The Spartak Vladikavkaz stadium met Valery Gazzayev with the banner “Ossetia is with you”. However, when CSKA head coach left the bench after the final whistle, his mind was occupied by another territorial formation - Holland. A friendly match with the national team of this country, according to Gazzaev, affected (for the worse, of course, the side) on the physical condition of the Russian players of CSKA. We will make a reservation right away: we won’t be looking for a suitable person for transferring blame for the not the most successful start of the spring campaign of the army team in the UEFA Cup. Hiddink and Mutko are not to blame, but Gazzayev is not to blame either. The reason lies in the game Maccabi, a clearly underestimated opponent of the Russian champion.
Passing the midfielder of Masudi's guests on the left flank in the opening was a surprise for the army team, who considered that the ball had already been flagged as a line judge. However, there was no whistle, and the positionally outplaying Alexei Berezutsky Kolautti struck Akinfeev into the right post. The bar stood - unlike a bottle of water, put the goalkeeper on the ground. However, CSKA was not discouraged by the sudden attack of the guests. Even skipping first in the most important matches, CSKA often bring matters to victory; the shaking of the bar could have been included in the category of misunderstandings. However, after 10 minutes, the same Kolautti struck tightly from under the same Berezutsky with another bar.
By the middle of the inning, Maccabi had two dangerous moments, while CSKA could only boast of episodic dribbling of Ramon in the center of the field, the only reason for which was the opponent’s yellow card. For some reason, the army team passed to Krasic on the right flank, where the Serb most often lost the ball or gave an inaccurate pass to the center. In addition, the left back of the guests of Magrashvili played very well against Milos, who pretty much strained his opponent when connecting to the attack. Zhirkov, on the contrary, outplayed Brazilian Bokkoli on his flank (whom the army headquarters was most afraid of before the game together with Katav and Kolautti), but did not always cope with the veteran and captain of the Harazi team that had entrenched in the Maccabi rear. Nevertheless, the preference of the left flank over the right in the development of the attack was obvious. However, the army team continued to play Krasic even after castling with Zhirkov.
In the first half, at the gates of Davidovich it was hot only once - the goalkeeper got a nod at the exit, and Dudu had to find a loophole in the players in front of an unprotected target, but the Brazilian missed. His compatriots succeeded even less: Ramon was mistaken in assists, and the only nominal forward Jo regularly “gave Wagner Love”, taking the ball with his back to the goal. During the break, Gazzayev replaced Aldonin with emberberas, sending the Lithuanian to the right flank (where Deyvidas took over from Krasic as the baton of non-stop broadcasts), and after another 15 minutes he replaced Ramon with Daniel Carvalho. But the gears still creaked. “Maccabi” pressed well in the center of the field, and, in front of the penalty area, on the contrary, he scattered all over, preferring not to meet Ignashevich, an unkindly luminous fingal for a million dollars, but to use the slowness of the Berezutsky brothers.
But CSKA, in spite of problems, somehow controlled the game, leaving the right to decide the outcome of the match at one point - as it was in the Champions League home games with Hamburg and Arsenal. Three points could bring just the “Hamburg” option - Serving Carvalho on Dudu and hitting the last head. However, the ball went higher, and the Brazilians at the end of the match lost their mood in skirmishes with the judge and rivals.
In principle, the Gazzaev team played their own - albeit not the best - game. The surprise was just the speed, teamwork and tactical literacy of Maccabi - which was to be expected, given the importance of the match and the Israeli understanding of the status of the opponent. It is worth recognizing that CSKA underestimated the team of Roni Levy. Which may be for the best. Indeed, now it will be difficult for Gazzaev to make a mistake with setting the goal for the return match: victory is needed. It is possible that it will be possible to get it in the classic army game second number - after all, the owners will attack. And before the visit to Haifa, the team will not play friendly matches.
CSKA Russia - MAKKABI Hf Israel - 0: 0
CSKA: Akinfeev, Ignashevich, A. Berezutsky, V. Berezutsky, Rakhimich, Dudu, Aldonin (Shemberas, 46), Krasic, Zhirkov, Ramon (Carvalho, 63), Jo.
Maccabi: Davidovich, Magrashvili, Keynan, Harazi, Anderson, Shavir, Svan, Bokkoli, Masudi, Katan (Rafaelov, 85), Kolautti (Arbeitman, 68).
Judge: Darko Ceferin (Slovenia).
Warnings: Shavir (17), Svan (25), Carvalho (68), Katan (68), Davidovich (75), emberas (90), Rakhimich (90).