Phoenix pays high price for the Cup of Ukraine, losing a player each day. Boldyzhev, Zamula, Konkov. And today this list was supplemented by Khrypchuk who had received two yellow cards within one minute at the end of the game with KISV Futsal. So the two goalkeepers and two incomplete four-players squad comprising seven field players will have to battle tomorrow for themselves and for the other four guys.
The concluding game of the group stage for Phoenix had no tournament importance as the team had already secured itself a place in the main final a few hours earlier. Problems with players and particularities of tournament struggle determined the experimental composition of four-players squads of Kharkiv team. The coaches had to do without the help of Boldyzhev, Zamula and Konkov, the latter of whom also had to leave the game for one month with ligament rupture based on the results of examination today. Moreover, Serhii Hrytsenko and Yurii Vashchenko gave a chance to rest before the final game tomorrow for Volodymyr Lazeba and Demyd Yevsiukov, providing an opportunity to prove themselves for Eldar Bratchuk and Vladyslav Khrypchuk. The overall number of field players who took part in this game for Phoenix was record low. In all fairness, this way the strength of the opponents became equal, as Lviv players also arrived in Kharkiv without a number of players: Shumilo, Gylka, Guk and Yaremchuk.
To get to the final Lviv team had to necessarily win against Phoenix in the main time, therefore players in white-green uniform rushed into attack at once. Petsylyak had a good moment when he used incoordination of Kharkiv players’ defense, but his strike went directly into Bratchuk. In the counter-attack Shevchenko went one-on-one with Manevskyi, but he faltered and could not strike. An open game started with a large number of moments and mistakes from both sides, which confused the teams' coaches, but, perhaps, looked attractive for the spectators. Shevchik had an excellent chance when he turned out to be alone at the “goalmouth” after a solo flank run of his partner, but he could not beat Phoenix goalkeeper.
In this situation a goal from Kharkiv team which gave up the initiative to away team looked unexpected: Olexandr Bezruk played with Mykhailo Soldatenko and gave an assist to Maksym Dolhulia who was alone. After his strike the ball went into the net, hitting both posts in turns before that. Phoenix could score more, but Manevskyi intercepted a targeted pass of Soldatenko to Dolhulia. Maksym himself had one more perspective moment when he burst into the free zone together with Shevchenko, but Vladyslav Bekar stopped with at a price of a foul and yellow card.
Closer to the end of the period Phoenix players started making mistakes more and more often. Khrypchuk and Soldatenko played out a throw-in languidly, losing the ball and giving a chance for two Lviv players at once to run towards Bratchuk; fortunately, Pugalo let the ball go too far, thus giving a chance for goalkeeper to kick it out. Positional error by Bezruk after the player of KIVS Futsal brought the ball into play from behind the touchline lead to one-touch shot by Sibirtsev from blank-point position – and he missed! In response Khrypchuk got a good chance to strike on target that was completely created by the “pivot” of Kharkiv players Artem Shevchenko, but he started taking the ball down and did not bring the matter to a strike.
Lucian Sibirtsev went one-on-one with Bratchuk, but he could not beat the keeper. It was only on the 13th minute when activity of Lviv team paid off: Pugalo pushed past Khrypchuk on the flank and made an assist to Andrey Shevchik who was left unmarked by Soldatenko and Shevchenko. And in one more minute Shevchik netted double in similar situation, only this time it was Konev who broke through along the flank, beat Khodatskyim and KIVS striker only had to shoot down the goal without any obstacles. During the time remaining to the break the ball once again hit the net of Lviv team after all, but as Khodatskyi made a shot directly from the out, the goal was not counted.
The second period started with a score 1:2 in KIVS favor, which was completely satisfactory for Lviv team and could take it to the final. However, almost at once Artem Shevchenko got a fantastic moment when he ran away to counter-attack together with Khodatskyi, but could not hit the ball after a perfect pass, making the commentator wittedly compare him with Supryaga. Football gods do not forgive wastefulness, and in several seconds the ball hit the back of Bratchuk’s net for the third time: in the struggle with Koniv Phoenix the goalkeeper kicked the ball outside the boundaries of the penalty area, falling down onto the parquet, but he could not react to the follow-up shot by Oleg Pugalo who made the score 1:3.
At this moment Maksym Dolhulia had his weighty say of a striker when he beat the defender on the “needle tip” and made a precise shot on goal without noticing the attempts of resistance from two more field players and the goalkeeper. Impressed by the skill of Phoenix player, Artem Terentiev compared Maksym with legendary Italian-Brazilian futsal player Adriano Pholia. Still the score 2:3 did not last long as the teams continued a “comedy of mistakes”. A bad pass from Soldatenko led to Lviv players running three-on-two, KIVS players took Vladyslav Bekar to striking position, and he did not miss, increasing the advantage of his team to two goals. Berezyak could score more, but he could not strike past the goalkeeper when he was one-on-one.
With five minutes left to the end, Phoenix coaching staff took a one-minute break and rearranged the team to play with the fifth field player. In the absence of Danylo Boldyzhev Nikita Bodnar put on a crimson “T-shirt – shirtfront”. It seemed that KIVS defenders were not ready for this, and one minute later a cross pass from Bodnar was converted into goal by Mykhailo Soldatenko who closed the gap again to the minimum. The linkup Bodnar-Soldatenko could work out once again, but Manevskyi read the pass and intercepted a dangerous low cross. One minute later Artem Shevchenko made a great strike from the position of the last defender, but his shot went into the post. The coach of KIVS Futsal felt that he can be deprived of the desired victory and took a time-out to introduce corrections into the game.
When the game restored, Kharkiv team changed tactics of playing in five-men squad, having switched from the arrangement 3-2 to 2-1-2 with Maksym Dolhulia in the center of square. It was Maksym who faltered during the play-out of the ball, lost it and gave a chance for Oleg Petsylyak to find the net, bringing the score to 3:5.
Two minutes were left till the end of the period, but Phoenix did not give up attempts to equalize. But it did get “distinguished”, however, several times in a row. At first Khrypchuk knocked down his opponent on the flank and received yellow card. Then Nikita Bodnar, as a real golf player, used “relief of the land” in the form of the row of stakes represented by the opponents' legs and shot precisely into the back of the net between the legs of two defenders and the goalkeeper at once.
Finally, while correcting his own mistake after an inaccurate pass four seconds till the end of the game Vladyslav Khrypchuk committed a foul against the goalkeeper of KIVS Futsal and got his second yellow. The red card as such would not be a great problem in this game, but it substantially complicated squad composition problems of the team in the final game tomorrow with the same Lviv players.
The final whistle meant that Phoenix and KIVS Futsal would meet the next day in the most important game of the tournament. Undoubtedly, a very interesting game is waiting for us, in which, as we all hope, fortune will be on our side.