Football clubs “Krasnodar” and “Sochi” played matches in the Cup of Russia and in the national championship

Confirmed leadership

In the middle of last week, Krasnodar played away against Pari Nizhny Novgorod in the third match of the Russian Cup group stage. Considering that the first two cup meetings were lost, the coach of the “black-greens” Vladimir Ivic did not take risks, having released almost the entire main team on the field.

Krasnodar immediately took possession of the ball and dominated the entire match. Already in the first half, the guests struck eight shots on goal. Pari Nizhny Novgorod responded only once. At the same time, Krasnodar again had few truly acute episodes. Only in the fifth minute of the match, Olakunle Olusegun from the right edge unexpectedly shot from half-flight – the ball caught the near post of the Nizhny Novgorod goal. Vitaliy Botnari was late with the jump, but the error did not lead to a goal. The Nigerian continued to hit on goal, just like Ilzat Akhmetov, but these shots were less dangerous.

After the break, Sergei Yuran made substitutions. His team began to attack more actively, have more possession of the ball and shoot on goal. In the 64th minute, Edgar Savikyan hit his head at close range, Stanislav Agkatsev dragged him in a jump. Vladislav Karapuzov wanted to play the rebound, but Sergey Volkov successfully blocked him.

In the second half of the second half, the Bulls regained possession of the ball. Moments of the guests were, but not very dangerous. Only in the 88th minute, Olusegun robbed the Nizhny Novgorod defender Lucas Masoero, ran to the goal and cut out a cool pass to John Cordoba. Colombian cold-bloodedly struck his head and hit the gates of Botnar. Cordoba could immediately score a double, but did not realize a one-on-one exit.

Krasnodar won the first victory in the Russian Cup 2023/2024 and slightly improved the tournament situation. The Citizens finished third in Group D and are now only one point behind Dynamo (six points behind Spartak). Now in the Cup they are waiting for the second leg against Pari NN at home.

The next meeting “black-green” held in Krasnodar in the seventh round of the championship of Russia. The capital’s Spartak came to visit them. The tour match was attended by 32,761 spectators – an excellent result, considering that the stadium was poorly filled with the introduction of FanID.

After Spartak defeated Dynamo in the Russian Cup (4: 1), it seemed that Muscovites would tear and throw on the field in Krasnodar. Moreover, in the Russian Championship, the Red-Whites played three games without a win. But the guests began the meeting somehow cautiously, perhaps even stiffly. Krasnodar did not expect such a start, at first they looked at the opponent with apprehension, but then gradually began to take away the initiative.

In the 13th minute of the match, Eduard Spertsyan, in a quick attack in the center, tried to find Cordoba in the Spartak penalty area, but a convenient rebound from Daniil Denisov allowed the Armenian national team player to pick up the ball and shoot it from the bottom – past.

The Colombian could not get to the ball for a long time, but in the 40th minute of the match he received a pass into the penalty area from Lucas Olasa, twisted Alexis Duarte, turned to the goal and shot right under the far post – a goal.

Immediately, the bulls could have scored more. First, Denisov made a pass in the direction of Nail Umyarov, Nikita Krivtsov intercepted this ball, burst into the penalty area, where Alexander Selikhov was already alone. Umyarov’s foul, which stopped the midfielder of Krasnodar, was quite pulling on the penalty spot. But the chief judge Alexei Sukhoi did not point to the point. Krivtsov still managed to strike on goal. But Giorgi Jikia eliminated the threat.

After the break, the game noticeably revived. “Spartak” ran to recoup, the guests managed to create something. Once Alexander Sobolev hit the crossbar. Krasnodar responded with Batchi’s fast pass, who gave the pass to Cordoba, the Colombian shot, but this time Selikhov came to the rescue.

Both coaches tried to change the game with substitutions. True, Krasnodar did not run frantically ahead, but tried to save the result. This desire was seen even in the actions of Matvey Safonov, who was in no hurry to put the ball into play. Spartak could only hope that the opponent would make a mistake. But the Red-Whites made a mistake.

In the 82nd minute of the match, under pressure, Denisov gave a disgusting pass into his own penalty area, where Koksharov was ahead of Selikhov. The goalkeeper was forced to shoot down the attacking Krasnodar in a tackle. The referee awarded a penalty and issued a yellow card to the goalkeeper. Cordoba had already left the field by that time, Spertsyan volunteered to shoot from the spot again (recall that after a miss in the match with Lokomotiv, the Armenian entrusted the execution of the penalty to the Colombian, who, however, also could not score, already to Fakel). The midfielder struck this time after a short pause, outplayed Selikhov and calmly rolled the ball into an empty corner of the goal – 2: 0.

After the victory, the “townspeople” strengthened their leadership. Based on the results of seven rounds, they have 17 points and single-handedly take first place in the standings. The closest pursuers – Zenit and Wings of the Soviets – have 14 points each and occupy the second and third places, respectively.

Meanwhile, the championship went on a short break due to international matches. Nine players went from Krasnodar to the national teams. Safonov, Agkatsev and Volkov joined the Russian team. Kryvtsov and Oleksandr Chernikov, also called up to the national team, will miss the training camp due to injuries. The Russian national team will be divided into two squads, which will play three friendly matches away. Valery Karpin’s team will play twice with the Egyptian Olympic team (September 7 and 11), and on September 12 will meet with the national team of Qatar. Spertsyan and Georgy Harutyunyan left for the Armenian national team, which on September 8, as part of the qualification for Euro 2024, will play away with Turkey, and on September 11 will host Croatia at home. Junior Alonso flew to the location of the Paraguayan national team. As part of the 2026 World Cup qualification, his national team will play Peru at home on September 8 and will meet Venezuela on the road on September 13. Cordoba was called up to the Colombian national team, which, as part of the qualification for the 2026 World Cup, will have a home match with Venezuela (September 8) and an away match with Chile (September 13). Olasa has joined the Uruguayan national team, which is also fighting for a spot in the 2026 World Cup. Ahead of the Uruguayans is a home game with Chile (September 9) and an away game with Ecuador (September 13). Kevin Lenini left for the Cape Verde national team, on September 10, as part of the qualification for the African Cup of Nations, it will play with Togo.

Start failed completely.

PFC “Sochi” in the third round of the group stage of the Cup of Russia met at home with CSKA. Igor Akinfeev took part in this game for the first time after the restoration. Vladimir Fedotov saved almost all the other players of the base. After all, the “soldiers” were waiting ahead of the match with “Zenith” in the seventh round of the championship of Russia.

There was a lot of struggle in this game, not only between the opponents, but also between the players – with heat and the lawn. The glade at Fisht is so bad that the Russian Premier League moved the match of the eighth round of the Russian Championship between Sochi and Spartak to Moscow. The meeting was to be held on September 16 in Sochi, however, the RPL commission for assessing the quality of football fields recommended suspending games at the Sochi stadium for a month. The game, scheduled for April 2024, will take place in Sochi.

In the match with CSKA, the hosts had more possession of the ball, made a lot of throws on Christian Noboa, who was moving to the center. The Ecuadorians were not allowed to distinguish themselves by the central defenders of the “army”. The hosts had the opportunity to score in the first half. Half an hour after the start of the match, Miguel Silveira went great from Victor Mendez and struck great from behind the penalty area. CSKA rescued the post. Almost immediately after this episode, Noboa struck from the fly because of the free kick on the bounced ball. Matvey Kislyak did not have time to block the shot, Akinfeev’s save saved CSKA from scoring. The goalkeeper got the ball from under the crossbar.

After the break, the “soldiers” came out clearly more aggressive. But the Sochi residents almost immediately managed to create two most dangerous moments. First, Yuri Medvedev struck a killer, Akinfeev miraculously parried the blow with his hand. Then Igor Yurganov crossed from the right to the goalkeeper’s line on Noboa, the ball from the Ecuadorian flew towards the target, Kislyak managed to head it off the ribbon.

In the middle of the half, both coaches made a number of substitutions. Such permutations did not bring any spice to the game. The match ended without goals. According to the rules of the Cup of Russia, after the regular time of the match, a penalty shoot-out took place, which Sochi lost. In it, Yurganov hit the crossbar, Akinfeev, with his saves, after the blows of Ignatiev and Medvedev, got the army team a victory – 0:0 (4:5).

Then Sochi went to Orenburg, where, as part of the seventh round of the RPL, they met with the team of the same name to the city. This meeting ended in a complete fiasco for Dmitry Khokhlov’s team. Sochi looked weak with an outsider of the Premier League. We conceded two goals after the break. The first in the 55th minute was scored by Bryan Mansilla from the penalty spot, after the ball hit Martin Kramaric’s hand in his penalty area. Vladimir Obukhov scored the second goal under the crossbar in the 58th minute.

Further, “Orenburg” could score more, but hit the crossbars. In stoppage time of the match, Ivan Miladinovich knocked down Hovhannisyan in his penalty area. Chief Judge Evgeny Bulanov pointed to the spot. Justin Cuero hit a penalty kick, beating Nikolai Zabolotny and setting the final score on the scoreboard – 3: 0. After seven rounds, Sochi are twelfth in the standings with six points – a disastrous start for the southerners.