FC Krasnodar – FC Viktoria (Plzeň) – 2:0 (1:0)
Goals: Sigurðsson, 8 (Pereyra, 1:0), Joãozinho, 54, from penalty kick (2:0).
FC Krasnodar (Russia): Sinitsyn (Dykan, 46), Kaleshin (Petrov, 80), Granqvist, Sigurðsson, Joãozinho (Zhigulyov, 80), Gazinskiy (Lanin, 80), Akhmedov (Wánderson, 44), Shirokov, Pereyra (Adzhindzhal, 80), Mamayev, Ari (Burmistrov, 76).
FC Viktoria (Plzeň, Czech Republic): Bolek, Řezník (Tecl, 73), Hejda, Procházka, Limberský (Kovařík, 54), Hořava (Rajtoral, 46), Pilař, Hrošovský, Petržela (Vaněk, 46), Kolář, Mahmutović (Holenda, 61).
Yellow cards: Bolek, 1 (unsporting behavior), Řezník, 64 (foul play).
Red card: Limberský, 54 (last-ditch foul).
Referees: Ruano, Poveda, Troyano (all Spain).
14 February. Spain. Marbella. Estadio Municipal Marbella. Clear. 17 degrees. 400 spectators.
Martynovich, Izmailov, Laborde and Bystrov were the players of FC Krasnodar who did not take part in the match against the leader of Czech championship. Some of them were sick while the others were given a little rest by the coaching staff led by Oleg Kononov. As for FC Viktoria, all of their key players made a start in the game since the clash vs. the Bulls became the last rehearsal for the Plzeň team before regular fixtures of the Czech football season resume, the first of those being set for 21 February.
However, in the very beginning of the match Krasnodar players proved that they were prepared at least not a penny the worse than their opposition or maybe even better. As early as on the 1st minute Ari intercepting a reckless pass by the Czech defender could have marked himself with a scored goal, but his shot was parried with goalkeeper’s hand after the latter came outside the boundaries of his penalty area. The Spanish referee keeping in mind the unofficial status of the game didn’t go as far as to send Bolek off the pitch and contended himself with just a yellow card for this foul. As for Joãozinho, he missed the target just a fraction after executing a free kick.
It should be said that Ruano the ref’s decision to keep the Czech keeper in play turned out to be an absolutely right one, as thanks mainly to the outstanding performance of Plzeň GK the game itself maintained some intrigue for quite a while. Attacks of the black-greens kept confusing FC Viktoria’s defense, so the 8th minute could have totally ended with a scored goal; however Ari failed to take advantage of an obvious one-on-one situation making a shot directly into the goalie while Shirokov, who attempted to finish the episode from outside the box, lacked just a tiny bit to send the ball into the corner of the net.
Nevertheless, less than three minutes passed and the Bulls made a lead in the game anyway. Pereyra served the ball from the corner of the pitch; Granqvist led the tall defenders of the Plzeň club away to the first goalpost, while Ragnar Sigurðsson shot the ball into the net being left practically alone at the second one.
After conceding an opener FC Viktoria commenced a bolder activity in attack holding the ball more at the same time, but the dangerous episodes would still occur next to their own goal. On the 13th minute the long run by Ari to a rendezvous with the keeper was interrupted by the ref’s whistle after he observed a foul on the part of Brazilian forward of FC Krasnodar. Three minutes later Akhmedov made a classy ball throw sending Shirokov forward to Bolek’s domain, but Roman failed to finish what he was thinking of. In the middle of the first half Kaleshin supported the attack on the right and provided an easy-to-use pass to Akhmedov; the Bulls were some centimeters away from scoring a second goal.
Mamayev, who was moving splendidly along the whole front of attack, earned a promising free kick on the 30th minute and he was also the one to execute it. The ball bounced from the defensive wall to Gazinskiy and the latter with a short pass granted Ari an opportunity to shoot on goal, but the ball went over the target.
There was a bit more than a minute left to play before the half-time when a Czech player created the first real dangerous threat for FC Krasnodar goal. Hejda won the ball in the air and though missing the target he provided some troubles for the Bulls. In a duel with him Odil Akhmedov smashed his head and was forced to be replaced by Wánderson on the pitch. Meanwhile, the first half ended with two duels that the Czech keeper won against Ari. At first, the No. 9 of the Bulls attempted a header after a cross by Kaleshin, and a bit later he tried to meet the ball served by Joãozinho from a corner kick. Bolek played beyond praise in both of these episodes.
Goalkeeper’s sub was the only with Krasnodar players during the half-time interval, and as early as 7 minutes after the game resumed Dykan, who had taken the field, entered the game in full and warded off a not so tricky shot by Kolář. Immediately after that the black-greens, as if willing to nip in the bud every attempt of their opponents to score an equalizer, made an even firmer lead in the game. Pereyra cut off the opposition’s entire defense with a fantastic through-pass; Mamayev found himself one-on-one with Bolek but was unable to trick the goalie. Fortunately, there was Shirokov to pick up the ball. The scored goal was a bit postponed by FC Viktoria captain Limberský who pulled the ball out of the top corner of the net with his hands as if a natural-born goalkeeper. The player of Czech Republic national team was sent off for this last-ditch foul and substituted by another player in accordance with the agreement made between teams, but by that time the scoring board was already proudly displaying 2:0 since Joãozinho made a most precise shot from the penalty mark.
In the middle of the second half the score might have easily become a runaway one. During the trendy sweeping counterattack of FC Krasnodar Mamayev found sped-up Kaleshin on the right flank with a cutting pass and the latter provided the ball to Wánderson in the centre; Bolek displayed his high class managing to change the posture in time and parry the shot that was intended to trick him.
Another counterattack of the black-greens could have led to a scored goal on the 79th minute. However the shot by Burmistrov, who had come out as a sub, was made with his non-playing right foot and effectively blocked by FC Viktoria defender. To the credit of the Czech team they kept moving forward until the very end never giving up hope to score at least one goal. Anyways, Dykan was in no mood to concede any, so he stood in attention and parried the volley by Procházka from a free kick.
As a result, the first win of FC Krasnodar in the series of friendly games of Winter-2015 was well-deserved while the clean sheet was also kept. The Bulls continue to move forward at an increasing pace, and their progress from a match to match can also be clearly observed.