Repairing the sinkhole: will Spartak save the season by winning the Cup

In the middle of the week, the participants of the decisive match for the Russian Football Cup will be determined. They will be the winners of two playoff grids - "The Ways of the RPL" and "The Ways of the Regions", the finals of which will be held in the next two days.

In the Path of the Regions, Spartak Moscow will host Rostov and try to rehabilitate itself for its spring failures in the championship amid rumors of negotiations with the team's head coach Deyan Stankovich on a new contract.

And in the second leg of the final of the "RPL Path", CSKA Moscow will meet Zenit St. Petersburg at home and try to win back the score 0:2, with which the club from the Northern Capital won two weeks ago.

Spartak – Rostov

Back in early spring, Spartak competed for the gold of the Russian championship. But in the last nine rounds, he has scored only three wins, four losses and two draws. Because of this, the red-whites dropped back to fifth place and are close to being left without medals altogether. They are already four points away from third place. Next weekend, following the results of the penultimate 29th round of the Russian Premier League, CSKA, which closes the top three, may be completely out of reach for Spartak.

Against the background of such a failure, the Russian Cup is the only chance to rehabilitate itself. He is also personally important to Spartak's head coach Dejan Stankovic. This spring, information about the negotiations between the Serbian specialist and the club on the conclusion of a new contract has repeatedly surfaced in the media. The current one was signed a year ago for two seasons. However, it was supposed to improve the salary conditions for the coach without waiting for the expiration of the current agreement.

Such a move on the part of the club's management was probably the result of an extremely successful autumn last year, when Spartak won six consecutive league matches before the winter break and came close to first place, giving hope of competing for gold in the spring. In March, this series was continued with a victory over Orenburg in last place (2:0), but then it was interrupted by an away defeat against Rubin Kazan (1:2), which started the spring crisis.

Against the background of the failure in the championship, many express doubts about the expediency of an early re-signing of the contract with Stankovich. And now a lot will depend on Dejan's performance in the Cup. In the match against Rostov, the red and white look like favorites, but the Donskoy club is capable of creating big problems for any opponent. Moreover, in November, Rostov residents had already defeated Spartak in this tournament, knocking it out of the "RPL Path" following the results of two quarterfinal matches. (1:0; 2:1).

Rostov is in eighth place in the championship. He is not in danger of relegation from the RPL, but medals are no longer shining. Therefore, the yellow-blues can fully concentrate their forces on the Cup.

— Spartak is the favorite of the upcoming match, but this is only on paper, — Sergey Balakhnin, former Rostov head coach, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — In reality, we don't know in what condition the team will enter the game. Throughout the season, she largely depends on her mood, courage, and the character of her coach. In the fall, she managed to capture the right emotions for a long time, when there was a good move, everything turned out on the field, and thanks to this, Spartak fought in every episode, taking victories. There don't seem to be any problems with dedication now, but now the team can't find the keys to the opponents, who have studied it and rebuilt accordingly. Therefore, problems arise. It is impossible to leave in one mood, hence the panic among the players. And we see how the coaches break down — Stankovic is constantly arguing with the referees, his assistants are disqualified for conflicts with the referees. There was a complete imbalance. Even the last-placed Fakel was able to take away points from the team that claimed the championship yesterday. And Rostov is even more capable of knocking Spartak out of the Cup, since it is better organized and will be more calm, since no one demands that it bleed out of its nose to take the trophy. Any result is possible, but the victory of Rostov will not become a sensation.

CSKA – Zenit

If in the "Path of the Regions" the confrontations in each round consist of one match, then in the "Path of the RPL" the winner is determined based on the results of two meetings. Moreover, in previous rounds, the loser went to the "Path of the Regions", as happened with Spartak and Rostov. But according to the regulations, the participants of the upper bracket finals do not have such a privilege.

For the second season in a row, the loser of the RPL Path finals is immediately eliminated from the tournament. That was the case a year ago, when CSKA lost to Zenit in a penalty shootout (4:5) after two draws. (1:1; 0:0). The same thing threatens the army this spring. They lost the first match in St. Petersburg with a score of 0:2.

The chances of regaining this gap are small. Although CSKA will obviously try to do it. This is evidenced by the decision of the head coach of the team Marko Nikolic to save part of the main squad in the recent championship match with Krasnodar. A number of the main players came on as substitutes only during the second half. This did not prevent the red-blues from defeating the leader (1-0) and strengthening their position in the fight for third place.

Now there is a clear calculation to use fresh forces to fight Zenit at home in the Russian Cup. It is unknown whether the St. Petersburg club will be the main squad. In the first match, the head coach of the team, Sergey Semak, fielded a mixed squad, but this did not prevent the victory. Perhaps he will also rotate for the return leg, since at the end of the week he will have a difficult trip to Rostov for the penultimate round of the championship, where he must not lose points in any way in order to maintain his chances of a seventh RPL gold in a row.

So far, the blue-white-blues are one point behind Krasnodar. They need to win the remaining two rounds of the RPL and expect the Bulls to misfire in one of the games. At the same time, Zenit continues to fight for the Cup, having a good chance to do the double for the second year in a row — to win two major trophies of the country.

"It's going to be a very unpredictable game, but I'm inclined to believe that Zenit will retain its advantage," Anatoly Byshovets, the former head coach of the St. Petersburg team, said in a conversation with Izvestia. — If Semak releases the foundation, then the class of the team will affect. And if he rotates, then the players who do not always get into the base will have an extremely high motivation to prove themselves. That was the case in the first cup match against CSKA, when Andrei Mostovoy, who did not play often at that time, performed well. Army men can contrast a high level of game organization and motivation. They are playing great in the spring, Nikolic has prepared the team well, which deservedly is in the top three. But she has a significant flaw — she looks good when playing number two, when she scores first and needs to keep a comfortable score. And when the score is tied, he closes the zones well, forcing the opponent to open up and catching him on mistakes. But so far, the current CSKA has not shown itself in situations where it is necessary to recoup. This problem has not been solved yet. In the game against Zenit, you will have to open up and move forward. And an opponent of such a class as the team from St. Petersburg is unlikely to miss the opportunity to take advantage of the opening free zones in someone else's penalty area and possible defensive errors of the opponent.

The CSKA– Zenit match will take place on the evening of May 14, starting at 19:30. The Spartak–Rostov game will take place on May 15, starting at 20:00. The Russian Cup superfinal will be played on June 1 in Moscow at the Luzhniki Stadium.