Showdown with the Sheriff

It is worth considering in more detail this club. “Sheriff” is the first league champions qualifying round for the sixth time in a row. This year, the Moldavian team defeated the Armenian Pyunik in the sum of two meetings. In principle, the young team from Armenia (in the main team there are nine people representing the youth team of the country) was not considered at all as a potential competitor to Spartak. And the fate of the two-part confrontation could be decided already in the first match. This did not happen solely due to the dedicated game of Pyunik goalkeeper Gevorg Kasparov. Thanks to his efforts, the first meeting ended in a draw - 0: 0.

“Sheriff” took its toll in its own stadium - in Tiraspol the team feels much more confident. Twice Moldavian footballers managed to upset the guests (goals on the account of Kochish and Gomenyuk).

So what is a Sheriff? The club-founder of the current “Sheriff” appeared in 1996 and until the 97th was called “Tiras”. With the advent of a new sponsor - the Sheriff company - the team changed its name to the existing one. The club successfully completed the task of breaking into the top division of Moldova in the same 97th. In the future, the team has progressed exclusively. The first trophy “Sheriff” won in 1999, beating the team “Designer” in the final of the Cup of Moldova. Subsequently, “Sheriff” repeatedly became the champion of the country. Having issued the Golden Double three times (the championship of Moldova and the victory in the final of the country's cup), the team also won the relatively recently organized Super Cup of Moldova.

“Sheriff” certainly cannot boast of great successes in the international arena. The club’s most significant achievement was a victory at the Commonwealth Cup in Moscow in 2003. By the way, on the way to this trophy, the Moldavian club beat Moscow Lokomotiv. This happened in the semifinals, and in the final match “Sheriff” defeated Riga “Skonto”.

In the Commonwealth Cup, “Sheriff” always looked pretty confident. What is it in the domestic championship, you can judge for yourself. The team won most of the titles ahead of schedule - a few rounds before the calendar end of the season. However, in fairness it is worth adding that the endless champion titles rather indicate a low level of the Moldavian championship, rather than the seriousness of the team itself. In Moldova, the “Sheriff”, in fact, has one eternal rival - “Zimbru”. And the yellow-blacks invariably beat this team.

The “Sheriff” - traditionally for this club - has a lot of foreign players. So, in the official application of the team there are only six Moldavians, two of whom are goalkeepers. And so - almost the whole world is represented. In addition to the sister Romania and the representatives of the former USSR (one each - Georgians, Ukrainians, Belarussians) in this list there is a Benin, a pair of Brazilians and Togolese and a whole landing (five people!) From Burkina Faso. Apparently, the Moldavian champion has good and strong ties with this African country. Sheriff’s breeding problems do not seem to worry too much ...

The main striking force of the Moldavian team in the attack is the 23-year-old striker of the Romanian youth team Razvan Kociš (he, we recall, scored in the games with “Pyunik”, scoring the winning goal). Kochish in “Sheriff” since 2004 and according to the results of both seasons spent in Moldova, was recognized as the best forward of the country.

In general, “Sheriff” is a strong, highly organized, and most importantly, self-confident team that will have to be reckoned with. She will not give up without a fight to anyone. So “Spartacus” is not an easy walk in the second qualifying round of the Champions League. Perhaps, the fact that the first match (it will take place next Wednesday - July 26) they will spend on the road will make the task somewhat easier. True, in modern football this - previously very important - factor is no longer playing a significant role in identifying the strongest.

Kirill YAROSHEVSKY