A Windy Tie in the End of the Spanish Camp

FC Krasnodar – Clube Atlético Paranaense (Curitiba) – 2:2 (2:1)

Goals: Ari, 10 (Petrov, 1:0), Wánderson, 11 (2:0), Cléo, 23 (Edigar Junio, 2:1), Cléo, 57 (Natanael, 2:2).

FC Krasnodar (Russia): Dykan (Kavlinov, 46), Petrov, Sigurðsson (Granqvist, 46) Martynovich, Joãozinho, Gazinskiy (Lanin, 67), Shirokov, Pereyra (Kaleshin, 67), Mamayev (Zhigulyov, 67), Wánderson, Ari (Burmistrov, 67).

Clube Atlético Paranaense (Curitiba, Brazil): Wéverton, Borges, Rafael, Hernani, Otávio, Deivid, Natanael, Dellatorre, Bady, Edigar Junio, Cléo.

Yellow cards: Lanin, 75 (foul play), Burmistrov, 85 (foul play), Joãozinho, 88 (unsporting behavior) – Bady, 62 (foul play), Dellatorre, 88 (unsporting behavior).

Referees: Cravasas, Troyano, Pineyro (all Spain).

18 February. Spain. Marbella. Football Center Marbella Sports Complex. Cloudy. Strong wind. 16 degrees. 150 spectators.

It happened again that in a friendly match FC Krasnodar boss Oleg Kononov was unable to test all of his football players, since due to various reasons Sinitsyn, Akhmedov, Izmailov, Laborde, Adzhindzhal and Bystrov stayed off the match sheet. However, the starting lineup for the clash with the team from Brazil turned out to be of a super attacking nature if one takes into account Wánderson and Ari, the two “pure” forwards, a threatening Pereyra-Shirokov-Mamayev “trident” below them and, finally, Joãozinho and Petrov, the mobile full backs inclined to support the attacks.

The first half went with quite a strong wind blowing in the general direction of Atlético’s goal, so from the very first seconds of the game FC Krasnodar rushed forward like a frigate that had caught this wind into its black-green sails. The Brazilian defense was unable to cope with these sweeping and unexpectedly lined attacks of the Bulls, so as early as on the 2^nd minute Petrov made a surprise burst into the centre-forward’s position and dropped the ball for Ari to make a shot on goal, but the latter sent the ball flying next to the top corner of the Wéverton’s domain. No more than 3 minutes passed, and No. 9 of FC Krasnodar finished a promising long-sequenced combination with a point-blank shot, but the keeper of Paranaense had taken the right position and seized the ball. Immediately after that the South American team showed their sharp teeth when Dykan parried a shot on target by Edigar Junio from the 18-yard line.

Nevertheless, this Brazilian counterattack in the beginning of the game was an isolated event while the black-greens kept harassing actively the defensive lines of their opponents. On the 7^th minute Mamayev tried to meet one-touch the pass by Joãozinho from the left and failed. On the 10^th minute, though, Ari turned his third scoring chance into a goal. Shirokov executed a throw-out delivering the ball to Petrov, Sergei by turns evaded two opponents and provided the centre-forward with a ball next to a penalty spot with Ari making a high powerful shot into the second corner of the net further from the goalkeeper.

Allowing their opponents no respite the Russian team made Clube Atlético start from the centre of the pitch once again just a minute later. Francisco Wánderson, a birthday man, scored a splendid goal celebrating his 29^th anniversary. He picked up the ball in the centre of the pitch after a mistake by some of the opposition players, broke away with a feint from a defender at full speed and made an accurate low shot past the Paranaense keeper tricking the latter into making a move in the wrong direction.

Having gained a solid lead in the game the Bulls for the next 5 minutes kept pushing mechanically the Brazilian players and creating threats for the Wéverton’s domain. However, after that they dropped speed a bit and soon enough paid for that with a conceded goal. Cléo, Atlético’s mighty striker, answered to a flank low cross leaving Martynovich behind for a heartbeat and scored a goal at a short distance from the net. Furthermore, in the attack that followed the South Americans just barely missed scoring an equalizer. Dellatorre attempted a virtually point-blank header, but the second goal for the Curitiba team was delayed thanks to Dykan displaying a brilliant performance.

After that the Krasnodar team once again started playing effectively in defense saving their goalkeeper from serious workload. However, before half-time Clube Atlético penalty area experienced a real threat only once more when on the 36^th minute Wánderson directed the ball to the second goalpost where Ari was ready to kick it into the net, but the latter was only second on the ball while Borges, his fellow countryman from  Paranaense, was the first and relieved the tension.

During the half-time interval Oleg Kononov made two alterations to the lineup: Sigurðsson in the centre of defense was substituted by Granqvist, and the most experienced Dykan was changed by young Kavlinov on the goal-line. The second half was played by the Krasnodar team upwind, and that one significantly increased besides. Nevertheless, the black-greens dominated again in the beginning of the second half, and on the 47^th minute Joãozinho after an accurate pass by Shirokov launched the ball just above Atlético’s goal crossbar. 7 minutes later Shirokov provided some classy assistance to Pereyra, but the Uruguayan player failed with his header from the 6-yard line.

It was a completely unheralded development of the game when an equalizer was scored on the 57^th minute. After Natanael’s cross from the left flank the same Cléo won the air duel and launched the ball with an elusive nod and a rebound from the ground directly into the top corner of FC Krasnodar net. What the wind did was just correcting its path a bit and making it unreachable for the keeper…

In general, the entire second half passed with the teams fighting both each other and the wind that kept interfering with the course of events sometimes practically stopping the ball or giving it an extra acceleration. In conditions like these it was very hard to create something noteworthy, but the Krasnodar players were a bit better at that than their opponents. Even when in the middle of the second half Oleg Kononov made four more substitutions fielding Kaleshin, Burmistrov and two very young pupils of the Club Academy, Lanin and Zhigulyov, the black-greens kept looking for their fortune in the comprehensive and combinational type of football. On the 71^st minute Shirokov almost succeeded when he skillfully received the ball served to him by Burmistrov from the left, but Clube Atlético defender arrived in time voting against a scoring shot from a killing position. A minute later Wánderson missed the target after attempting a shot 20 meters away from the goal.

As a result, the 2:2 score did not change till the final whistle, so the Bulls ended their Spanish training camp with this productive tie. Immediately after the full time the team went to the airport where they took a charter flight to Krasnodar. On 23 February, after four days off, the Bulls are to travel to their third winter camp in Belek, Turkey.