An ordinary miracle: how Russia bounced back 19 seconds before the end and beat Switzerland in the beach soccer World Cup semifinals

The Russian national team approached the semifinal confrontation with Switzerland with serious staffing problems. Blame the Argentine referee Mariano Romo, who in the match with Spain removed Alexei Makarov and Fedor Zemskov, and also showed a yellow card to Arthur Ferorotny. For the latter, she became the second in the tournament, and he earned a disqualification.

Considering that two key defenders were out of action, Mikhail Likhachev had to smash his head over how to close the main star of the opponent and the top scorer of the tournament, Dejan Stankovic.

The 36-year-old striker came to the World Cup in excellent shape and scored nine goals by the semifinals.

For comparison, the most productive in the national team (Makarov, Ferorotny and Boris Nikonorov) had only four goals at that time.

By the way, the footballer appeared on the sand first and started the warm-up one hour before the starting whistle.

“It’s not about Deyan, but the fact that we have practically no people left who are able to close him after today's deletions.

We will come up with something.

We are working for this, ”Likhachev complained.

At the same time, Stankovich is well acquainted with many Russians, after all, he played in the championship of our country for more than one year and played with many opponents.

Captain Anton Shkarin even jokingly complained that Deyan, on the eve of the semifinals, would give his partners all the tactical secrets of the owners.

One way or another, the loss of three leading players at once equalized the chances of the opponents.

However, if you pay attention to the statistics of personal fights, then Russia could still be called the favorite.

Likhachev's wards last lost to the Alps five years ago in the Euroleague, and even then in a penalty shootout.

In the main time, they were losing in 2012 in the final of the same tournament - 5: 6.

Stankovic then issued a double.

However, with the starting whistle of the referee, it became clear that the losses did not affect the strength of the hosts.

Likhachev made two substitutions in the starting five.

Zemskov's place in the attack was taken by Dmitry Shishin, and Makarova in defense - Yuri Krasheninnikov.

And already at the 36th second, an experienced defender opened the scoring.

After a great kick into the game performed by Maxim Chuzhkov, the footballer struck a great kick into the far corner.

A successful start only added strength and emotion to the Russians.

They worked out in defense for themselves and for those guys who remained in the stands.

Even Nikonorov returned to his half of the site.

As a result, the Swiss could not even create a dangerous moment for a long time.

Stankovich, who was reliably controlled by Shkarin, was also completely invisible.

In the first period, he was marked only with a yellow card when he stepped hard on Krasheninnikov's foot.

And soon the domestic team doubled the lead.

Nikonorov took the projectile from the defender near the other's gates and, with a ricochet from the sandy hill, sent it to the far corner.

This goal was the fifth for the forward in the tournament.

However, the opponent quickly managed to revive the intrigue.

Ostap Fedorov broke the rules on the right flank of the defense, and Noel Ott scored a rather curious goal.

After his shot, the projectile jumped on a bump at the last moment and changed its flight trajectory, which prevented Chuzhkov from saving the team.

However, with the exception of a goal from a standard, the opponent had practically no chances.

The main goalkeeper of the Russian national team again spent only the first period, and then gave way on the site to Stanislav Kosharny.

Constant replacements of one of the best goalkeepers on the planet raise questions, although Likhachev assures that it is not a matter of injury.

The beginning of the second 12-minute period was also very successful for Our Boys.

Before the judge had time to blow the whistle, Arthur Kotenev hit the other's goal.

With his left foot, he beautifully twirled the projectile into the far nine - 3: 1.

After that, the Swiss were forced to go forward, but the Russians acted confidently in defense, and at the first opportunity they fled to counterattack, forcing the opponents to break the rules.

Yes, and Kosharny regularly fired at other people's gates from a long distance.

It seemed that everything was going very well for the national team.

However, in the second half of the period, the course of the match unexpectedly changed by 180 degrees.

The standard position helped the Alps to return to the game again.

After entering the ball from the side, Glenn Hodel struck through himself and sent the projectile exactly into the near corner.

But the problems of the Russians did not end there.

Less than a minute later, the score was evened.

The Swiss made a selection in their own half and had a lightning-fast counter-attack.

Hodel fled one on one with Kosharny and calmly shot into the far corner.

Stankovich did not play, but his partner led the team.

However, Dejan, shortly before the break, recalled himself, putting an end to a beautiful combination.

After the discount with his head, he sent the ball through himself into the near corner.

The Alpines took the lead, but the defense of the two-time world champions in the middle of the meeting still failed.

In the final period, the Russian national team simply had no choice but to go forward.

The opponent took advantage of this and regularly ran away in counterattacks.

The domestic team clearly lacked the sharpness ahead.

Nikonorov alone had a hard time coping with the opponent's defense.

We missed Zemskov with his signature bisiclets.

But in a little over eight minutes, Michael Mitsev made a gift to the hosts.

He allowed himself to be robbed in his own half by Romanov and was forced to break the rules.

The referee regarded the episode as a foul of last resort and showed a straight red card.

The defender almost scored from a dangerous free kick right away, but the goalkeeper saved the Swiss.

Unfortunately, it was not possible to take advantage of the majority.

Very quickly Romanov scored a similar foul.

He did not follow Hodel and broke the rules.

The referee also took out a red card and awarded a penalty.

The victim himself confidently converted the penalty and scored a hat-trick.

The hosts had about seven minutes to save themselves, and Likhachev's charges went forward with their last bit of strength.

At first, little succeeded at the opposing goal, but the Swiss also began to get tired and make mistakes in defense.

Nikonorov gave hope to the half-filled stadium in two minutes and 21 seconds before the end.

The forward did everything himself: he earned himself a ball on the move and struck past the defender with side scissors between the goalkeeper's legs.

After that, the Russians went ahead with the whole team, forgetting about the defense.

The Alpines only had to fight back.

An excellent moment was missed by Novikov, who from close range did not hit the near corner with his head.

Then Nikonorov's next shot lacked accuracy.

Time was running out, and it seemed that Likhachev's wards could no longer be saved.

But 19 seconds before the end, two main veterans made a saving goal.

Shishin took the ball away in someone else's half and made a pass to Shkarin.

Anton found himself right in front of someone else's gates and simply had no right to miss.

The arena at that moment almost collapsed from the joy of the fans present at it, because the team managed to perform a real miracle.

In extra time, the rivals failed to determine the winner. However, the Swiss almost snatched the victory. Hodel could have arranged poker. The striker shot from close range to Kosharny, but the goalkeeper showed miracles of reaction. And Stankovich sent the shell higher on finishing. The Russians responded with a dangerous shot of Nikonorov through themselves, which was dealt with in a timely manner by Eliot Henry David Monod, who intercepted.

Denis Parkhomenko became the protagonist of the penalty shootout. Likhachev released a third goalkeeper specifically for the "lottery", and he did not disappoint. He managed to parry a not too successful blow of Tobias Steinemann. The goalkeeper was also helped by the fans, who met the Swiss attempts with a deafening whistle. Nobody made more mistakes. The decisive shot went to execute Krasheninnikov and confidently put an end to it. So, Yuri opened the scoring and finished it. And the Russian national team made an impressive comeback and made it to the final.