There is news from Kuban football and volleyball clubs

FC Krasnodar is strengthening its squad. At the same time, journalists say that one of the main players of the “townspeople” is leaving for competitors. PFC Sochi has decided on its opponents for the winter training camp. VC Dynamo won its fifth victory in the Russian Championship. “MK in Kuban” is about the main sporting events in the Krasnodar region.

Lost a leader?

At the beginning of 2024, the Bulls announced their first transfer acquisition during the winter break. Defensive midfielder Kevin Castagno has joined the Black-Greens squad. Before this, the Colombian played for the Mexican club Cruz Azul. The contract is planned to be signed at the first training camp, which will be held in Dubai. The footballer will undergo a medical examination there. The amount that Krasnodar paid for the player was not disclosed by the club, but, according to the authoritative portal Transfermarkt, it amounted to 7.3 million euros. According to the same site, the player’s current value is four million euros. They also reported that the employment contract was concluded for three years.

Kevin Duvan Castaño Gil was born on September 29, 2000 in the Colombian city of Itagui. The footballer is a graduate of the Aguilas Doradas club, for which he played until the summer of 2023. Castaño scored his first goal in professional football on April 12, 2023, in a match with Club America de Cali. By this time, the midfielder had already played for the Colombian national team – his debut for the national team took place on January 29, 2023. The midfielder currently has seven matches for his country’s team.

Last summer, Castaño signed a contract with Cruz Azul. In six months, he played fifteen matches for the Mexican club and made one assist.

The information about the transfer of Krasnodar midfielder Ilzat Akhmetov to Zenit was unexpected. Although at the time of writing this article has not been confirmed by any of the clubs, a number of media outlets are reporting that agreements have already been reached. Allegedly, the midfielder has already passed a medical examination, the transfer will be announced in the near future. The same media reports that Akhmetov will sign a contract with the “blue-white-blue” for two and a half years with the possibility of extension for another twelve months. Krasnodar, according to journalists, should receive 850 thousand euros for this transfer.

Chairman of the Board of Zenit Alexander Medvedev did not deny the footballer’s transfer, saying only that it was premature to talk about this fact as having happened.

Of course, for Krasnodar the departure of the midfielder is a serious loss. This season, Akhmetov took part in 21 City matches in all tournaments. The footballer scored three goals and gave two assists. Transfermarkt estimates Akhmetov’s market value at three million euros. Before moving to Krasnodar, the football player from Kyrgyzstan played for CSKA Moscow, and also played at the academies of Konoplev and Rubin Kazan.

Almost certainly this winter, Krasnodar will lose midfielder Kevin Lenini. The footballer’s agent Pierre Fernandez said after the New Year holidays that he was exploring options for the 26-year-old player to transfer to another Russian club. Earlier it was reported that Paris Nizhny Novgorod is interested in the player from Cape Verde.

— We have no official offers from Russian clubs. Nobody contacted me. But I’m also working on Lenini’s possible transfer to another Russian club,” Fernandez said.

The midfielder moved to the City camp from the Portuguese Chaves in the fall of 2022. The transfer amount, according to Transfermarkt, was one million euros. This season, the footballer played fifteen matches for the Bulls in all tournaments, in which he scored one goal and one assist. At the same time, the midfielder spent 565 minutes on the field.

The player’s contract with Krasnodar runs until the summer of 2025. According to Transfermarkt, the footballer’s current market value is 1.2 million euros.

No gain yet

There are not many rumors surrounding Sochi transfers. In addition to the information that appeared back in 2023 about the transfer of Alexander Erokhin from Zenit to the “southerners” camp, the press is talking about the possible arrival of Lokomotiv midfielder Daniil Kulikov. The Railwaymen allegedly put their pupil up for transfer. “Sochi” and “Akhmat” became interested in him.

Also: football agent Mladen Ratkovica, who represents the interests of Sochi defender Vanja Drkusic, said that German and Belgian clubs are interested in the services of the Slovenian footballer.

— Clubs from Germany and Belgium are interested in Drkusic. If the proposal is satisfied, then I see no reason not to let him leave Sochi,” said Ratkovica.

In the meantime, the Leopards have decided on the schedule for winter training. Robert Moreno’s team will begin preparations for the spring part of the current season on January 15th. First, the Leopards will gather in Sochi, where they will undergo an in-depth medical examination. The first inclusive training camp will take place at the club’s base in Adler until January 26 inclusive and will end with a test match with the Sochi youth team.

The “resort campers” will hold the second training camp in Belek, Turkey, from January 30 to February 9. During this period, the Sochi team will play three sparring matches: on February 2 – with Akhmat, on February 8 – with Slavia Sofia, on February 9 – with CSKA Moscow.

From February 13 to 24, another third pre-season training camp will take place in Belek. Three test matches are scheduled for it: on February 15 – with the five-time champion of Uzbekistan – Fergana “Neftchi”, on February 19 – with Tyumen, and on February 23 – with Fakel.

Preparations for the spring part of the season will be completed in Sochi, where the final week-long training cycle will take place. After this, the Leopards will go to the first official game of the calendar year in Kaliningrad.

Losing streak broken

At the very beginning of 2024, volleyball Dynamo continued to play in the super league. Already on the fourth of January, Pavel Zabuslaev’s team hosted “Tulitsa” at their home. The game was played on equal terms and lasted more than two and a half hours.

To win the first game, Dynamo had to score thirty points by converting the seventh set point. The Tula team made only two more mistakes. The second set also went to Krasnodar. But then Zabuslaev’s team gave up the initiative and brought the match to a tiebreaker. The quality of the game in attack, the scoring of points on the block, the efficiency of the teams’ actions in the reception spoke of the absolute equality of forces, emphasizing the role of errors as the most important factor in this game.

Dynamo made more mistakes in the tiebreaker. The Krasnodar team disrupted their serve three times, missing the target twice when attacking. “Tulitsa” won one rally with an ace and stopped the home team three times on the block.

After Maria Bogovskaya’s serve was broken, Tulitsa took the lead – 6:4. Dynamo worked well on the block: first Yulia Podskalnaya earned points, then Rimma Goncharova stopped Polina Kovaleva’s attack. An accurate shot to the floor by Bogovskaya returned Dynamo to the lead – 8: 7. Anastasia Zhukova, having scored, made Krasnodar the leader for the fifth time in the game – 13: 12. With the score tied, she did not hit the court, and Tulitsa earned a match point – 13:14. Then Bogovskaya played successfully, but in the next play her attack was stopped by Ekaterina Timoshkova – 14:15.

Kovaleva put an end to the match. She appeared on the court at the end of the fourth game and converted eight of her fifteen attacks. In a situation where it was critically important, the attacker hit the floor – 2:3 (30:28, 25:22, 21:25, 23:25, 14:16). The defeat from Tulitsa was the ninth in a row for Krasnodar in the Super League.

Dynamo ended the match in a tiebreaker for the tenth time this season. Six times the Krasnodar team played the fifth game in the Super League: in Tula, Minsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow, twice at home, with Yenisei and Tulitsa. Two more five-set matches are games in Krasnodar with Yenisei in the playoffs of the Russian Cup. Two such games took place in Chelyabinsk, where Dynamo started with group games in the Centenary Cup of Russian Volleyball.

Four days later, Zabuslaev’s team hosted Atom-Kursk at their home. In the game with the league outsider, the Krasnodar team scored three points, and forward Valeria Shevchuk set a personal scoring record for games that lasted four games – 25 points. The finisher won seven goals for the team in the first game, where her successful attacks and ace helped to win.

An important factor in Dynamo’s success in this game was an aggressive block. He repeatedly forced the Atom attack to unsuccessfully search for non-trivial solutions. Dynamo won thirteen goals during the game, five in the second game. Yulia Podskalnaya earned five points in blocking for the team. Krasnodar lost only the third set.

The fourth game was decided in four final rallies. Only Alla Alekumova was right about them. Kursk’s finisher prudently hit the hands of the blockers – 24:22. Goncharova became the heroine of the most important period. She won three goals in a row for the team – 13: 8. The denouement in the dispute between the teams came after an ace from Bogovskaya, who played in the diagonal position – 17: 10. As a result, Dynamo broke the nine-game losing streak and achieved the fifth victory in the Super League this season – 3: 1 (25: 19, 25: 18, 23: 25, 25: 16).

Success in the match with the Kursk region club returned Zabuslaev’s team to the playoff zone of the Russian Championship standings. Based on the results of fifteen rounds, the Krasnodar team has seventeen points and takes eighth place. Dynamo has a series of matches ahead of it with direct competitors: Yenisey, Uralochka, Sparta, Zarechye. Dynamo will hold the first such match in Krasnoyarsk.