Wednesday, May 14, 2014

2013-14 Matchweek 29 Recap: Title race opens right up

Hey everyone! Because I'm absolutely awful (and I had exams), you haven't heard from me for more than a week. Never fear, I'm back just in time for the final matches of the season and a whole lot of post-season content that will blow you all away (not really, but you get the idea).

In footballing terms, this past matchweek saw the title race become a whole lot more interesting, as Zenit and Lokomotiv losses allowed CSKA to take the lead going into the final matchweek. As it stands, CSKA will take the title if they can beat Loko, while Zenit have to win and rely on Loko to get points at CSKA. The only way Loko can get the title themselves is if they beat CSKA and Zenit fail to beat Kuban.

football formations Ural 2-1 Kuban
Ural were impressive in attack against Kuban, yet despite their early dominance, they had to rely on a penalty to take the lead, when Gerson Acevedo converted in the 27th minute. It took only 9 minutes for the man who gave away the penalty, Vladislav Ignatiev, to redeem himself and equalise, but he was unable to make any further impact before he was substituted in the second half. Meanwhile, Ural continued to be the more impressive team and were rewarded for their persistence when substitute Denis Dorozhkin put away the winner with just 7 minutes remaining.

Krylia 0-4 Rubin
Despite the scoreline, Krylia actually played much better than Rubin, but their profligacy, combined with Rubin's excellent finishing, cost them the game. Mubarak Wakaso was the only player to convert in the first half, but Rubin opened the floodgates after the interval and poured in three more through Pavel Mogilevets, Sardar Azmoun and Marko Devic to score four goals with just four shots on target and take the three points.

Spartak 1-0 Amkar
Spartak were able to halt their three game losing streak thanks to an overly defensive lineup against Amkar. The hosts kept three central defenders for most of the match and played Dmitri Kombarov and Sergei Parshivlyuk as wing-backs. It was Yura Movsisyan who got the match's only goal just after the half hour mark, and it was enough for Spartak to hold on for the three points.

Terek 2-0 Volga

Terek soundly overwhelmed Volga, but Sergei Pareiko kept the visitors in it for far longer than he had any right to. It was the ever brilliant Oleg Ivanov who opened the scoring with only a quarter of an hour to play, and Denis Kolodin was sent off shortly afterwards. Substitute Jeremy Bokila added the finishing blow in stoppage time to give Terek the win.

Zenit 2-4 Dynamo

Oh boy, this game deserves a standalone article, but unfortunately I'm pressed for time, so this is all you'll get. Danny put the hosts ahead after just 6 minutes, but Dynamo managed to score four goals unanswered as Zenit struggled to do anything at all with the ball. Substitute Aleksandr Kerzhakov managed to pull one back, but seeing that the title was slipping out of their hands, Zenit's fans stormed the pitch, causing the match to be abandoned and the points awarded to Dynamo.

CSKA 2-0 Tomsk
CSKA were quite clearly the better side, but it still took a Renat Sabitov own goal after an hour for them to take the lead, and they were occasionally threatened by the visitors before Seydou Doumbia finished it off in stoppage time.

Krasnodar 1-0 Anzhi
Anzhi were impressively dominant, but were unable to overcome an early Andreas Granqvist goal despite Fyodor Smolov rattling the crossbar in the second half. This defeat means that their extremely disappointing season has definitely resulted in their relegation.

Rostov 2-0 Lokomotiv

Rostov had to cope with the absence of Loko loanee Arseni Logashov, but still managed to take the lead when Vitali Djakov put the ball in the back of the net. It was captain Timofey Kalachev who killed the game off in the 67th minute and almost certainly doomed Loko's title chase.


Table:
1 - CSKA
2 - Zenit
3 - Lokomotiv
4 - Dynamo
5 - Krasnodar
6 - Spartak
7 - Rostov
8 - Kuban
9 - Rubin
10 - Amkar
11 - Terek
12 - Ural
13 - Tomsk
14 - Krylia
15 - Volga
16 - Anzhi

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