Sensation in Samara and strong-willed victory in Tula: how Krylya Sovetov and CSKA reached the semifinals of the Russian Cup

36 goals Sergeev

Krylia Sovetov became the only representative of the FNL in the quarterfinals of the Russian Cup.

This was not a surprise for most fans, since the Samara team are the strongest team in the league this season and are confidently leading in the standings, practically guaranteeing themselves a promotion in class.

Moreover, Igor Osinkin's charges have nine consecutive victories in the sub-elite division.

And in the Cup “Wings” proved themselves worthy and almost without resistance knocked out two teams from the RPL at once: “Rotor” (3: 0) and “Khimki” (4: 0).

However, on Thursday the hosts at the Samara Arena faced a much more serious test in the person of Dynamo, who gained an excellent move under the leadership of Sandro Schwartz.

The blue and white in 2021 won five matches out of six in all tournaments, and in the last round of the Premier League they scored four unanswered goals against Ufa and thus contributed to the resignation of Rashid Rakhimov.

Of particular interest among the fans among the hosts was the figure of striker Ivan Sergeev.

And already in the fourth minute of the meeting with Dynamo, the striker managed to declare himself.

He performed an assist for Roman Yezhov.

In turn, the midfielder beat an opponent in the right corner of the penalty area and delivered a beautiful blow to the far top corner without a chance for Anton Shunin.

A bad start negatively affected the actions of the guests.

They could not in any way establish control over the ball and at least get close to someone else's penalty.

If the rare shots on the goal of "Wings" did take place, then Bogdan Ovsyannikov coped with them without any special problems.

Samarans also created dangerous moments infrequently, but calmly kept the minimum advantage in the score.

It seemed that the favorite would be able to add in the second half of the meeting, but this did not happen.

Moreover, right after the break, the opponent almost doubled the lead.

Mehdi Zeffan struck a strong blow from outside the penalty area, and Shunin, with great difficulty, moved the ball to the corner.

Following the most real chance to excel was missed by the guests.

Vyacheslav Grulev, after filing from the left flank, beat his head for sure, but Ovsyannikov miraculously managed to fold and saved his team.

And in the 72nd minute, all questions about the outcome of the confrontation were removed by Sergeev.

Muscovites made another loss in the middle of the field and allowed the opponent to carry out a swift counterattack, which ended with a cross from the right flank into the penalty area.

Roman Neustädter tried to intercept the pass, but only corrected the projectile to the goal line, from where it was literally brought into the net by the FNL's top scorer.

Thus, Sergeev already has 35 goals in all tournaments on his account this season.

Krylia won their fifth victory in five matches of the Russian Cup and for the first time in 17 years reached the semifinals of the Russian Cup.

Akinfeev's birthday present

Another CSKA Moscow team met with Arsenal on the road.

In the national championship, the affairs of the Tula are not developing in the best way, and the team is only in 13th place in the play-off zone.

But in the Cup of Russia, Dmitry Parfyonov's wards have achieved serious success.

They not only took first place in the group with Salyut-Belgorod and Tekstilshchik, but also knocked Zenit out of the fight.

Moreover, the Gunners turned out to be stronger than the venerable opponent on the road.

In turn, the army team held only the second meeting under the leadership of the new head coach Ivica Olic.

In the debut, they barely beat Tambov in the RPL and, in addition, due to a severe injury, they lost the main central defender Herdur Magnusson.

It is curious that the red-blue team arrived in Tula for the second time in less than a month.

In mid-March, they suffered a sensational defeat here (1: 2) within the framework of the national championship, and therefore were eager to take revenge from the hosts.

However, the first half, as in the last game of the championship in Tula, was not very successful for Olic's charges.

They had the initiative, from the first minutes they took the ball under their control, but they could not translate the advantage in moments.

The rivals, albeit with great difficulty, held on.

So, for example, it happened when Fyodor Chalov and Nikola Vlasich together went to Yegor Shamov.

Horvath tried to roll the ball to his partner under attack, but by some miracle Gia Grigalava managed to interrupt the transfer in the subcategory. 

A little later, the goalkeeper saved the hosts after Chidera Ejuke's dangerous shot from his left foot into the far corner.

It is curious that the Nigerian in this match is located on the right flank, and not on the usual left.

By this time, CSKA was already inferior in the long run.

Arsenal used, in fact, their only chance.

The Tulyaks earned a standard on the right edge, and Yevgeny Lutsenko, after Igor Konovalov served, sent the ball into the net from close range with his head.

However, in the second half, the course of the game completely changed.

Firstly, the army team managed to level the score already in the 48th minute.

Like Arsenal, the standard position helped them distinguish themselves.

Arnor Sigurdsson made an excellent serve to the far post from the left flank, and young Vadim Karpov hung in the air of his opponent and sent the ball into the net with a rebound from Shamov.

On top of all the troubles, the Tula almost immediately remained in the minority.

The scorer of the goal, Lutsenko, in a single combat with Igor Diveev, hit his opponent in the nose with his elbow and received a well-deserved second yellow card for this.

After that, CSKA's advantage became overwhelming.

The hosts went back to the defense with the whole team.

And Dmitry Parfyonov's wards were close to keeping an equal score.

Good luck accompanied them.

For example, in one of the episodes, Shamov released the ball after a lumbago from the edge, but Jose Salomon Rondon was not ready for this.

Egor immediately corrected himself and miraculously rescued the team after Vlašić's shot with a ricochet from the defender.

However, in the majority of CSKA in the ending still snatched the victory.

Olic's replacement of Ivan Oblyakov with Alan Dzagoev turned out to be successful.

As a result, the midfielder on the 86th from outside the penalty area performed an excellent cutting pass from the bottom into the penalty area on the move of Mario Fernandez.

Alexander Lomovitsky tried to restrain the naturalized Brazilian, but failed.

So, the army team won a strong-willed victory over Arsenal and reached the semifinals of the Russian Cup, making a gift to Akinfeev, as well as to the new head coach Olic.