Defeat Karpin after being appointed to the national team

After the termination of the contract with Stanislav Cherchesov, RFU President Alexander Dyukov promised to name the new head coach of the Russian national team before the start of the RPL-2021/22 season.

And the head of Russian football kept his word.

Just a few minutes before the start of the first match, it became known that the national team will be headed by Valery Karpin.

Ironically, in the opening meeting of the championship, it was his “Rostov” and “Dynamo” who came together.

According to assistant specialist Valery Kafanov, his colleague did not tell anyone before the game.

By the way, Valery Georgievich himself was forced to watch the game from the podium.

He was serving a suspension for throwing a water bottle at a judge.

What he saw was unlikely to suit the helmsman of the national team.

His charges, in the absence of the injured Matthias Normann and Ali Sow, although they had more possession of the ball, did not often disturb Anton Shunin - only four shots on target.

The half-renewed line of defense of the Muscovites (Fabian Balbuena and Diego Laxalt made their debut in the team) as a whole coped with the opponent.

And ahead of the result continued to give young Russian footballers, whom many predict "the syndrome of the second season."

Even in the first half, Arsen Zakharyan and Konstantin Tyukavin once upset the hosts.

In the second half of the meeting, the blue and white could well have brought the matter to defeat, if not for the six saves of Sergei Pesyakov.

Successful substitutions of Semak

An extremely difficult starting game of the championship turned out for the reigning champion of the country "Zenith".

Petersburgers in the absence of Malcolm, Vilmar Barrios and Sebastian Driussi almost lost points in Khimki.

In addition, already in the ninth minute, Magomed Ozdoev was forced to leave the field due to a knee injury, and 19-year-old Kirill Kravtsov took his place.

Sergei Semak's wards did not seem to be the strongest team in Russia and acted too imposingly.

Although the hosts were forced to play more defensively, at the first opportunity they organized dangerous counterattacks.

And in the 28th minute, Ilya Kukharchuk opened the scoring.

True, the blue-white-blue instantly bounced back thanks to a goal from Serdar Azmun.

Nevertheless, the eminent guests clearly lacked desire.

Artyom Dzyuba was not too noticeable, who, it seemed, had not yet come to his senses after the unsuccessful Euro 2020.

As a result, everything was decided by the successful replacement of Semak.

In the 69th minute, he threw Alexander Erokhin and Alexei Sutormin into the fight, and it worked.

The first one, almost with a starting touch, closed the serve of Yaroslav Rakitskiy, and the second earned and converted a penalty.

So Zenit won a strong-willed victory thanks to the well-timed decisions of the head coach.

At the same time, this match showed that Petersburgers, even in their current, far from ideal condition and without a pair of leaders in Russia, are able to beat most of their opponents in class.

Leadership qualities of Zhemaletdinov

Lokomotiv also showed character, winning a strong-willed victory over Arsenal.

In the middle of the first half, Sergei Tkachev unexpectedly opened the scoring, after which only one team was present on the field.

Eloquent statistics: the railroad workers owned the ball 75% of the time, struck 16 shots and took 13 corners.

Perhaps the Tula would have been able to maintain a minimal advantage if not for the optional removal of the central defender Artyom Sokol in the end.

Most of the Muscovites finished off an opponent in an empty home stadium.

And three points were brought to them by the corners, which had never been converted into goals before.

Rifat Zhemaletdinov scored twice in seven minutes, and in both cases, completing the attack with a kick, not a head.

After that, the midfielder also assisted Fedor Smolov.

It remains to be recognized that the footballer becomes the new leader of the team.

In the spring, his confident play in the top ten position was a pleasant surprise for the fans.

In the match against Arsenal, he only confirmed the correctness of the actions of Marko Nikolic.

It is symbolic that in the last 11 meetings in the RPL Zhemaletdinov scored 11 points for performance (5 + 6), while in the previous 18 - zero.

A match of missed opportunities for Vitoria

After the extravaganza at the Match Premier Cup (three wins over Sochi, Rubin and Khimki with a total score of 13: 1), a lot was expected from Spartak at the start of the championship.

Rui Vitoria literally in a month instilled in the team attacking combination football, which delighted the fans.

It was interesting: will the vice-champion keep this game, or will the red-and-whites just get in shape ahead of time, as it already happened under Oleg Kononov.

The result is rather indicative of the opposite.

Muscovites lost with a minimum score and for the first time in ten years were defeated in the opening match of the national championship.

It's a paradox, but Spartak looked good.

The team had the initiative and delivered significantly more punches than the opponent (13 versus eight), but they clearly lacked implementation.

Perhaps, after a successful friendly tournament, the players believed in themselves too much.

In a number of episodes, "Ruby" was rescued by Yuri Dupin.

And the referee canceled the goal of Samuel Zhigot because of a rather controversial foul by Roman Zobnin.

This is not to say that one of the guests failed.

Even Nikolai Rasskazov on the right flank of the defense coped with Khvichy Kvaratskhelia.

And the replacements Zelimkhan Bakaev, Mikhail Ignatov and Georgy Melkadze sharpened the game.

The latter missed a couple of dangerous moments.

But the citizens of Kazan were more attentive to their chances.

In the 49th minute, the only goal was scored by Ilya Samoshnikov, who became the best footballer of the meeting.

The rapidly progressing defender of the Russian national team struck three hits, two of which were on target, twice successfully dribbled and made four tackles and two interceptions.

The effective return of Zabolotny

At the weekend, another coach, Alexei Berezutsky, made his debut in the RPL.

Moreover, until the last moment, this event was in question.

According to media reports, the ex-coach of the national team Cherchesov could replace the young specialist at the helm.

As a result, the CSKA legend retained his post.

But Stanislav Salamovich, despite this, was spotted at the VEB-Arena on Sunday.

Under his supervision, the army team won a tough victory with a minimum score over Ufa.

And the main character of the meeting was another "newcomer" Anton Zabolotny.

The striker returned to the club after nine years of absence and scored in the first meeting.

The fact is that in his youth, the forward was content only with getting into the application of that star CSKA and never entered the field.

It was felt that the footballer really wanted to prove his necessity to the fans.

He did a tremendous amount of work and struck four shots on someone else's goal.

In the end, one of them ended with a goal after serving the corner.

Moreover, an assist was given by one of the main old-timers of the team, Alan Dzagoev, who only shortly before the start of the new season signed a new contract with the club.

Coming on as a substitute right after the break, the midfielder with his non-standard moves helped the Muscovites to put the squeeze on the Bashkortostanians.

Results of the first round matches:

Rostov - Dynamo - 0: 2 (Zakharyan, 20, Tyukavin, 33)

Khimki - Zenit - 1: 3 (Kukharchuk, 28 - Azmun, 33, Erokhin, 72, Sutormin, 76, pen.)

Rubin - Spartak - 1: 0 (Samoshnikov, 49)

Lokomotiv - Arsenal - 3: 1 (Zhemaletdinov, 80, 86, Smolov, 89 - Tkachev, 22)

Ural - Krasnodar - 0: 3 (de Villena, 62, 85, Cordoba, 90 + 5, pen.)

Krylia Sovetov - Akhmat - 1: 2 (Sarveli, 49 - Utkin, 6, Konate, 20)

CSKA - Ufa - 1: 0 (Zabolotny, 61)