On the way to correction

The favorites have worked on their mistakes

Moscow clubs and Zenit drew the right conclusions from the results of the first round matches. A week was enough for the favorites to realize the mistakes they made in the opening games and work to prevent them from becoming systemic. But while Zenit, Spartak, CSKA and Lokomotiv were stalled at the start, Rubin and Amkar took the lead.

The national champion Zenit, however, can also consider the start in the current championship successful for itself. In two games against the silver medalist and the team that took fourth place, the St. Petersburg team scored four points. Moreover, three of them, obtained in the away match with Moscow, went to the Advocaat team, which experienced difficulties in matches in the capital last year, without much difficulty. The scoring was opened already in the third minute. Arshavin's free kick was not too strong, but it was accurate enough so that City goalkeeper Zhevnov, who had slept through it, did not have time to cover the ball in the near corner.

“Moscow” could have easily devoted the remaining hour and a half before the final whistle to trying to score a return goal, but for some reason they never decided to play first in the home match. Oleg Blokhin, who started reconfiguring the game connections, seems to have only managed to disassemble Slutsky’s old mechanism. And the whole game of the “citizens” came down to the task of delivering the ball to the front line as quickly as possible with a long pass, where the two big forwards Adamov and Bracomonte had to decide for themselves what to do next. Zenit figured out the opponents' setup quickly, and Moscow had virtually no chances. Another mistake by Zhevnov resulted in a second missed goal - Anyukov’s goal kick from an acute angle finally saved Zenit from the capital’s complex. “There will be no scolding. We don't have a stable - we can't disperse players. This is the second round, and we played against the champion,” Oleg Blokhin did not publicly criticize his players.

With much more effort than Zenit, Spartak won in the second round. Tom, who defended the entire game, managed to create several chances in the second half, and only the reaction of Stipe Peltikosa saved the red-whites from an unplanned loss of points. “I must congratulate my colleague on his progress,” Spartak coach Stanislav Cherchesov was polite during a personal meeting with Valery Petrakov. “If earlier “Tom” no longer allowed others to play, now it not only does not let others, but also tries to create something itself.” Rivals of other Moscow teams also tried to create something. But Lokomotiv, thanks to Odemwingie's brace, still achieved a strong victory in Yaroslavl - 2:1, and CSKA managed to deal with Wings away - 2:0.

In other matches, nothing supernatural happened either, except for the landing of aliens in the Moscow region. The beginning of the season in Ramenskoye was celebrated with a highly artistic production, during which the field of the Saturn stadium was occupied by creatures in white chemical protection overalls with white bags and huge dark glasses on their heads. According to the organizers, they were intended to denote “aliens” - the unofficial symbol of the club. But with their hooded bags they looked more like representatives of the Ku Klux Klan.

After performing a fiery dance, the creatures in white robes disappeared. But the impression they made on Terek Grozny was so great that the guests conceded two goals in the first twenty minutes. And no matter how hard they tried, the players of Nazarenko’s team could not escape the second defeat in a row. After the second round, the Russian Championship received not only a leader, but also an outsider.

Results of the 2nd round matches. "Moscow" - "Zenith" - 0:2 ( Arshavin 2, Anyukov 59 ), "Rubin" - "Luch-Energia" - 1:0 ( Sheshukov 17 - own goal ), "Saturn" - " Terek - 3:1 ( Yakubko 10, 17, Vorobyov 73 - Lakhiyalov 66 ), Spartak - Tom - 1:0 ( Welliton 31 ), Shinnik - Lokomotiv - 1 :2 ( Lazarov 42 - from the penalty spot - Odemwingie 56, 70 ), Krylya Sovetov - CSKA - 0:2 ( A. Berezutsky 21, Jo 66 ), Dynamo - Khimki - 2 :0 ( Semshov 52, Genkov 67 ), “Spartak-Nalchik” – “Amkar” – 0:1 ( Zhilyaev 13 ). The leaders are : Rubin, Amkar - 6 points each, Zenit, Spartak, CSKA, Dynamo - 4 each.

Andrey VDOVIN