Mining "silver"

CSKA practically protected itself from pursuers

The capital's army team "stakes out" second place in the Russian Championship. CSKA, having beaten Dynamo yesterday in Petrovsky Park - 3:1, secured a comfortable six-point lead over its competitors. If Dynamo was counting on silver before this match, now Andrei Kobelev’s team should only remember about bronze.

By the will of the calendar, the entire ending of the Russian championship takes place in the capital's derby. “Dynamo”, “CSKA”, “Spartak”, “Lokomotiv” and “Moscow”, which has almost finished the season, in the four remaining rounds will achieve their goals, save their faces and harm their competitors in matches between themselves. Everything that happens outside the Moscow Ring Road will have almost no effect on the final distribution of places in the standings. And Zenit is watching the Moscow civil strife from ambush, ready at the slightest misfire of its competitors to rush from its sixth place to the prize-winners, and therefore to the qualifying round of the Champions League.

So yesterday Dynamo fought not so much for silver prospects flickering somewhere in the distance, but for the very real “bronze”. Before the 29th round, in which Andrei Kobelev’s team will have to pay a visit to St. Petersburg, the “blue and white” would be nice to have a more than three-point lead over their competitors. And then, for sure, nothing will stop Dynamo from rising to the podium for the first time in the last 11 years.

CSKA, however, had other plans for last night. The army team, despite Rubin's impressive lead, does not want to put up with the thought of missed chances for the championship. And Valery Gazzaev’s team announced their claims to victory already in the opening of the match. Recently, the army team has again remembered the standard provisions - their once formidable weapon, with the help of which they once achieved many victories. At the decisive moment, CSKA again took it out of its arsenal. Although Sergei Ignashevich, who took a dangerous free kick on the 7th minute, failed to break through the wall the first time, he sent the ball into Karchemarskas’s goal with a second no less powerful blow.

It is not customary to admire Dynamo by the end of the championship. Last season and big victories at the beginning of this year made us get used to the high place of Kobelev’s team in the standings. And forget who actually plays in it. Dynamo spent the entire tournament, in fact, with one striker - Alexander Kerzhakov, who, despite all the boundless trust in him, scored only five goals. Kobelev’s flanks are constantly played by the Kombarov brothers, who, for example, in the youth team were no different from their peers from other clubs lower in the standings. In the center of Dynamo, 33-year-old Dmitry Khokhlov acts primarily due to experience, and not due to speed; the defense is again not built from the best players in the championship. After Danny's departure to Zenit and Gabulov's injury, there are only two players in the entire Blue and White squad - Semshov and Fernandez - who may be of interest to big clubs.

The difference in class between CSKA and Dynamo began to show in the middle of the first half. If the hosts had had someone more experienced in the place of 17-year-old Kokorin, the score would probably have been equal. However, the young striker, finding himself face to face with Akinfeev, enchantedly rolled the ball past the goal. And in the future, “Dynamo” created so many chances that, if they had realized all of them, the matter would have ended in defeat.

In the end, the hosts still scored. But by that time CSKA was already leading with a large score. Having calmly fought back, Gazzaev’s team organized several of their signature attacks. During one of them, Krasic burst into the penalty area, beat several defenders, the goalkeeper and threw the ball to Vagner Love. The Brazilian had only to substitute his head or his leg. And a little later, Zhirkov, with a blow to the near “nine”, removed all questions about the winner of the match and Dynamo’s claims to second place.

Match of the 26th round . Dynamo - CSKA - 3:1 (Wilkshire 87 - Ignashevich 7, Vagner Love 58, Zhirkov 70) . The leaders are: Rubin - 57 points, CSKA - 50, Dynamo - 44, Amkar - 41, Spartak - 40.

Andrey VDOVIN