Russian Football Cup

Yesterday three return matches of the Russian Cup were played. “Lokomotiv” and “Terek” retained the advantage gained in the first meetings with “Rubin” and “Kuban”, respectively. “Shinnik” won back the goal they conceded in Vladikavkaz, defeating “Alania” in extra time.
The Russian Cup is the last opportunity for Lokomotiv to get into the UEFA Cup. So the matches with Rubin were not a success for the railway workers. Taking into account the fact that Dmitry Khokhlov, Malkhaz Asatiani and Maxim Buznikin were injured, it was not difficult to predict the Lokomotiv lineup. To some extent, the only surprise was the appearance on the left flank of Sergei Gurenko, replacing Jacob Lekheto. Rubin coach Kurban Berdyev has even less choice than Yuri Semin - the team's infirmary is overcrowded. So the composition of the Kazan team also did little to surprise fans and specialists. The predicted entry into the field of Argentinean Alejandro Dominguez, bought in February, also took place.
Despite the fact that the guests needed to score (the match in Kazan ended in a draw - 1:1), they started very carefully. With this, most likely, they signed their own death sentence. Lokomotiv is in excellent shape now. The players of his midline should not be allowed to calmly receive the ball - they will roll it out and quickly bring it to someone else’s penalty area, where there are always two attackers on guard (in this match - Dmitry Sychev and James Obiora). In addition, the railway workers probably wanted to rehabilitate themselves for the goalless draw in the second round of the Russian Championship with Amkar.
Already in the 20th minute the hosts opened the scoring. A trademark quick play in the middle of the field ended with a pass from Dmitry Loskov to Dmitry Sychev, who won the fight against Abdelkrim Kissi and threw the ball back to Marat Izmailov, who fired from the penalty line right into the corner. The goal did not change the course of the game. The ball rarely ended up in the Kazan half of the field. The Muscovites’ multi-move attacks and their “standards” were also dangerous. Only in a desperate flight did Rubin goalkeeper Valery Chizhov manage to knock the ball out of the top nine after Dmitry Loskov's free kick. James Obiora did not realize an almost clear one-on-one with the goalkeeper (in his justification, we can only say that he earned the scoring chance by beating the defender). Dmitry Sychev ended up with Valery Chizhov, also finding himself face to face with him. This is not all that Lokomotiv created at the visiting goal in the first half of the match.
The guests had only one opportunity to score before the break, but Aloisio, having received the ball alone almost directly against the goal, decided to volley and didn’t really hit it - Sergei Ovchinnikov didn’t even have to enter the game.
The second half began with a dangerous shot from Dmitry Sychev. But the owners were zealous after that for only about ten minutes. And then, either tired, or deciding not to look for good from good, they turned the game into a calm channel. To invigorate the attack, Yuri Semin swapped first Dmitry Sychev for Winston Parkes, and then James Obiora for Mikhail Ashwetia, but achieved little. Rubin was even closer to success than the hosts. In the 80th minute, Ebrima Sylla missed the chance, shooting from about ten meters high. The last minutes of the match were surprisingly calm. Both teams seemed happy with the result. Perhaps it was so. Lokomotiv reached the quarterfinals, and Rubin saved face in a difficult situation with the squad.
As expected, Grozny's Terek in Pyatigorsk managed to maintain the three-goal advantage they gained two weeks ago in Krasnodar. The return match turned out to be peaceful and ended in a logical draw - 1:1. But “Shinnik”, which lost to “Alania” in Vladikavkaz - 0:1, managed to carry out a scoring attack in regulation time on the poor turf of its stadium. Five minutes before the end, Alexander Shirko scored. And in extra time, Dmitry Vasiliev and Gelson scored two more goals. Both are on the conscience of Alanya's Moroccan goalkeeper Khalid Fouhami.
ALEXEY J-ZHUK

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 53 dated March 25, 2004, p. 24

Lokomotiv is heading to Europe