Critical gap

Ilya Kukin, Mikhail Stroganov

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"Spartak" goes further and further

After the matches of the 13th round of the Russian Championship, the fans, who naturally want the championship to keep them in suspense until late autumn, should have become despondent. “Spartak” won again, “Lokomotiv” – again not.

What happens to the railway workers who cannot defeat their opponents for five matches in a row? There was so much talk in the off-season about the team being super-staffed, about the presence of almost two equal squads capable of solving any problem. The railway workers actually decided on one of them - they took the Cup. Yes, Lokomotiv can go the distance of this tournament, but not the other, longer distance. And here you won’t nod at the too-long celebration of success in the finals.

Just as you can’t attribute everything to the disqualification and injury of Smertin, whose absence allegedly destroyed ties in midfield. What kind of connections are these if they are all tied to one player?

The example of Spartak, which entered the match with Torpedo without two main defenders and with Bushmanov under-recovered, showed that talk about injuries to leading players tend to mask more serious problems. Although Spartak's defense allowed the "black and white" a lot of things, the number of scoring chances did not translate into quality. The frustrations of Luzhniki coach Vitaly Shevchenko over the poor implementation of profitable chances are understandable, but Romantsev, who continues to trust the regularly wasteful Shirko, has the right to complain about the same attack.

However, Spartak's attack, of course, deserves less reproach. People are working... Football historians will note in a few years: the Brazilian Robson was taught to play football in Russia. It has not yet been possible to make him into a real “ball magician”, but for domestic fields it will do just fine. If in the previous couple of years Luis gave a good game once or twice a season, now after two matches it’s the third. Isn't this progress?

Thus, two steps (round) before the equator of the championship, the gap between the “red-whites” and their nearest opponent is already 8 points. So, can the championship be considered over? Opinions on this matter may differ, but in less than a month, it seems that everything will become completely clear. On July 15, in a fight with the champion, Loko will have the last chance to confirm or deny the level of its claims.

June 19, 2000

Archive "Sports"