The group round of the Kharkiv Cup has ended, and the time for decisive matches has come. The winners of the subgroups - Phoenix and DYSSh Volna, as well as the teams that finished second - Sokil and Master of Ball-1 reached the semifinal.
Note, that since the previous tournament, the alignment of forces has not changed much: the same four teams laid claim to the main prize in early June. Then success was by Phoenix side, but our guys failed to defend the title. Serhii Hrytsenko and Yurii Vashchenko's players, previously successfully get through the semi-final round of the Kharkiv Cup, which gave hope for the positive outcome of the confrontation with Master of Ball. However, the previous game lacked the ease our guys usually showed on the pitch. From the very outset of the match, the opponent left the initiative to Phoenix, playing as underdog and acting very condensedly when defending their own goal. However, Master of Ball-1 did very well in converting their scoring opportunities: in the first half there were 4 shots on target, with three of which the ball ended up in the net. The first goal was scored by skipper Mykyta Kostyakov, who made use of the through ball and outplayed Volodymyr Lazeba - Phoenix keeper.
After a conceded goal, our guys increased pressure on Denis Marcus' gate. Long-range kicks gave no result - Danylo Boldyzhev checked the reaction of Master of Ball keeper a couple of times, but the counterpart acted flawlessly. Soon, the boys again had to take a kickoff: Ilya Dolhopolov had hit the target with a near post corner kick. And in the remaining few seconds of the first half, Kyrylo Hurin played an effective cross at the far post.
Phoenix coaching staff had a difficult task - to cheer the guys up and set them up for the fight, there were still another 20 minutes before the end of the match. From the start of the second half, the mentors used the 5-a-side tactics, where the role of the fifth field player was implemented by skipper Danylo Boldyzhev. Phoenix players executed the combinations in the right manner and still, there was often just an accurate final shot that they lacked. Meanwhile, Master of Ball thanks to Zuka Kavtaradze's and Tigran Khachaturov's shots achieved a five goals lead. And only after those goals Phoenix was finally able to score their first one. Maksym Dolhulya, having outplayed the opponent, skillfully sent a kick into the low corner of the goal. Then Danylo Boldyzhev again was in the shooting position, but Master of Ball keeper gained the upper hand in these duels. The keeper, however, failed to save the ball after Daniil Dudin's long-range shot. Our guys started to play with even greater excitement, having managed to reduce the lag in the score to two goals. Phoenix players again made use of their numerical majority: Danylo Boldyzhev played one-two with Maksym Dolhulia and hit the empty net of the opposition.
Thus, the intrigue revived in this fight, and nobody knows how events would have developed at the finish of the game if Daniel Dudin had scored the fourth goal. However, his long-range shot was deflected off the goalpost ...Soon the denouement of the duel came when Ivan Nitka of Master of Ball sent the ball twice into the net of Phoenix. It took him only 25 seconds to do this. Note the overall statistics of the match: the top dog delivered 12 shots on target, scoring 7 goals.
As a result, Master of Ball-1 managed to take revenge over Phoenix for the defeat in the semi-final of the Kharkiv Cup, held in early June.