Army selection: how Krasnodar was left without the right to make mistakes

Krasnodar, having lost to CSKA in Moscow, has exhausted the limit of misfires that it can afford in order not to lose first place. Now the task is very clear: six points in Orenburg and at home with Dynamo. Zenit, which is now only one point behind Murad Musayev's team, will surely win its victories. The blue-white-blues have matches with Rostov and Akhmat ahead of them. Thanks to their success over the Bulls, the Army team is now the favorite to fight for the bronze medal. But on Sunday, May 11, Fakel said goodbye to the RPL.

Planned loss

To tell the truth, the opposite would have been more surprising if the Bulls had won on Saturday, May 10. CSKA, after all, had an 11-match unbeaten streak, there has not been any particular decline lately, he played at his stadium. Before this round, the army club was in the lead in spring points (Krasnodar, however, were in second place in this indicator). If any loss of points can be called planned, it is this one. There is no drama.

The first half turned out to be uneventful. The candidate for the champion of the game looked more solid and solid, but only one clear moment was created — Igor Akinfeev kicked Alexander Chernikov's shot with his head off the ground from the goalkeeper's area. Perhaps this rescue changed the course of the game, the plot of which, in the case of the Bulls' first goal, scored with their advantage, had every chance of being completely different.

Krasnodar played poorly in the second half, unlike in the first. It was going to CSKA's goal. The army team played with an advantage, and after the substitutions, it became even bigger — the Krasnodar base ran up and simply stopped keeping up with its rivals. At some point, the substitutions became 4-0 in favor of the red and blue, and for some reason Musaev delayed with his permutations. And if Sekou Koita missed as soon as he entered the field, then Saul Guarirapa, having received a great pass from the same Koita and running off one-on-one with Stanislav Agkatsev, did not. Musaev immediately released Giovanni Gonzalez, Olakunle Olusegun, followed by Nikita Krivtsov, but now the visitors had to score two goals: a draw for them was little different from a defeat.

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They came to life a little after the substitutions, they could have equalized in added time when John Cordoba and Moses Kobnan did not have time to close in on a half-shot by Krivtsov, but Krasnodar had nothing else after the break. A well-deserved victory for CSKA. According to the behavior of the Krasnodar team, there was no feeling that they were playing the main match in their lives. However, in the case of two wins in the remaining matches, no one will remember this, as well as 1-4 in St. Petersburg, against the background of the championship.

"I don't pay attention to who Zenit will play against," Krasnodar forward Olakunle Olusegun told Izvestia. — I only look at our rivals. We continue to fight and we will do it to the end. Of course, we will become champions.

In the fight for bronze, CSKA broke away by four points from Spartak, and by two points from Dynamo. In the second part of the season, the army team has fully earned medals. And they will also fight for the Cup, although 0:2 in the first match against Zenit is not the best disposition. But in any case, CSKA will take away Peter's strength and nerves in the middle of the week, and on Sunday there will be a match with Rostov, which is very unpleasant in the spring, and Sergei Semak's team is not guaranteed anything there either.

Departure from Voronezh

Fakel lost to Lokomotiv in the 28th round of the Russian Championship (0:1) and lost mathematical chances for the play-offs. Voronezh is the worst RPL team not only in terms of place in the standings, but also in terms of the game. Before the match with Lokomotiv, Voronezh scored only one goal in 2025 — at the end of April against Rubin (1:2). And in general, Fakel's attack this season is a real failure, by the 28th round the team had managed to score only 12 goals in the championship. For reference, the RPL anti—record still belongs to Anzhi - the Dagestani club finished the 2018/19 season with 13 goals in the asset.

Contrary to football tradition, even a change of coach did not help to correct the situation. The appointment of Igor Shalimov in early April did not cheer up the team in any way — Voronezh scored one goal (the same one for Rubin), but overall the results remained at the same level.

The match with Lokomotiv was the last opportunity for Fakel to get off the bottom of the standings and get at least a mathematical chance of salvation. But no miracle happened: the Voronezh team's fruitless attack this season remained the same against the Railwaymen. In the first half, Fakel hit the opponent's goal three times and never hit the target.

Lokomotiv was a little more successful in this regard — the guests took the lead already in the 22nd minute. Dmitry Vorobyov, one of the main scorers of the Railwaymen, scored the ball as a result of a quick counterattack, receiving a beautiful pass from Sergei Pinyaev. In the second half, the situation got a little better — Fakel even beat the opponent in shots, 7:6. But he still hit the target only once, and did not score. Lokomotiv ran into dangerous counterattacks several times, but no more. The match ended with a score of 1-0 in favor of the "railwaymen" — the defeat was fatal for Shalimov's team.

"We felt that the team needed to be shaken up"

Dmitry Gafin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dynamo Moscow, announced the resignation of Marcel Lichka, Gladyshev's performance and Carrascal's removal.

"I think we should give Shalimov the opportunity to work calmly and build a team for next season," Dmitry Pyatibratov, former coach of Voronezh, told Izvestia. — I think he figured out the situation. He is an experienced specialist who has worked in good clubs. Igor Mikhailovich saw who he could go on with. If he is retained, it will be easier for him to form a team based on the capabilities of the players.

Although Russian fans are already used to it (and some even got stuck) to the "Torch", in fact, it's more about the first league than about the RPL. During its existence (the team was established in 1947), the Voronezh club played in the elite only a few times — in 1961 and 1985 (the Highest League of the USSR), in 1992, 1997, 2000 and 2001 (the Highest League of Russia).

Previously, Fakel had never stayed in the elite for more than two seasons. Now the series has been updated — the 2024/25 campaign has become the third in a row for Voronezh residents in the RPL. They rose from the first league at the end of the 2021/22 season, remained in the elite through the play-offs the following year, and completely dispensed with them in the 2023/24 season (11th place in the table).