Russian Futsal

ROUND 9. CSKA MOSCOW – NORILSKY NICKEL

ONE POINT INSTEAD OF SIX

Just a draw (the first one in this championship) was CSKA achievement last week-end. Red-blue players tried to do their best to win but the visitors from Norilsk were stronger anyway. Three goals against six satisfied nobody.

Could it be better? No doubt if the red-army machine would not have slowed down from the very beginning. The team came late to the stadium. The reason are traditional Moscow jams. But such a circumstance does not justify the players that moved very slowly. They had to hold positional attacks and most of them ended with nothing. For the whole match there were few chances to score a goal but because of brilliant saves by Andrei Tveriankin the damned “zero” maintained in the final list. 26 seconds before the end CSKA got its last opportunity to score. A double penalty against Norilsky Nickel: Alexander Khursov close to the “point”... but the kick was too bad. It looked like the ball found Tveriankin by itself.

Alexander Babkin (CSKA head coach):

- That was a poor game to us. The result is right. The visitors looked very good. They deserved their victory. Norilsk¢s tactics was clever – to play deeply back not to let us come close to a goal. Besides our players did not run fast. I don¢t think the problem is their physical state. They were emotionally empty after latest difficult rounds. We will try to relieve them. That is all I can promise.

On the following day many things changed. One period and a half (about 30 minutes) CSKA led the match. Norilsk Nickel was after. Fedor Zinchenko managed to make a miracle – to score twice. It is rather curious because till December 25 he had scored just one… Then CSKA main scorer Alexander Antipov put an end to a very beautiful combination (it was played by all the members of the starting “four”).
So, red-blue guys could win at last. On Saturday they defended better than usual. The goalkeeper Voronin was good too. He did not make mistakes. All his actions were logical. He played smoothly and without fuss except one episode: the Brazilian international Passarinho was a little faster so Alexander needed some seconds more to catch a ball. 3:3 instead of 3:2, just one point instead of three or probably six. And just the sixth position in the Superleague classification.

Alexander Babkin (CSKA head coach):

- To my mind we played well. We just needed more patience to win. Unfortunately we have got problems with the line-up. Reserved players are few. Those on whom we set hopes play rather different. We need our captain Kopeikin that is off play because of trauma. Other guys miss matches because of cards time after time. As you see it is not simple to change lines as I wish.

Alexander Antipov in action (Photo courtesy CSKA Moscow)



STATISTIC REVIEW

ROUND 9

December, 24

Moscow. USK CSKA

CSKA Moscow – Norilsky Nickel 0-3 (0-1)

Attendance: 1000

CSKA: Tolstikhin – Arsh, Sergueev, Khursov, Maltsev, A. Antipov, S. Antipov, Chugunov, Kolesnikov, Somkhishvili.

Norilsky Nickel: Tveriankin – Schuchko, Mosautov, Afranio, Passarinho, Suslov, Simeunovic, Korol, Fedorov, Nikolaev

Scorers: 0:1 Passarinho (6), 0:2 Simeunovic (33, 6m), 0:3 Afranio (40)

Referees: G. Berezkin (FIFA, Saint-Petersberg), U. Bogomolov (FIFA, Moscow)

Yellow cards: Arsh, Sergueev – Schuchko, Afranio, Nickolaev
10m: Khursov (40, goalkeeper)


Passarinho and Tveriankin (Norilsky Nickel) vs Serguei Antipov (CSKA) (Photo courtesy: CSKA Moscow)



December, 25

Moscow. USK CSKA

CSKA Moscow – Norilsky Nickel 3-3 (3-2)

Attendance: 1000

CSKA: Voronin – Sergueev, Maltsev, A. Antipov, S. Antipov, Chugunov, Kolesnikov, Somkhishvili, Zinchenko

Norilsky Nickel: Tveriankin – Schuchko, Mosautov, Zorc, Passarinho, Suslov, Simeunovich, Korol, Fedorov, Nikolaev

Scorers: 1:0 Zinchenko (2), 1:1 Mosautov (6), 2:1 Zinchenko (10), 2:2 Simeunovich (12), 3:2 A. Antipov (16), 3:3 Passarinho (36)

Referees: U. Bogomolov (FIFA, Moscow), G. Berezkin (FIFA, Saint-Petersburg)

Yellow cards: Sergueev, Zinchenko – Nikolaev, Fedorov


Alexander Antipov during the match (Photo courtesy: CSKA Moscow)



CSKA Moscow coach Alexander Babkin (Photo courtesy: CSKA Moscow)