Don’t blame Igor! A curious goal broke the army’s game

After a brilliant opening match in the Russian Premier League, in which fans saw four goals being scored at the same time, football fans were waiting for the continuation of the goal fest in Yekaterinburg, where Ural and CSKA opened the season. Both teams faced the problem of an overcrowded infirmary before this game, however, there were enough top performers in their squads who were used to upsetting opposing goalkeepers. So hopes for an interesting fight were far from unfounded.

The corner of miracles

The meeting began with a cautious reconnaissance: the teams were clearly looking at each other, relying mainly on reliability at their own gates. Only closer to the half-time did the army team begin to take the lead as the nominal favorites: in one of the moments, Ilya Pomazun had to work hard to save his team from scoring. But “Ural” responded almost immediately – and how! Igor Akinfeev made a big mistake when he scored Yushin’s corner, missing the ball, and Timur Ayupov could not miss into an empty net. It is possible that the rossoblù goalkeeper in this episode was prevented by his own defender, but the goal turned out to be beautiful and equally curious.

CSKA’s troubles in the first half didn’t end there. The indirect co-author of the goal scored by Ural, Willian Rocha, was injured and could not continue the match. Meanwhile Muscovites were preparing a replacement, the home team nearly doubled their odds. Timur Ayupov, to score a double, lacked some accuracy – at the same time, his shot turned out to be just excellent.

Towards the end of the half, the Army team came to their senses and had to tie the score. How Anton Zabolotny managed to make a mistake, inflicting a header from the goalkeeper’s line, perhaps he himself will not explain. One way or another, the teams went on the break with a minimal Ural advantage. Such a result went against the logic of the game, so it was safe to assume that CSKA should have improved in the second half.

Second cold shower session

In the second half, the army team came out loaded to the limit. But bad luck in this match continued to haunt CSKA. Maxim Mukhin played with his hand in his own penalty area, and Alexei Amelin, after a painstaking analysis of the episode in replays, aimed at the point. In matches against the Rossoblù, a penalty awarded to them is far from a guarantee of goals, but this time Igor Akinfeev could not help his team. The goal scored was recorded by Daniel Mishkic at his own expense.

Impossible to escape

Subsequently, CSKA predictably switched to the “boo everyone upstairs” mode and just after an hour of play, reduced the gap to a minimum. Zabolotny took advantage of a partner’s convenient discount in someone else’s penalty area and shot Pomazun at point-blank range.

Vladimir Fedotov’s team obviously did not have the strength to continue the pressure at such a pace for the remaining half hour. However, CSKA continued to keep tabs on the ball and look for chances up front. But Ural survived and achieved a largely unexpected victory over the silver medalist of the last championship – 2: 1.