Even before the starting whistle, Vladimir Fedotov surprised the composition. “Spartak” copied the favorite tactical model of Valery Gazaev: 3-5-2. The roles of the defenders went to Kovacs, Jiranek and Stranzl. The positions of the supporting midfielders were Mozart and Kovalchuk. A couple of strikers were Pavlyuchenko and Quincy.
The first minute reinforced the suspicion of those who assured that the victory was unnecessary for Maccabi, who in two weeks already play with CSKA in the UEFA Cup. Not only did the Israeli champion come out without several base players, but still, the second hand did not have time to describe the full circle, as the defenders politely lost the ball to Pavlyuchenko. And he effectively, with a sock, threw a gift between Davidovich’s legs - 1: 0.
The match gave a very rough idea of how the Israeli club is going to confront the army team. The team is torn by scandals, and in the national championship she slipped into seventh place. If Maccabi has some trump cards, then at first they were carefully hidden.
By the 8th minute, “Spartacus” managed to color the game with all the colors of the rainbow. First, Mozart in the style of a colleague from CSKA, not having time for the opponent, jumped back to his feet. And then Quincy, after a gorgeous pass, Kalinichenko surprisingly calmly realized one on one - 2: 0!
There was a feeling of deja vu. In the previous match with Kiev, “Spartak” just as quickly led with a difference of two goals. But he did not hold that advantage. The possibility of a recurrence of events was thought in the middle of the first half. Red and white did not look like a team that intended to crush an opponent. The exposure of the Spartak flanks allowed Maccabi to find counterplay, in which the defense of Spartak began to resemble the defense of his opponent.
The only and significant difference was the game at the gates of Muscovites Dmitry Khomich. He loudly shouted even fans on the podium, managing to give instructions to his midfielders with his voice. And in the 26th minute, he brilliantly coped with profile responsibilities, reflecting a spectacular blow aimed at the distant “nine” in an arc. In the 43rd minute, the most real chance to soak the gates of Khomich was at Colautti. The Argentinean flew one on one, and it seemed that he had a lot of options. But Khomich sharply jerked towards him so frightened his vis-a-vis that he dutifully struck right into Dmitry. And the finishing went above the gate.
Stand out in “Spartacus” and Quincy, to whom the forgotten pleasure returned - it is easy to leave rivals behind. Over and over, he fled from the too polite Maccabi defenders and caused a stir in Davidovich’s household. Just before the break, the Dutchman almost took a double, but his kick from the defender, the goalkeeper “Maccabi” repulsed.
After the break, Fedotov sent young Shishkin, Sabitov and Torbinsky to the field, while maintaining the starting lineup of three defenders.
But the “Maccabi” wound up much more than ever. With all the reluctance to meet with CSKA before the deadline, the Israelis sharply added in emotions. Small fouls became more frequent, and the number of tackles “into the bone” forced the Italian referee Trefoloni not to take out the whistle from his mouth. After a clash with Stranzl, Davidovich was taken away from the field. It was thought that the Maccabi was supposed to completely dig out the ax of war. But passions suddenly subsided.
Then one of the main storylines of this passage, in fact, the game took shape. The defense of Spartak really tried so hard that the words of the club's owner Leonid Fedun about Dmitry Khomich - "the country's second most gifted goalkeeper after Akinfeev" - found confirmation and meaning. A couple of saves of the Spartak goalkeeper-understudy would honor any goal guard from Serie A. So I thought: would Dima make the Spartak authorities think about the uselessness of spending on an expensive goalkeeper-Varangian?
The last twenty minutes have been the most boring of the match. The teams resigned themselves to the result, and the semblance of rivalry was supported only by individual Spartacists, who sought to prove their right to a place at the base. But it turned out they did not really. The VIP audience frankly missed, and only ordinary fans charged chants that were familiar in Moscow stadiums.
The final whistle announced that on February 1 the first of seven possible meetings of CSKA and Spartak this season will take place. It is even curious which of the mutually exclusive desires will prevail: to defeat the most important of the rivals or not to exhaust each other on the eve of important European cup fights?
As for the losers, they have a chance to extract a reason from this useless game - to dampen CSKA. It will not be easy for Valery Gazzayev to convince his players that Maccabi is a team that needs to be tuned in seriously.
Ivan MAKAROV
SPARTAK Russia - MAKKABI Hf Israel 2: 0 (2: 0)
Goal: 1: 0 - Pavlyuchenko (2), 2: 0 - Quincy (8).
Spartak: Khomich, Jiranek (Shishkin, 46), Kovacs, Strantzl, Mozart (Sabitov, 46), Kovalchuk, Bystrov (Torbinsky, 46), Titov, Kalinichenko (Boyarintsev, 72), Pavlyuchenko (Bazhenov, 80), Quincy (Zheder, 72).
“Maccabi”: Davidovich (Almadon, 63), Meshumar, Magrashili, Olarra, Andersen (Keynan, 43), Svan (Dirseo, 68), Masudi (Emet, 64), Melikson, Rafaelo (Bokkoli, 57), Kolautti, Ghazal .
Warnings: Mozart, 6, Stranzl, 42, Magrashili, 82.
Judge: Trefoloni (Italy)
Tel Aviv. Blumfeld