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“Saturn” and “Zenith” were unlucky with the draw

The clubs of the Russian Premier League have learned where they will tentatively begin the fight for the Russian Cup. Yesterday at the Taganka Football House the draw for the 1/16 finals of the tournament took place, with which the elite clubs begin their journey in the bracket. The teams did not receive specific opponents - the matches of the 1/32 finals of the National Cup have not yet taken place. But now the RFPL clubs know which of the junior divisions are worth keeping an eye on.

The matches of the 1/16 finals will take place on July 15, and the Premier League teams, according to the regulations, will play them away. So the main task at this stage for the representatives of the clubs participating in the draw was simple - not to get into a long trip. In this sense, Zenit and Saturn are the least fortunate: the St. Petersburg team is awaiting a voyage to either Chita or Khabarovsk, and the Moscow region team is flying to the Far East to visit Luch-Energia or Amur from Blagoveshchensk. “Zenith” has not been very lucky lately in such draws: last year the draw sent them to Novosibirsk, where Dick Advocaat’s team lost 0:1.

The fact that long-distance travel is dangerous for everyone is evidenced by the fact that last season, in their championship year, Rubin lost to the second division club Smena in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and Amkar barely won on penalties in Khabarovsk. And if in the 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 seasons the teams, starting from the 1/16 finals, played the match away and at home, and it was possible, by sending the second squad to travel, then to fix something at their stadium, then later because To save money and to relieve the calendar, it was decided to return to the one-round system.

Perhaps in the future the Russian Football Union will propose changes to the regulations. Last year, the head of the RFU, Vitaly Mutko, proposed, in the English manner, to introduce replays in the event of a draw. However, clubs, citing financial costs and long distances, are not eager to implement these reforms.

But there will be at least one innovation in the current Russian Cup - the trophy itself will change. CSKA, having become a five-time winner of the tournament, received a crystal cup for eternal storage. The RFU has not yet decided on the design of the new trophy or the cost. But it is possible that if the new cup turns out to be too expensive, the clause according to which it can go to someone forever will be removed from the regulations.

Results of the draw for the 1/16 finals of the Russian Cup. Winner of the pair "Volga" (Tver) / "Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia" (Moscow) - "Rubin", "Torpedo-ZIL" (Moscow) / "Baltika" (Kaliningrad) - "Khimki", "Torpedo" (Vladimir) / "Shinnik" (Yaroslavl) -- "Lokomotiv", "Nizhny Novgorod" / "Saturn-2" (Moscow region) -- "Spartak" (Nalchik), "Vityaz" (Podolsk) / "Avangard" (Kursk) -- "Amkar", "Avangard" (Podolsk) / "Metallurg Lipetsk" - "Rostov", "Krasnodar" / "Chernomorets" (Novorossiysk) - "Spartak" (Moscow), "Volgograd" / "Salyut-Energia" ( Belgorod) -- "Moscow", "Volgar-Gazprom-2" (Astrakhan) / "Zhemchuzhina-Sochi" - "Dynamo" (Moscow), "Anzhi" (Makhachkala) / "Alania" (Vladikavkaz) - "Tom" "(Tomsk), "Chelyabinsk" / "KAMAZ" (Naberezhnye Chelny) - "Wings of the Soviets", "Volga" (Nizhny Novgorod) / "Mordovia" (Saransk) - "Terek", "Ural" (Sverdlovsk region. ) / "Nosta" (Novotroitsk) - CSKA, "Dynamo" (Barnaul) / "Sibir" (Novosibirsk) - "Kuban", "Chita" / "SKA-Energia" (Khabarovsk) - "Zenith" (St. -Petersburg), "Amur" (Blagoveshchensk) / "Luch-Energia" (Vladivostok) - "Saturn".

Andrey VDOVIN