That was a very short vacation that Phoenix players enjoyed. Just two weeks ago, the previous tournament in the open courts of Horky Park came to an end. This weekend, the autumn-winter season of the Kharkiv Open Futsal Championship started. From this year on the Championship is extended to the age category of players born in 2005 and this presents a serious challenge for Phoenix staffed with 2003-2004 players in terms of team's playoff aspirations.
The hard work started already today, in the match of the starting round against DYSSh-11 - in fact, the most difficult opponent in the four-year history of the team. Judge for yourselves, we met Dmytro Shalbayan’s players twice (both times - in the Ukrainian Championship 2017/18), and on both occasions we lost fair and square with a big disadvantage in score - 1:10 and 0:11. Today's game showed that the DYSSh-11 team, mostly staffed with Futsal Cup of Ukraine winners, is one of Championship overdogs.
The game would have been much more interesting, if it had not been played on the rubber flooring of the Dynamo arena, diminishing for the technical skills of both teams. The struggle with many fouls set in.
Phoenix, which spent the whole of Friday practice getting ready for the match, looked quite different on the pitch from what it looked like two years ago. The team showed great attacking football, and was in many ways no worse than the opponent. At least in the first half.
Having set a high pace from the outset of the match, the opponents kept it up until the final whistle. At first, Serhii Hrytsenko and Yurii Vashchenko's players were a lagging party: in the very debut of the match Volodymyr Andreiev scored into the gate of Eldar Bratchuk, whom the Phoenix coaching staff had entrusted with responsibility to defend the rear. A great chance to restore parity was missed by Maxym Dolhulia in a deficient flank kick. As if a reward for our efforts, luck was by our side - the ball hit the frame of Eldar Bratchuk's goal four (!) times.
Bratchuk’s net guarding counterpart had much less ado to handle. Whatever the case, the teams left for a break at 1:1. During the free-kick by Phoenix players, Farid Mamedov handled the ball in his own penalty area, and the referee pointed to a 6-meter mark. Danylo Boldyzhev –the skipper- with his powerful shot left no chance to DYSSh-11 goalie.
Despite the balance in the score, the second 20-minute caused a little concern as to the outcome of the match. These fears were confirmed, just as the referee blew his whistle to signal the start of the second half. Only 10 seconds was enough for the opposition to regain the lead. The loss of the ball in the center of the pitch turned into a quick counterattack and a powerful kick by Bohdan Meshcheryakov, who - for the second time - forced Eldar Bratchuk to get the ball out of the net. The unsuccessful start of the second half did not bring our guys down, and they continued to look for ways to the opponent’s goal. Daniil Dudin shot a few times quite energetically, Demyd Yevsyukov was close to success, but the limit of luck that evening was exhausted. A frustrating rebound became the main reason for the third missed goal. And again, the author of the goal was Bohdan Meshcheriakov, scoring a double in the long run. Olexii Riyaka's contribution was valuable as he tuned into the attacking combinations of his team in both halves of the match.
Trying to save the fight, Phoenix coaching staff used the 5-a-side tactics. As a result, the boys managed to reduce the lag in score to two goals, making use of their numerical majority. Ivan Konkov hit on DYSSh-11 goal and Nikita Bodnar sent the ball into the target from close range.
Phoenix lost, but this was rather a beneficial defeat. In the first place, unlike previous matches with the same opponent, the team was switched on. There was motion, there was energy and there was a game pattern. Secondly, the score of the match and its dynamics leave hope for a future win back. It would be especially curious to see both teams in action on the parquet flooring, where their game will be even more vivid and exciting.
The game of our second team, too, encourages optimism (you will recall, that Phoenix registered two rosters for this tournament). The boys’ debut, especially for those who played their first game ever, was as energetic as it could get, given the class of the rival. Sokil is the silver medalist of the recent Kharkiv Futsal Cup. Despite the 3:4 defeat, our guys played with good grace against a more powerful opponent. Moreover, the fans liked the spirit Phoenix-2 showed - the team fought till the last, not at all brought down by the difference in class. Note, the boys scored two goals, playing 5-a-side.
Both of our teams are in uncommon positions in the standings of the Championship of Kharkiv, and the paradox is that the teams, having played their first matches, are still in the dark as to groups lineups, just as, in fact, as to the full roster of participants - applications are still coming in. Anyways, the organizers promise to have handled the turmoil by the end of the week. It will then be clear which out of more than two dozen teams Phoenix will be competing with to enter the playoffs.