The Bulls’ Gift for their City’s Birthday

Krasnodar
SOGAZ Russian Football Championship. MD 9. FC Krasnodar – FC Arsenal (Tula) – 3:0

FC Krasnodar – FC Arsenal (Tula) – 3:0 (1:0)

Goals: Wánderson, 33 (Joãozinho, 1:0), Pereyra, 60 (free kick, 2:0), Ari, 66 (3:0).

FC Krasnodar: Dykan, Jędrzejczyk, Granqvist, Sigurðsson, Kaleshin, Gazinskiy, Akhmedov, Pereyra (Laborde, 62), Izmailov (Mamayev, 67), Joãozinho, Wánderson (Ari, 55).

FC Arsenal (Tula): Filimonov, Lozenkov, Osipov, Vasilyev, Tesak, Maslov (Yershov, 46), Ryzhkov, Zotov, Lyakh (Kašćelan, 46), Maloyan, Kuznetsov (Votinov, 70).

Yellow cards: Gazinskiy, 27 (foul play) – Lyakh, 7 (foul play), Lozenkov, 85 (attack breakdown).

Referees: Fedotov, Mosyakin, Kobzev (all Moscow).

28 Sep. Krasnodar. Kuban Stadium. Clear. 18 degrees. 6 000 spectators.

 

It was the night from Wednesday to Thursday when the Tula team arrived to Krasnodar from Astrakhan where they had a Russian Cup game. For the following three days FC Arsenal was training intensely for a fixture with the Bulls, and on Sunday the players of Dmitri Alenichev took to the field of Kuban Stadium with a serious intent to break a losing run and finally replenish their piggy bank with some points. FC Krasnodar boss Oleg Kononov also approached the game very seriously and put into the starting lineup all the strongest players including those who didn’t play with FC Sokol in Saratov, namely Dykan, Pereyra, Izmailov, Akhmedov and Wánderson.

Alas, the City Day provided for not many supporters in the stands, as some people stayed at home to rest and watch football on TV after the heavy celebrations the day before, and the others were seduced with the celebration events prepared for the Sunday night in Krasnodar. Nevertheless, those who came to see the match and support the Bulls in person witnessed a very interesting game.

The beginning of the match had a rather high tempo with the Tula players trying to reply for every FC Krasnodar’s attack with one of their own. The end of the 7th minute saw a sweeping combination of the Bulls broken down by Lyakh of the Gunmen with a rough foul against Joãozinho. The offender was booked and Filimonov, FC Arsenal’s goalkeeper, entered the game for the very first time and parried an aimed shot from a free kick executed by the same Joãozinho who had earned it. 5 minutes later Izmailov made a solid shot out of the box, but his aim was a bit high. On the 25-minute mark he also spent too much time handling the ball and missed a wonderful chance to shoot 10 meters away from the goal.

The game advantage of the Bulls was getting stronger every minute. On the 20th minute Gazinskiy made a shot into Filimonov’s hands after a corner kick. A minute later Akhmedov banged the ball 22 meters away and missed the target just a fraction. On the 30th minute Joãozinho made a soft hurl and helped Wánderson into a rendezvous with Filimonov, but the striker decided to get the ball over the keeper and skied the ball too high landing it on FC Arsenal’s net behind the crossbar.

In return, three minutes later the same Brazilian combination went smoothly like a Swiss watch. Joãozinho broke away from the opponents on his favorite left flank, entered the box, waited for the rush by Francisco Wánderson and perfectly rolled the ball to him, and the latter left behind for a heartbeat his guardian player and one-touched the ball into the free corner of the Filimonov’s domain.

Having achieved this success the home team carried on the siege of the opposition’s “castle”, and on the 40th minute Akmedov shot a screamer that whistled over the bar of FC Arsenal’s goal. Three minutes later Wánderson brought Izmailov into a good position, and Filimonov parried the shot by the latter with some difficulty. The half-rime was summed up with a thick but inaccurate shot by Pereyra 20 meters away.

FC Arsenal boss Dmitri Alenichev during the half-rime made two substitutions at once trying to fresh up the middle line of his team by Yershov and Kašćelan. The away team managed to calm the game a bit, but on the 51st minute the Tulyaki missed a rapid counterattack with two Krasnodar Brazilians, and Joãozinho from the penalty area line made a shot several centimeters off the first goalpost of the opposition.

Unfortunately, soon after that Wánderson sustained an injury and was forced to be replaced by his fellow countryman, Ari. The latter 5 minutes later took an active part in the second goal scored by FC Krasnodar. It was his penetrating pass that was interrupted with a hand by some Tula football player just a meter away from his box. Fedotov the ref observed a foul, and Mauricio Pereyra, who came to execute the free kick, got the ball effortlessly over the defensive wall and put it accurately into the bottom corner with Filimonov just seeing the ball off as it flew into the net.

Six more minutes passed and No. 9 of FC Krasnodar finally marked himself with a goal. Laborde, who replaced Pereyra on the pitch, darted away from his opponents on the right flank  and made a cross into the centre of the goal area. Yershov did not allow the ball to get to Ari, but chopped it into his own goalpost instead, and the rebound anyway came to the Brazilian striker who scored in cold blood two meters away from the goal.

The score became a runaway one, and then another event very important for FC Krasnodar happened: after more than five months Pavel Mamayev finally returned to the pitch fully recovered after a serious injury he sustained during the April semi-final of Russian Cup versus PFC CSKA Moscow.

No. 7 entered the game in a proper way, and in the end of the match Krasnodar players created several good opportunities to increase the score even though they had dropped back a bit. On the 85th minute Laborde artfully bent the ball from a free kick making Filimonov save FC Arsenal. A couple of minutes later the same Colombian caught a mistake of FC Arsenal’s veteran goalkeeper, got the ball and with a heel pass brought Joãozinho into a killing position, and the latter shot a screamer but missed the goal. Soon after that Mamayev marked himself with a precise shot, but it didn’t confuse Filimonov. Then Laborde entered the penalty area and sent the ball flying over the crossbar, and the last chance to score was wasted by Ari who hit a defender with his shot from an advantageous position.

Nevertheless, 3:0 is still a runaway victory and it is a proper gift to the City for its Birthday. FC Krasnodar has continued the tradition to win every match on the City Day, made one step up in the league table and remains within the group of teams competing for the medals.