“Zenith” grabbed the “Wings” – Newspaper Kommersant No. 196 (7397) of 10/21/2022

Having played unsuccessfully in the first round of the group stage of the Russian Cup, Zenit opened the second round with a home victory – 2: 1 – over Krylya Sovetov, which improved its standings. After the fourth round, it became catastrophic for Sochi. He suffered a fourth defeat in a row, losing – 2:3 – to Ural.

Zenit showed that he was by no means satisfied with the third place in group A, to which he, having lost to Spartak and Krylya Sovetov, fell after the first round, already in the starting lineup. It was combative, the kind that Petersburgers would certainly put up for a key Champions League match if suddenly Russian clubs were allowed to participate in it. The Brazilian goalkeeper Ivan did not even hit him, although it seems that the Cup was given to him at the mercy – somewhere such a good player needs to keep fit. And the Samara team, who just bet on a typical “cup” variant, mostly from understudies, of course, had a hard time.

The Zenit goal was built quickly, playing a laconic and refined combination, like a dessert in a three-star French restaurant, that could not do without a heel pass.

Ivan Sergeev, who was assisted by Claudinho, sent the ball into an empty net: goalkeeper Bogdan Ovsyannikov had already been played back.

“Wings” lasted until the break, but after it they got another hole: Sergeyev scored again. And the impression was created that Zenit could already safely play out the meeting in an economical mode – after all, the matches of the national championship were ahead, and the opponents did not pose any threat. But the ending was unexpectedly stormy. Suddenly revived Samarans snarled with an attack, the end of which was put by two substitute players: Sergey Pinyaev hung right on the head of Alexander Chirkovich, and he accurately and accurately struck. Inspired by the “Wings” made a few more attacks on the anti-aircraft gates, but the Russian flagship resisted.

Zenit caught up with Wings of the Soviets in terms of points scored: these clubs have six of them.

In the two remaining rounds, they will play for second place in the quartet. The leader with 12 points, Spartak, apparently cannot be reached, but the outsider Fakel, who lost all the meetings, is far behind.

In another match of the day, Ural, which gained strength and glamor after the appointment of Viktor Goncharenko as its coach, met with a team that claims to be the main loser of the Cup. Last season, Sochi took the silver of the Russian championship, in the current championship, despite personnel changes, the departure of mentor Vladimir Fedotov, he is also doing well. But something strange is happening with the Sochi team in the Russian Cup – they approached the second round of the group stage with zero points. And the course of the match with Ural did not at all hint at the fact that the figure after it would become much more beautiful.

His first half turned into a festival of corners. It’s not that there were a lot of them. On the contrary – only two on each side. But the implementation was kind of outrageous.

Ural opened the scoring from a corner, although in fact it looked like a gift for Sochi, given that it resulted in a miraculous rescue of the hosts by goalkeeper Denis Adamov, who reacted to the most difficult rebound. But a few seconds after him, Adamov could not do anything, because the combination of the Yekaterinburgers, obviously repeatedly worked out in training, went like clockwork. Lazar Randzhelovich hung on Alexei Kashtanov, who threw the ball to the far post, and Yuri Gazinsky was already standing there.

From the corner “Sochi” soon equalized the score. Igor Yurganov drove the ball into the net from the goalkeeper’s line after Juanzinho’s serve.

From the corner “Ural” took the lead again. And it was no less cool variation of the previous blank. Now the pitch has gone a little back, and the discount for Gazinsky – already from Yegor Filippenko – to the center. But the result was the same – a goal against Sochi.

And in the second half, Ural increased the margin under dramatic circumstances.

At the end of a classy lunge, Rai Vlut brought the ball into the goal, hitting Denis Adamov, who was flying towards him, with his foot in the head.

The field – it seems, with quite serious damage – had to leave both the forward of the guests and the goalkeeper of the hosts.

“Sochi” in the final half hour of the match did not look like a team that does not care about the fact that it is heading straight for the fourth defeat in a row. He scored one goal thanks to a mistake by Ural goalkeeper Ilya Pomazun, created a couple more good chances, and in stoppage time, which was reminiscent of a full-fledged overtime due to the stoppages of the game that preceded him, he pushed just desperately, forced two opponent players to receive a second yellow card – Kashtanov and Ramazan Gadzhimuradov. But the fourth defeat in a row still did not go away from Sochi. And after him, his position in Group D seems almost hopeless. He is six points behind Torpedo, who occupies the third position, that is, closing the “play-off zone”. Meanwhile, Ural has already overtaken the favorite of the CSKA quartet. He also has nine points.

Alexey Dospekhov