Translated material
Peace on Israeli soil
"Spartak" and "Dynamo" tied
A match took place in Israel, for which, by and large, the entire Channel One Cup tournament was organized. Moscow "Spartak", leading during the match with Dynamo Kyiv with a difference of two goals, missed the victory - 2:2.The presence of the Spartak - Dynamo (Kyiv) match in the tournament bracket was one of the main conditions of Channel One put forward to the Cup organizers. Moreover, given the interest in this particular match, it should have opened the tournament. However, the Israelis intervened: Maccabi and Hapoel were unable to reschedule their matches in the national championship, and the tournament schedule had to be changed. However, it turned out even better - about 10 thousand spectators gathered at the stadium in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening. Many local residents, however, were brought to Bloomfield by the realization that their neighbor in the stands would be Roman Abramovich - there is simply incredible interest in the owner of Chelsea in Israel, and coverage of the tournament in the local media comes down solely to discussing the size of the prize fund and VIP guests. Among them, by the way, the Spartak - Dynamo match was attended by the owner of the Moscow club Leonid Fedun and the Surkis brothers, who control the Kyiv team. The vice-president of LUKOIL, under the gun of voice recorders, hinted that Spartak would still buy a world-class goalkeeper, and also complained that he would have to pay VAT in the amount of 1.8 million euros on the transfer of Argentinean Fernando Cavenaghi, who was finally sold to Bordeaux . The Ukrainian guests, in turn, stated that they were preparing to watch a training game, the result of which was not particularly important.
So the Surkis brothers were probably unpleasantly surprised that Spartak, after all, did not set up for this match as an ordinary one. Already in the seventh minute of the game, Bystrov, having received a pass to move, broke through his flank, beat the defender and fired a cross into the penalty area. Torbinsky responded to this pass - 1:0. A similar combination involving the right midfielder of the “red-whites” took place more than once in this match. But the second goal was scored after a set piece: after Mozart's corner kick, Roman Pavlyuchenko tried to send the ball into the goal, and he succeeded, albeit not without the help of a rebound.
The stands, two-thirds filled with Kiev fans, fell silent: not only did Dynamo lose by two goals, they also had to concede a third. Firstly, between two scoring episodes, Titov was brought down in someone else’s penalty area, but the match referee’s whistle remained silent. And in the middle of the first half, Pavlyuchenko made an excellent long-range half-volley shot - the ball missed the bar by centimeters.
“We had to put the pressure on Dynamo,” Yegor Titov complained after the match about the conversion. - Yes, and the referee was obliged to award a penalty in that episode. I was there first on the ball and cleverly substituted myself for the defender. He had no choice but to shoot me down. But we ourselves are to blame. We couldn’t adjust defensively and lost our advantage.”
It seems that defense remains Spartak's most problematic line. Most often, tension arose on the right side of the defense, where Renat Sabitov acted in the first half - the only acquisition of the “red-whites” this off-season. A free kick was awarded on the same flank, after which Dynamo reduced the difference in the score: the ball, after Gusev’s shot, flew behind Spartak goalkeeper Kovalevski, hit the post, but Mikhalik still sent it into the net.
The second goal, if desired, can also be attributed to the Polish goalkeeper: Kowalewski awkwardly deflected the ball in front of him after a long-range shot, and Jiranek, who was running towards the ball, put Milewski on the lawn. Here the referee decided to show integrity and awarded a penalty, which Rebrov confidently converted - 2:2.
In the second half the score remained unchanged. And Spartak head coach Vladimir Fedotov in the locker room expressed everything he thought about the Israeli referee Yaffit, who worked at that match, recalling not only the episode with Titov’s fall, but also the moment in the second half when the ball hit the Kiev defender’s hand near the goal. True, Fedotov could also blame Bystrov and Shovkovsky for the draw: the first, without interference, hit the empty goal from a lethal position, the second, having shifted by some miracle, managed to parry this blow.
However, the next day, walking alone along the beach and looking from afar at his players warming up, the head coach of Spartak was no longer particularly worried. In order to reach the final of the tournament, his team only needs to beat Maccabi (Haifa), CSKA's rival in the UEFA Cup. In case of a draw, options are possible, and the winner of the group will be determined by the number of yellow cards received.
Match results: Group “A”. "Dynamo" - "Maccabi" - 1:1, "Dynamo" - "Spartak" - 2:2. Group "B". CSKA - Hapoel - 4:1.