minute, Matvey Safonov passed a pass to the left directly onto the foot of Alexey Ionov, the former Krasnodar footballer crossed into the penalty area to Yegor Golenkov, Alexander Chernikov played an interception, but the ball bounced off him directly onto the foot of Danil Glebov, who also worked on the second touched the City goalkeeper.

The owners “floated”. A few minutes later, Safonov almost scored the second goal. The goalkeeper handled the ball poorly, which bounced to the Rostov striker. If it weren’t for Chernikov’s rescue, the shell would have flown into an empty gate.

The second goal followed in the 41st minute. After Evgeny Chernov’s cross from the left flank, Golenkov threw the ball to Mohammad Mohebi. The Iranian striker, not guarded by anyone, sent the ball from the center of the penalty area exactly into the upper right corner of Safonov’s goal – 0: 2.

At the beginning of the second half, the Rostovites could have scored the third goal. Then Golenkov hit the post, but Ionov almost didn’t have enough to finish. True, such a goal would most likely have been canceled due to offside.

Krasnodar scored in the fiftieth minute, when no one expected it. After a throw-in from the right edge, the ball ended up on the penalty line for Eduard Spertsyan, who hit the bottom left corner of Sergei Pesyakov’s goal.

After the goal the game changed. It became clear that Rostov was tired. “Krasnodar” only continued to gain momentum. There were more and more dangerous moments at Pesyakov’s goal, and it became clear that a goal would only be a matter of time.

As a result, Rostov slipped into defense alone. Karpin made changes that only made everything worse. In the eightieth minute of the match, Spertsyan crossed from the left corner of the field to the near post, from where Junior Alonso, who came running, headed through a rebound from the back of Nikolai Komlichenko, who had recently entered the game, and sent the ball into Pesyakov’s net – 2: 2. It turned out that the Krasnodar graduate unwittingly played for your old team.

It seemed that the game would end in a draw. This was already a good result for the hosts. But Ivic’s team was clearly lucky that day. In the fifth added minute of the match, Alonso passed diagonally to the right to Sergei Volkov. The Krasnodar graduate rolled the ball into the penalty area to Cordoba – the Colombian turned around, calmly dealt with the young Rostov defender Viktor Melekhin and shot exactly into the lower left corner of Pesyakov’s goal – 3: 2.

A strong-willed victory allowed Krasnodar to break away from their pursuers. The Bulls have 27 points after eleven rounds. Krylya Sovetov, who stumbled in this round, are six points behind. Zenit – by seven. A spectacular strong-willed victory for Krasnodar will only give them confidence!

There is no glimpse

A completely opposite situation is observed at Sochi. Alexander Tochilin’s team has entered a period of failure, and there are no prospects of getting out of it yet.

In the middle of last week, the resort team hosted Orenburg at home as part of the fifth round of the group stage of the Russian Cup.

Sochi managed to score first. In the seventeenth minute of the match, the hosts played a corner, Nikita Burmistrov reached the goal line and shot along the goal, where Artem Meshchaninov was already ahead of his opponent and sent the ball into the net. But after a couple of minutes, the Russian-Czech Leopards defender fouled Nikolai Titkov. As a result, Nikita Goylo was awarded a penalty kick. Vladimir Obukhov struck powerfully from eleven meters. The Sochi goalkeeper did not guess the direction of the shot – 1:1.

In the 63rd minute, Sochi conceded again. First, Orenburg midfielder Yaroslav Mikhailov reached the penalty area and gently crossed into the goalkeeper’s area. Meshchaninov fell short, but Khimmi Marin adjusted and headed the ball past Goilo – 1:2.

In the 89th minute of the match, Mikhail Sivakov received a red card for a foul on Ivan Ignatiev. But this did not help the Sochi residents. After five matches, they occupy the last—fourth—place in Group A with five points. At the same time, they still have a chance to get into the playoffs of the “Path of Regions” of the Russian Cup. We just need to beat Fakel on November 1st.

In the eleventh round, Tochilin’s team hosted Zenit at home. It was not expected that the Sochi team would take points away from the reigning Russian champions. And so it happened.

Sergei Semak appointed the former goalkeeper of the Leopards, Denis Adamov, for this match. The Krasnodar graduate did not disappoint and played to zero. Perhaps now he will replace Mikhail Kerzhakov in goal.

The Sochi team quickly conceded the first goal. In the seventh minute of the match, Douglas dos Santos passed into the Leopards penalty area, where the ball hit Kirill Zaika’s exposed elbow. Vladislav Bezborodov watched the video replay and pointed to the spot. Claudinho calmly took the penalty kick, directing the ball into the corner of the goal to his right. Goilo did not help.

In the eighteenth minute of the match, the “resorts” could get even when Martin Kramaric jumped highest after a cross from the right edge and hit the crossbar. The Sochi team was the first to rebound, but Christian Noboa missed. At some point, the hosts even took the initiative on the field. Zenit began to play as number two, relying on counterattacks.

But in the thirtieth minute the St. Petersburg team scored the second goal. First, Santos once again joined the attack and crossed into the Sochi penalty area, Ivan Sergeev, who was ahead of the defender, made a convenient discount to the penalty mark, from where Mateo Cassierra fired a touch under the far post – the ball from the hands of Goilo went into the net – 0: 2.

For the former Sochi player, this goal was the eighth in the Russian Championship and the ninth including the National Cup. At the moment, Cassier is the top scorer in the Russian Premier League.

After the second goal the game became boring. The ball was mostly in the middle of the field. After Noboa was injured and had to leave the field, Sochi’s chances of winning back became even less.

In the 76th minute, Miguel Silveira pushed past the Zenit defender and crossed into the center of the penalty area, from where Burmistrov fired home. The ball bounced past the near post. A minute later, the Brazilian could have scored himself when he fired hard from the penalty area, Adamov pulled off this shot.

The defeat from Zenit was the ninth in a row for Sochi (sixth in the Russian Premier League). After eleven rounds, the “resort team” confidently settled in last place with six points. The club management urgently needs to take some measures!