Moscow burden: the capital's clubs failed the round in the Russian Cup

All five Moscow clubs were defeated in the second round of the "RPL Paths" group stage of the Russian Football Cup. The main events were Dynamo's home misfire in the match against Krasnodar (0:1), Spartak's away setback in the game against Rubin Kazan (1:1, 3 on penalties:5) and CSKA's home loss to Tolyatti Akron (0:1).

Dynamo (Moscow) — Krasnodar

Dynamo head coach Sandro Schwartz has completely updated the starting line-up compared to the championship's 0-3 away loss against Zenit three days earlier. None of the players who entered the field in St. Petersburg from the first minutes did not immediately start the Cup game with Krasnodar.

However, the bulls did not have all the basics either. Hence, as expected, the one who made fewer mistakes had the advantage. In the first half, Dynamo controlled the ball better, got closer to the other team's goal and created several dangerous chances to score. But Krasnodar scored.

Closer to halftime, Kazbek Mukailov won a head-to-head fight in someone else's penalty area, dropped the ball to Daniil Utkin and, receiving a pass back from him, accurately shot under the far post. At the beginning of the second half, Dynamo could have equalized several times, but the goalkeeper of the guests, Alexander Koryakin, saved his team.

Towards the end of the meeting, Krasnodar lost its leader Nikita Krivtsov due to injury, but did not miss the victory and now leads Group B with five points. Dynamo has three points, and it dropped to third place, as the day before, Akhmat won 2-1 at home against Fakel and had already scored four points.

Rubin — Spartak

This match was the first in Kazan for Mirlinda Daku after his transfer from Rubin to Spartak. The Albanian striker played for the club from the capital of Tatarstan for three years and became one of its leaders. Therefore, his return, but in a red and white uniform, was an event.

However, he appeared on the field only in the 76th minute. The head coaches of both teams have significantly shaken up their squads, releasing many reserve players. But Rubin released a version closer to the main one from the very first minutes.

That's why I played with a big advantage. And he quickly took the lead thanks to a goal by Jacques-Julien Siva. This allowed the hosts to control the course of the meeting. They were quite reliable in defense in the first half and did not allow the opponent to create something at their own goal.

After the break, Spartak already had the advantage. The Muscovites created at least five dangerous chances, but realized only one — Manfred Ugalde equalized the score in the 62nd minute. In all other cases, Rubin was saved by Artur Nigmatullin, who replaced the main goalkeeper Evgeny Stavera in the Cup.

And at the end of regular time, Ruslan Litvinov shot from a distance and hit the post. The main time ended in a draw. In the post-match series, substitute Daku managed to score for his former club, but it did not help Spartak. Rubin scored all five of their penalties, and Nigmatullin deflected one shot, beating Nail Umyarov. As a result, Kazan won, but with two points, it is still in last place in Group A.

Spartak is the first with five points. In the same group, in the last round, Orenburg defeated the Moscow Rodina (4:1) and scored three points each.

CSKA Moscow — Akron

Due to the peculiarities of the CSKA calendar, he played all the past matches of this season at home. It so happened that on August 8, he was supposed to play in the third round of the championship away from Rostov. But due to the hurricane on the Don, the local stadium was damaged, and it took time to bring it into proper condition.

As a result, the teams switched circles — the summer game was moved to Moscow, and a meeting will be held in Rostov-on-Don on February 28.

Akron failed to start the season, but in the last two games of the championship, the club from the Samara region achieved draws in Moscow away games — 0:0 with Loko and 3:3 with Rodina.

In the cup meeting with CSKA, Akron again showed that it was coming out of the starting crisis. And the army is not doing well at all. In the championship, despite constant home games and not the strongest opponents, the red and blue were able to win only two victories - in the first round over Kaliningrad "Baltika" (2:1) and last weekend over Voronezh "Fakel" (1:0) with not the best game.

The match with Akron started badly for the Muscovites. Already in the 9th minute, Kevin Arevalo scored a goal against CSKA. Until the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, the hosts created almost nothing in attack. In the 54th minute, Arevalo was sent off, after which Akron pressed into its penalty area, and the Army team began to have chances to score a goal.

But they could not bring them to their logical conclusion.

In another Group D match, Moscow's Lokomotiv lost to Rostov (0:1), and its leader Alexey Batrakov came up to the guest stand and said goodbye to the fans — in the coming days he will move to Turkish Galatasaray.

Now in the Group D table, two of the capital's top clubs - CSKA and Loko — are in the last two places, behind Rostov and Akron. In group C, Zenit defeated Krylia Sovetov on penalties (5:3) after scoring in regular time. These teams are leading the quartet right now. The last match of the round will be held on August 20: Kaliningrad "Baltika" will host Makhachkala "Dynamo".