When leaders participate in the games you always expect something unexpected – such contests are «in the crosshair» of spectators for a reason. The reported game had a bright poster, however, players from Phoenix and Sokil fell short of spectators’ expectations. We witnessed an unattractive game where tedious struggle and multiple unaided actions prevailed over sensible combination actions. This occurred despite the fact that both teams had already solved their tournament tasks successfully by passing to the semi-final of the tournament. It would seem that the boys had an excellent opportunity to play at their leisure without worrying about the result of the game.
On the other hand, the сconfrontation between Phoenix and Sokil has always been and remains a principal one, and this left its imprint upon the course of the game. It’s enough to say that there was absolute parity in the fourteen games held between the teams up to now – each of the teams had 6 victories and there were two draws.
Prior to the face-to-face duel with our boys the team of Konstantin Liskonoh was making confident and easy progress and had the maximum score possible – 27 points out of 27 possible. Sokil coach used operating squad, and only Danylo Ksenzov was left out of the main list of players. It’s a different matter that the bench of Sokil players was empty at the same time – there were only two players sitting on the bench. The coaching staff of Phoenix could not rely on Ivan Konkov and Olexandr Bezruk in the previous game: the boys are still recovering after injuries they received. However, Hlib Ivaniuzhenko played for the first time after a long pause and celebrated his return to the playing ground by scoring a goal.
When our boys were still adapting to artificial turf cover (right now the teams undergo their training sessions in the gym), Sokil players succeeded to open the score. And the goal was a lovely sight! Right from the first minutes of the game Yaroslav Shulika was set to target the opponent’s goal, and soon he sent the ball right to the upper 90 with a long-range shot. No matter how hard Phoenix goalkeeper Eldar Bratchuk tried to save the situation, he could not prevent his goal to be taken. On the whole, the game was equal before the break, but the team of Konstantin Liskonoh was a little bit more acute in the closing stage of the attacks. The result of the first half was the draw score – 1:1 that reflected correlation of forces on the field.
So what was the nature of the game we watched in the second 20-minutes half? Both opponents used high pressing, thus there were certain problems with starting attacking actions. Coaching staff of Phoenix was actively ‘shuffling’ the players, giving an opportunity for everyone to play and letting the players go out in the field in different combinations. Perhaps, it was due to this reason that our boys sometimes lacked simple mutual understanding. Besides, a curious goal was scored in the net of Volodymyr Lazeba right at the beginning of the second half. Vladyslav Istomin took a long-range shot, and Phoenix goalkeeper passed the ball right through his legs, however, there was a deflection.
Nevertheless, players of Serhii Hrytsenko and Yurii Vashchenko were not upset for a long time and immediately responded with a goal of their own. The game was taken on by the captain of the team – Danylo Boldyzhev. He worked a ‘give-and-go’ with Maksym Dolhulia, ran into tactical gap and did not leave any chances to Sokil goalkeeper Artem Rybin with his powerful shot. I would remark intelligent actions of the opponents’ goalkeeper who cleaned up the faults of his defenders on multiple occasions.
Time was passing by and the game was slowly approaching the draw that was quite logical. Opponents were also acting extremely carefully, trying not to commit a fatal mistake. And it would be fair if Phoenix and Sokil split the score. But Lady Luck was definitely keen on colour violet and our boys managed to achieve a character win. Notably, the decisive goal was of the curious ones. The teammates took Maksym Dolhulia to shooting position, where he took a shot at the goal that was not the best one, but this was what disoriented Artem Rybin. And in a few minutes there was the full-time whistle which recorded Phoenix victory - 3:2.
As a result, right at the ‘finishing tape’ Phoenix passed Sokil in the tournament table and finished first at the group stage, having scored most goals in its group and having given away least of all. The semi-cup four teams of the Cup is exactly as during spring tournament dedicated to the Day for Protection of Children, that proves stable play of the leaders.
In the semi-final duel that was preliminarily scheduled for October 26 our boys will play against one of the two opponents – Master of Ball-1, or DYSSh Volna. This will be decided by tomorrow noon when the last game of the group stage will end for DYSSh Volna that will play against women’s team Tesla. At any outcome of this game, except the defeat of Volna, our opponent in the semi-final will be Master of Ball-1 the same as in the abovementioned spring tournament.