A Hot Tie in a Freezing Derby

Krasnodar
SOGAZ Russian Football Championship. MD 16. FC Kuban (Krasnodar) – FC Krasnodar – 1:1

FC Kuban (Krasnodar) – FC Krasnodar – 1:1 (0:1)

Goals: Pereyra, 21 (Petrov, 0:1), Bucur, 58 (1:1).

FC Kuban (Krasnodar): Belenov, Sosnin, Xandão, Armaș, Yeshchenko, Kaboré, Popov, Tlisov, Bucur, Ignatyev (Melgarejo, 46), Baldé.

FC Krasnodar: Dykan, Petrov, Martynovich, Granqvist, Kaleshin, Gazinskiy, Pereyra (Sigurðsson, 87), Izmailov, Mamayev (Laborde, 69), Joãozinho, Wánderson.

Yellow cards: Kaboré, 53 (foul play), Xandão, 73 (attack breakdown), Tlisov, 84 (attack breakdown), Yeshchenko, 86 (foul play) – Kaleshin, 67 (foul play), Laborde, 80 (foul play), Izmailov, 88 (foul play).

Referees: Nikolayev, Averyanov, Mosyakin (all Moscow).

3 December. Krasnodar. Kuban Stadium. Cloudy. – 6 degrees. 11 911 spectators.

 

Authors of the fixture calendar predetermined the lack of a level playing field for the opposing teams in a local Krasnodar derby. FC Kuban played its previous match on Saturday and it was home game, while FC Krasnodar engaged in a clash in Grozny on Sunday and it still took some time to come back home after it. In that way the Yellow-Greens had one day and some more for an extra recuperation, and considering the super dense playing schedule that provided for a solid advantage.

A severe staff shortage might have left virtually no choice to FC Krasnodar boss Oleg Kononov in determining the starting lineup for this match. However, the Club medical service once again created a whole surplus of miracles. Thus, Izmailov was in time to recover after sustaining an injury in the end of the clash vs. FC Terek; Granqvist, who never even flew to Grozny due to an injury, also made a start in the game; and finally Laborde got over his illness and was put on a match sheet. As a result, the black-greens’ reserve listed as many as seven football players (wow!), admittedly two of those, Lanin and Batyutin, being the representatives of FC Krasnodar youth team.

One more heavy hit at the makers of the Russian Football Championship calendar came from the weather. No one doubts Krasnodar is a southern city, but the intensely cold weather might arrive even here. Those – 6 degrees in Krasnodar that the temperature gauge showed at the kick-off were totally compared to – 15 degrees somewhere in Moscow due to the local high humidity. It’s natural that in such a freezer not even the most devoted supporters were ready to spend two hours in the stands that lacked heating or a roof at the very least. That is why the derby found more than a half of its habitual audience missing, and the match was viewed at first hand by less than 12 thousand spectators.

The beginning of the match turned out rather active, so the loss of ball by Mamayev of the Bulls led to Bucur’s dangerous shot as early as on the 4th minute; fortunately, the Romanian player got the ball past both Dykan and the target. 4 minutes later Joãozinho scared the home team a bit in their penalty area, but it never came close to a scoring chance. Then Popov immediately made a shot from outside the box, but his aim was higher than the target. One more attempt to score was made by FC Kuban playmaker from Bulgaria on the 12th minute, but the ball after his toe-kick went directly into Dykan’s hands.

As for Wánderson, on the 14th minute he shot the ball precisely into a corner of the goal, but no digits were changed on the scoreboard due to the offside position of FC Krasnodar centre forward. A minute and a half later the same Wánderson received the ball from Joãozinho in an absolutely legal position, but his biting volley was not aiming into the very corner of the net, so Belenov managed to cope with it.

The teams were trading attacks with each other, and on the 21st minute such a daring and not at all wintry football was implemented into a goal, and a splendid one for that. FC Krasnodar scored it after a sweeping and geometrically precise combination. Mamayev threw Petrov into the breach along the right side with an accurate pass and the latter delivered the ball from а goal line to the penalty spot area, where Mauricio Pereyra came running and made a low unsaveable shot on the run with a reversed motion past Belenov.

After half an hour of the game the ball got into the goal for a third time, away goal this time. It was the second time out of three when it was cancelled; in this particular episode the referee team from the capital of Russia observed an offside position by Xandão who had scored with a header after a set piece. Soon FC Krasnodar was close to success once again. Wánderson in a duel with a defender managed to push the ball towards the mouth of the goal, so it bounced from Belenov and flew exactly to Mamayev. Pavel attempted a shot on goal with no keeper there, but the ball’s path was blocked by Xandão, and when Wánderson attempted a finishing shot he hit the crossbar already in offside position.

This incredibly spectacular and attacking football continued till the half-time. On the 35th minute Dykan made a timely dive and took the ball away from Baldé. One minute later after a set piece Granqvist made a point-blank shot with a header precisely into Belenov’s position. On the 41st minute Bucur tried to score from FC Krasnodar’s 18-yard line and missed just a fraction.

The second half started with the predicted attacks of the home team who were understandably not okay with the score. Kaboré made a shot from outside the box, but the ball got stuck a bit in the palisade of players’ feet and arrived spent to Dykan. Alas, on the 58th minute the Bulls, who had been defending rather confidently until then, conceded a goal after a chance they created themselves. Martynovich intercepted the cross from a flank and threw the ball in the direction of Granqvist; the latter missed the ball with a header and it bounced to a lonely Gheorghe Bucur. No. 11 of FC Kuban was not taken aback and made a shot next to the second goalpost from the corner of the goal area.

It was apparent the black-greens’ strength was gradually on the wane, so in the finishing sequence they tapped all of their remaining morale and determination skills. FC Kuban, in return, kept pushing forward and made a lead on the 71st minute, a lead by goals cancelled as Armaș after a free kick got the ball into the goal from an offside position. 3 minutes later Xandão received a yellow card for playing with his hand, and FC Krasnodar was given a right for a prospective free kick; however, Joãozinho hit the defensive wall of the Yellow-Greens. A bit later one more set piece of the away team provoked a mistake by Belenov coming out of the goal, but the ball after a header by Granqvist went off target. On the 81st minute it was FC Kuban forward Bucur’s turn to complain about the bad luck after he had missed the far corner of the Dykan’s domain from a killing position.

Only two minutes of the injury time were added by Nikolayev the ref to this dynamic match, and these two minutes could have decided the whole game. Sigurðsson of the Bulls having substituted Pereyra at the end went forward and earned a free kick for his team. No more than 30 seconds were left till the final whistle, so a fundamental approach towards this set piece execution might have finished the game for sure. However the Bulls for some reason preferred to do everything quickly. As a result Laborde with his weak shot gave the ball away to Belenov, the latter started the attack of his team and it nearly ended with a scoring shot by Baldé. FC Kuban forward missed the target though, and the match was done.

For a first time in history the Krasnodar derby ended with a tie which can be regarded as natural on the whole but hardly satisfying both teams. Anyway, the football shown by the teams was of the very high quality and one can only guess what the spectators would have seen if the match were to take place in the normal football weather and provided that both Clubs were put in the equal conditions…