The tightness in the standings of Russian football is now unprecedented. And the specificity of the calendar can only help her. Although the fan’s head sometimes turns around - his team can play on Monday, and Tuesday, and on Thursday and Friday. On Saturdays and Sundays, it seems, they have long been used to. Tours stretch for three days. The last match of the previous one has only been played, and here, you see, the first of the next one needs to be played. Or watch. Or...
The twelfth in a row (the eleventh in a row - again, our calendar!) Round of the championship of the Russian Premier League started with five matches on Sunday. And even before its beginning, it was fraught with considerable intrigue. After all, it turned out that (under a certain set of circumstances) the championship leader could change three times already. And again, the density is recalled: the seventh team was only five points behind the first ...
The first such opportunity to become a leader was missed by the Moscow Spartacists. More precisely, they were deprived of it. The chief judge of the meeting “Tom” - “Spartak” Pavel Kulalaev deprived. Although initially the actions of the referee should have been dissatisfied with the Tomsk citizens. At least they thought so. Well, the penalty really seemed controversial, but here is just the case when they say: "at the discretion of the arbitrator." That is, from “there was a penalty” to “there was no penalty” - a hair that breaks or not, depending on the sympathies. Objectivity in such situations has no right to life.
This penalty, awarded in the 5th minute for breaking the rules against Pavlyuchenko, he himself realized and scored, scoring his fourth goal since the resumption of the championship. Less than ten minutes later, Pavlyuchenko had already acted as an assistant: he converted a long throw from the depth of field with his head in a high jump into one-on-one output for Fernando Cavenaga. The Argentinean, who seems to be beginning to recall the taste of goals, did everything luxuriously - he worked it, covered it with a body, paused and sent the ball to the far corner from the bar.
Thus, “Spartak” led 2-0 to the 15th minute, scoring in two with a tail of the last match already nine goals! But in each of them he invariably missed. Bearing this in mind, the hosts began to crush the red and white, not too sophisticated, but with each passing minute more and more openly. For which they were rewarded: the powerful striker Pavel Pogrebnyak (ex-Spartak, by the way), forgotten by the defenders on the penalty line, burst into it and elegantly beat Kowalewski with the foot closest to the ball.
The score 1: 2 in the middle of the match means only one thing - it is still not decided. All the struggle ahead, hopes of victory did not leave anyone. The Tomsk people perked up, the Spartacists did not lose heart, and what did Judge Kulalaev do during the break - a question! Because the decisions that he made in the second half of the game, by simple mistakes, excuse me, didn’t look at all.
In order:
1) Removal of Pavlyuchenko (penalty assignment).
At the 52nd minute Pavlyuchenko received from Kulalaev the second yellow card for the simulation and left the field. In fact, in this episode, Pavlyuchenko was folded as much as two times. First, the defender hit him in the legs from behind, and then goalkeeper Pareiko crashed into the back. It all happened within the Tommy penalty area.
2) Assignment of a penalty to the goal of “Spartak”.
At the 88th minute of the meeting, Kulalaev scored an 11-meter shot into Kowalewski's goal and showed a yellow card to Vladimir Bystrov. After the filing from the right flank, the ball was at the feet of the Spartak, standing facing his goal. He stopped him, and at that moment, the Tom football player, who came running from behind, literally crashed into Bystrov. After that there was a fall and a whistle of Kulalaev indicating the "point". Even in the frankly bad television picture that comes from Tomi, it was clear that there was no violation of the rules in this episode.
3) Goalless Titov goal (removal of Quincy).
At the 90th minute of the meeting, the Spartacists found the strength to carry out a counterattack. Bystrov entered the penalty area and made a cross, which on the goalkeeper's line closed in the fall of Yegor Titov. The most controversial moment of all of these. Probably no one will take the offense by the TV picture. But why, if it is impossible to accurately, with certainty, say that he was, the goal should not be counted? Indeed, FIFA has long been required to interpret such situations in favor of the attacking side. As a result, Kulalaev’s goal was not counted, and Quincy received a red card for his violent protests.
Thus, football in Tomi was hopelessly spoiled, and Pavel Kulalaev came to the first line of the Russian championship following Sunday. Perhaps for a long time, because at the end of the meeting the general director of Spartak Sergey Shavlo said that the Moscow club was going to seek criminal prosecution of Kulalaev.
Kirill KAZAKOV