“Krasnodar” remained in its place

The third round of the Russian Football Championship opened the match, which kept Krasnodar a “clean” track record and leadership in the championship. True, he defeated Paris Nizhny Novgorod on his field without brilliance and with great difficulty, scoring the only goal in the first half.

This match brought Krasnodar a third consecutive victory in the championship, and he won it in a style that can apparently be called routine. However, at first I did not want to invest exclusively negative meaning in this definition. The way Krasnodar played is often played by teams that know their own worth too well, and also know that there are times when some kind of special strain is not required in order to achieve what you want.

Those who liked the Nizhny Novgorod club more than half an hour had formal reasons to be satisfied with the development of events – well, if you do not look at them closely. The game is calm, measured, almost monotonous. And only a rare emergency in the form of an injury received out of the blue by side referee Dmitry Semenov makes the stadium really worried. So the first in this meeting was destined to be replaced not by one of the players, but by the referee, who was writhing in pain for a long time on the sidelines, while he was being treated with a frostbite on his leg, instead of whom Roman Safyan, who was sitting in reserve, cheerfully came out.

But a close look, of course, snatched out the nuances that promised problems for the Nizhny Novgorod residents. Well, yes, their defense seems to be, as usual, strong, does not allow gross mistakes. But it is impossible, for example, not to pay attention to the fact that always, almost in all duels, the guests are inferior in speed to the nimble and better-versed in the situation Krasnodar, and potential threats often break down on the thin one, at the last second. This advantage of Krasnodar found material embodiment in the number of standards that he got. Eduard Spertsyan had so many corners and free kicks that even if he were used by the hosts only for their sake, resting on the grass the rest of the time, he would still be decently loaded. And he set standards, by the way, not bad: everyone created tension in the penalty area.

In general, it was that classic case when a goal gradually, imperceptibly, one might say, invisibly, but matures, and you can’t get away from it. He matured when Krasnodar once again got a corner. The ball reached Olakunle Olusegun, whose discount met on the way the hand of Nikolai Kalinsky, set aside far to the side. VAR did not miss the violation, and Spertsyan, with iron composure, put the ball from the penalty spot into the bottom corner.

Meanwhile, at the end of the first half, something happened that broke the trend. “Pari NN”, which, it seemed, in the terrible heat of Krasnodar is not able to at least slightly increase the pace, suddenly came to life and ran. Moreover, he ran quite intelligently – so that the Krasnodar penalty area was densely lined with attacks, and the Krasnodar defense, which until now had been mainly engaged in the promotion of offensive attacks, had to remember about its direct duties.

The break did not cool the Nizhny Novgorod fuse. The guests still wanted to rush forward, and Krasnodar seemed not at all against this, as if he kept in mind how toothless the opponent was at the forefront in his previous matches of this championship – against Zenit and Ural. Although it is unlikely that Krasnodar fans were completely satisfied with this approach. Still, even completely toothless clubs, if their attempts are treated with indifference, someday, yes, they will prick. For example, after already a triple substitution: it was made by Paris NN coach Sergei Yuran in order to add passion and sharpness to the game.

In fact, there are more of them, by the way. And one day, two defendants in this large-scale replacement almost punished Krasnodar for their passivity. Vladislav Karapuzov cut his rear with a pass, and Timur Suleymanov got the opportunity to shoot from the penalty area without much interference. Forward missed a little past the far corner.

However, in the end, the game calmed down, and Krasnodar, albeit without brilliance, brought it to a result that suited the favorite. It will allow Krasnodar to remain at the top of the standings even after the end of the third round. Only Spartak can catch up with him, which on Saturday meets Rubin on the road.

Alexey Dospekhov