By the time of the dispute between Lokomotiv and Moscow, the teams came up with the same baggage of pre-match thoughts. But while Byshovets’s suitcases were mostly reproached for the lack of a set game and the low usefulness of individual players, Slutsky could gladly go through compliments on impenetrable defense and competent organization of the team’s actions. However, in the tabular position of the “Locomotive” it was impossible to discern tragedy. As well as in the communal leadership of Moscow, sensational success. Therefore, there was no need to talk about the lack of motivation either - both teams had something to prove. That's just to start this, they had to with different moods.
The start of the match emphasized the difference in well-being. Rodolfo's blow to the crossbar and the fall of the slalom player Ivanovich, in vain ignored by Sukhina, corresponded to the status of the owners hungry to points. But the calmness of well-fed guests who “ate” the country's champions in the last round helped them give a convincing answer to the Lokomotiv greyhound's debut. Semak had a great chance to start the countdown of the second hundred goals, but missed, finishing the ball lost by Yakupovich. However, the model Moscow counterattack that took place two minutes later simply could not fail to end in a goal. Neither a black hole in the center of the Cherkizovsky lawn, in which Adam was nearly bogged down, nor Goravsky’s slowness did not stop Bracamonte from bringing the matter to changes on the scoreboard.
After a perfectly organized goal and two dangerous kicks that accompanied him, Semak and Bracamonte wanted to turn their eyes to the coaching edge. Leonid Slutsky swayed nervously in his chair, but his team acted at that moment like a clock. Having won a tactical duel against Gazzayev a week ago on the flank of Barrientos and Gusev, the Moscow coach continued to think outside the box, moving the Kuzmin station wagon to the right under Bilyaletdinov. Castling succeeded; in addition, having Kuzmin in the rear, he played much better than Goravsky - in the game with the army team he limited himself to a couple of canopies, here he went on a successful beat more than once and beat him dangerously.
The birthday boy Byshovets, still sparkling with a new polka dot tie, had every reason to grab his head - in the first half, there was simply no one to attack in his team. Bilyaletdinov was closed, the forwards were hiding, and Loskov and the right-wing midfielder Gurenko did not go forward at all - all that was left was to rely on Rodolfo who regularly won the air. Lokomotiv had no chance against such a “Moscow”. In addition, Judge Sukhina unexpectedly decided to give up her sympathy for the railroad workers (who at least twice helped Loko in past seasons) and, in addition to an unassigned penalty, gave out a couple of ridiculous mustard plasters. Ironically, another Sukhina yellow card marked a turning point: Bracamonte was punished for delaying the time. Either offended, or having suffered from endless blows to the legs, the Argentine left the field.
The loss of Bracamonte provoked the inevitable restructuring of the "townspeople" - which turned out to be fatal in the end. Krunich, who entered the field with the role of second striker, who stepped back, fought all over the field and helped the defenders at the standards, could not cope simply because he does not know how to do this - another role. And the presence on the field of a football player performing these functions for Moscow is now fundamentally important. She still does not know how to play according to a different scheme - that’s why the other replacements of Slutsky became only a vain hope for debugging the mechanism that failed. Krunich, Chizhek and Ivanov looked like superfluous details, an attempt to replace the minute hand with a second - since we compared the command with the clock in the two paragraphs above. And the loss of Okoronkvo due to an injury smashed the gears of defense, on which Moscow moved into the attic of the standings.
While Slutsky’s watches were breaking, Anatoly Byshovets did not lose time. He let out the requested Kochish on the right flank of the midfield and explained to Traore what to do. Surprisingly, the Malian striker played along the lines of Bracamonte: he began to retreat, more often hold the ball and fight more. If his awakened diligence was supported by Sychev’s successful actions, Lokomotiv could count on a quick return ball, but the forward of the Russian team did not get into the game. His toothlessness was compensated only by the outgoing O'Connor, who rushed to gnaw at the guests' defense with enviable zeal. As a result, it was the Scotsman’s persistence that sowed a panic in the penalty box of “Moscow” and led to an equalization of the score. Spakhich's rebound from Ivanovich got a draw for the hosts.
It turned out that the debugged game of “Moscow”, which provided the result at the very beginning of the match, failed due to a forced replacement and, as it turned out, a short bench. Slutsky has repeatedly admitted that he is a supporter of the classical 4-4-2 arrangement - and in it there is hardly a place in it that for Krunich, for Ivanov. In the next round, the Moscow coach will have to reinvent the wheel: Bracamonte received the fourth yellow, and Adamov received the red one. The problems Slutsky encountered created favorable conditions for the extremely disorganized formations of Byshovets. The actions of the railway midfield should be recognized as especially unsuccessful: Loskov's passes worked only across the field, and the extreme defenders (recall, who organized the goal) successfully went on the attack much more often than midfielders. Having achieved the partial fulfillment of the task for the match, Byshovets practically did not achieve team progress - in the absence of the opponent's mistakes, “Loco” in the next match with “Saturn” will be even harder to score. The result of the match is netting: both received points. No one is happy.
Lokomotiv - Moscow - 1: 1 (0: 1)
Goals: 0: 1 - Bracamonte (12), 1: 1 - Ivanovich (74).
LOCOMOTIVE : Yakupovich, Ivanovich, Efimov, Spakhich, Sennikov (Kochish, 46), Rodolfo, Gurenko, Loskov, Bilyaletdinov, Traore (O'Connor, 62), Sychev.
MOSCOW : Zhevnov, Kuzmin, Okoronkvo (Chizhek, 62), Godunok, Rack, Gorawski, Rebezh, Barrientos (S. Ivanov, 58), Semak, Adamov, Bracamonte (Krunich, 37).
Removal : Adam (90).
Warnings : Sennikov (30), Spahich (32), Bracamonte (35), Rezhba (52).
April 28th. "Locomotive". 7 p.m.
Judge : Stanislav Sukhina (Malakhovka).