The Victory was so Close at Hand…

Krasnodar
UEFA Europa League. Group H. MD 2. FC Krasnodar (Russia) – Everton F.C. (England) – 1:1

FC Krasnodar (Russia) – Everton F.C. (England) –  1:1 (1:0)

Goals: Ari, 43 (Akhmedov, 1:0), Eto'o, 82 (Baines, 1:1).

FC Krasnodar (Russia): Dykan, Jędrzejczyk, Granqvist, Sigurðsson, Kaleshin, Gazinskiy, Akhmedov, Pereyra (Petrov, 83), Laborde (Mamayev, 70), Izmailov (Wánderson, 65), Ari.

Everton F.C. (England): Howard, Hibbert, Stones, Jagielka, Baines, Barry, Osman, McGeady, Atsu (Lukaku, 46), Gibson, Eto'o.

Yellow card: Lukaku, 90+3 (unsporting behaviour).

Referees: Göçek, Eyisoy, Aktaş, Palabıyık, Ceylan (all Turkey).

2 October. Russia. Krasnodar. Kuban Stadium. Cloudy. 11 degrees. 32 800 spectators.

 

«Sold out» was an announcement that had appeared at the Kuban Stadium almost two days before the start of the MD 2 fixture of UEFA Europa League group stage between FC Krasnodar and Everton F.C.  For the first time in many years the stadium enjoyed a real full house: there was literally no place to swing a cat in the stands!

Against the British team the head coach of the Black-greens Oleg Kononov released the same lineup that started the opening match of the group stage in France. Everton F.C. boss Roberto Martiniez also approached the clash with outmost seriousness and gave a start for all the strongest players at his disposal. The only difference was with the central forward Lukaku staying on the bench, but instead Eto’o, a most experienced player with a wonderful knowledge of Russian football and FC Krasnodar in particular, appeared from the fist minute at the spear point of his team’s attacks.

The Bulls took right off the bat. Their very first attack resulted in the ball whistling in the air over the crossbar of Tim Howard’s domain after a screamer by Pereyra; and in the next attack Izmailov attempted to meet a horizontal pass a little to the back by Laborde, but he was unable to sweep the ball into the net. 5 minutes later Howard made a dive and interrupted an aimed drill cross from the flank by Izmailov. Two more minutes later Akhmedov shot on a half-volley after the drop by Ari, and the ball was blocked by the body of some away team player. On the 17th minute Everton F.C. goalkeeper saved his team parrying an aimed shot by Izmailov from the penalty area line, and the same Howard didn’t let his mates down three minutes later when Jędrzejczyk was aiming into the near corner of the net with a crafty shot.

The away team worked hard hands and feet in the defense and tried to respond with their own attacks, but FC Krasnodar with their high pressing kept depriving the English team of the ball far from the box. Nevertheless, by the middle of the first half Everton F.C. managed to organize their play in the front, and it was Dykan’s turn to get involved in the game twice and parry the rather dangerous shots by McGeady and Barry. On the 28th minute after a set piece played out in a dragging way Stones was aiming with a header into the top corner from the centre of the box and missed just a fraction.

Anyhow, while Merseysiders made occasional attacks FC Krasnodar still maintained the upper hand in the clash in general. With half an hour of the game done Ari tried to score after a shot from under a defender, but the rebound resulted in just a corner kick. The defensive line of the away team represented by as many as three players of England national team was very difficult to penetrate, but in the end the Krasnodar players managed to see their opponents off to the dressing-room with a scored goal. The pass from the right flank by Akhmedov pierced the defense of the Blues; Ari met it on the run near the penalty mark and confidently outplayed Howard at a short distance. 1:0, the Bulls reasonably scored an opener and the teams left the pitch for an interval.   

In the second half Everton F.C. boss immediately threw his main reserve into the battle, namely the Belgian giant Lukaku, who replaced Atsu in the middle line and made a pair for Eto’o in the front. But the attacks still kept rolling at the Howard’s domain, and the away team was at times assisted in suppressing them with some unreasonable decisions by the ref.

One hour into the game was marked with a whole series of shots on goal of the Blues. Izmailov and Akhmedov took turns in shooting out of the box, and both times the ball’s path was blocked by some player in white; in the second phase of the same attack Gazinskiy made a shot with the rebound barely dropping the ball into the net behind Howard’s back. A bit later Sigurðsson in a fight threatened the away goal with a header, but his attempt did not strain the keeper in earnest.

And then Wánderson, who came out as a sub to Izmailov, strained not only Howard but also the whole defense of the Merseysiders. He picked up the ball, bypassed several opponents as a slalom skier would do the flags and shot past the keeper. It was crossbar that saved Everton F.C.!

The away team finally managed to organize some type of counterplay by the 70th minute when the attacking zeal of the Krasnodar players started to leak away. Lukaku tried to catch Dykan off guard with a sharp angle shot, and failed. The corner kicks were dangerous enough, but the defenders of FC Krasnodar didn’t make any mistakes in the air. They couldn’t restrain Eto’o on the 82nd minute though, and the latter after the cross by Baines from the right flank emerged behind the backs of the defenders and scored a goal at a short distance.

In the end of the match both teams tried to snatch a victory and Everton F.C. was more persistent in attacks. Nevertheless, the header by Lukaku with a rebound from the ground was coped by Dykan, and with the injury time almost over Wánderson of Krasnodar team was unable to create a problem for Howard from an advantageous position. As a result, FC Krasnodar tied in the second fixture of the UEFA Europa League group stage, too, even though the Bulls were leading during the match and the victory was close at hand. Anyway, MD 2 didn’t alter the positions of the clubs in the Group H as VfL Wolfsburg and LOSC Lille also finished their clash with the same 1:1 score, and that means that the Green-blacks kept the 2nd position with two points being ahead of the French team due to the away goal scored against them.