Scoring rise: who excelled in the cup matches of the week
In the third round of the "RPL Paths" group stage of the Russian Football Cup, which is taking place this week, the teams, with rare exceptions, demonstrate high performance. So Zenit St. Petersburg won away from Orenburg (5:3), and Krasnodar won against Sochi (4:2). Spartak Moscow defeated Pari Nizhny Novgorod (4-0). So far, only the match in Samara has gone without goals in regular time, where the local Krylia Sovetov, after a goalless draw (0:0), won a penalty shootout (5:4) against Dynamo Moscow.
Group A
Orenburg turned out to be one of the most exciting matches not only of the current Russian Cup, but also of the entire season. Both teams did not field the main squads and produced a chaotic game on both sides, where there was a lot of dedication, but also a lot of mistakes. As a result, eight goals were scored between the two, but the class of Zenit's reserves took its toll.
Maxim Glushenkov, who has not been part of the blue-white-blue team in the championship lately, was particularly upset. He ended up scoring twice and making an assist once. He managed to open the scoring in the 2nd minute and gave an effective pass to Douglas Santos in the 22nd. And between these two events, Alexander Erokhin distinguished himself.
Zenit led 3-0 by the middle of the first half, but within 10 minutes Orenburg almost equalized. Vladan Bubanya and Alexey Tataev reduced the gap from St. Petersburg to a minimum. However, before the break, Matteo Cassierra doubled the advantage of the visitors with a penalty, and at the beginning of the second half Glushenkov brought the matter to a rout. The hosts responded only with a goal from Atsamaz Revazov.
In another group match, Akhmat Grozny continued the victorious march that began after the appointment of Stanislav Cherchesov as head coach in July. He won at home against Rubin Kazan (2-0). Following the results of the first half of the group stage, Zenit almost secured the first place with nine points. The other participants scored three points each.
— It turned out to be bright matches in which the players of the nearest reserve, who had received playing practice, tried to prove to the coaches that they were worthy of playing in the base, — Anatoly Byshovets, the former Zenit head coach, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — The class of Peter affected Orenburg, who played somewhat carelessly when he got a solid advantage in goals, but turned on at the right moment and secured a comfortable score again. And in Grozny, Akhmat once again showed the dedication and tactical skill characteristic of Cherchesov's teams, deservedly defeating Rubin.
Group B
Krylia Sovetov made an unexpectedly successful start in the Cup, winning away from the reigning champion Krasnodar (2:1), which is also leading in the current national championship draw. However, then the Samaritans misfired in the away match against the outsider of the Sochi championship and cup group. After a 1-1 draw in regular time, the southern club won on penalties (5-3).
Now Dynamo Moscow has come to visit the Volga region, having failed the start of the championship. The blue and white team is not playing well in the Cup either. They narrowly defeated Sochi at home, scoring the winning goal in the last minutes of the meeting. And then they were defeated on their own field by Krasnodar (0:4).
The face-to-face match with Krylia was also difficult for Valery Karpin's players. As a result, there were no goals from either side in regular time. And in the penalty shootout, the Samaritans turned out to be stronger. Magomed Adiev's team scored six points. Dynamo has four of them.
Krasnodar equaled Krylia in points, having defeated Sochi on a visit. At the beginning of the second half, the Bulls led 3-0 thanks to goals from Danila Kozlov, Kevin Lenini and Nikita Krivtsov. Towards the end of the match, Makar Chirkov scored one goal, but Gaetan Perrin immediately killed the intrigue. Sochi responded with just one more goal and lost 2:4, continuing to go last in the group with two points.
—Dynamo had a difficult match, as expected — it's hard for everyone to play against Krylia," Dmitry Bulykin, a former Dynamo Moscow striker, said in a conversation with Izvestia. — The Samaritans are playing very well this season and are able to take points away from anyone. Especially in a cup match, where almost everyone is not playing with the main squad, and the results can be unpredictable. So Krylia deserves to be in the group. As well as Krasnodar, which again showed its high class in the match against Sochi, both in terms of the quality of the game and in terms of the ability to realize chances.
Group C
Spartak, after a disastrous start to the season, began to raise its head, playing a home draw with Zenit in the championship (2:2) and defeating Rubin away (2:0). As expected, the red and white consolidated their success in the cup match with Pari Nizhny Novgorod, which is almost at the bottom of the RPL table - the penultimate 15th place in the direct relegation zone.
In the Cup, Alexey Shpilevsky's team scored a 1-0 victory over Rostov in the second round. But in the away game against Spartak, the typical problems of Nizhny Novgorod players emerged, who also did not play with the main squad. As a result, the hosts took a confident lead in the first half thanks to goals from Roman Zobnin and Ilya Samoshnikov, who played the first match for the team. After the break, it was possible to bring things to a rout thanks to Vadim Pigas' own goal and Daniil Zorin's goal.
—Spartak players won, as expected, the only question was with what score they would do it," Andrei Chervichenko, the former owner of the red and white, told Izvestia. — Nizhny Novgorod players are in such a state now, both in terms of game and character, that Spartak had to beat them, even if they were walking on the field. He has enough class of players — the team has problems when someone more organized in defense like Makhachkala comes up against it. Pari Nizhny Novgorod does not have such an organization. Therefore, the result is natural.
In the other match of the round in the group, Rostov lost at home to Dynamo Makhachkala (1:3).
Group D
One of the central matches of the tour was the confrontation in Kaliningrad between the local "Baltic", which successfully started in the championship, as well as CSKA Moscow, which is in second place in the same championship, just one point behind the leading "Krasnodar". Baltika is in fourth place and is two points behind the Army team.
The Kaliningrad team is doing worse in the Cup. They lost two opening away matches — Tolyatti Akron (1:2) and Moscow Lokomotiv (0:2). And they are in last place in the group. CSKA is also not perfect in this tournament — after winning the derby against Loko (2:1), the Army lost on penalties to Akron (4:5) after a 1-1 draw in regular time.
The teams have been playing on equal terms for a long time. Both opponents did not have the main squads, and in the second half, CSKA's superiority in the skills of its reserves began to show. In addition, towards the end of the meeting, several base players came on as substitutes for the Army team. As a result, the visitors were awarded penalty kicks in the 78th and 90th minutes. Both were scored by Ivan Oblyakov, bringing CSKA a 2-0 victory.
The second match of this group will take place on Thursday evening and will conclude the program of the 3rd round. In it, Lokomotiv will host Akron at home.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
