With the lessons learned from the previous two disastrous matches of the First Military Minifootball Championship of Khmelnytskyi, the fans saw a changed Phoenix today. The quarterfinal match with Leader-Amor YFC can certainly be considered one of the most successful games for the violets in this tournament.
The guys seemed to have a busy week that followed Sunday's final match of the group stage against Olymp. Two additional training sessions were devoted to exactly the elements of the game that have not come out right recently. The team worked on the implementation of their chances and refined the set pieces.
The result of this work was four unanswered goals, two of which may well qualify for the 'goal of the matchday' category. Let's face it, this is the first goal scored after the excellent free-kick, as well as the third team goal scored by Khodatskyi after a brilliant multi-pass, in which the whole of the four-player squad took part.
Phoenix surpassed the opponent both in terms of accuracy of shots on goal (50% against 30%) and in terms of making use of the chances created. A large amount of work, especially in organizing attacks, fell on Danylo Khodatsky. Of note is Boldyzhev's impressive efficiency – 172.5!
The guys were just as focused and disciplined in defense, allowing the opposition as little as 6 shots on target. As a result, we recorded a clean sheet for the first time in this tournament.
Phoenix became the first semi-finalist of the Championship in League 6. An hour later, another participant in the semifinal stage was identified. That was GC Barbershop, which beat Karat Mebli Remtion - the Group A winner - in a penalty shootout. So, unless any sensational breakthroughs take place in the other two quarterfinal matches, it may well happen that all four semi-finalists will be Group B teams.
Our team will spend the week before the semifinal match in the Carpathians, where it is to participate in the charity tournament Together to Victory, organized by the Minifootball Association of Khmelnytskyi Oblast. From August 21 through August 23 Phoenix will play six matches with their age category, U-17, teams, some of which are well known to our fans.
Live coverage of Phoenix's matches will be available on our Youtube channel, the results of all games of the tournament can be traced on the team's official website.