On the first day of winter Phoenix fought with WFC Kharkiv City in the framework of the Kharkiv Open Championship. WFC Kharkiv City is known to many fans under its former name - KDYSSh-8. In this age category in the current tournament two teams of girls perform: in addition to the trainees of Anna Pocus, Tesla-2 also plays in group 'A'.
The 'violets' spent a lot of energy on the eve of the group round matches of the Ukrainian Championship, so such an opponent was a perfectly acceptable option in order to take a breath and prepare more carefully for the upcoming futsal battles. The game itself was not particularly spectacular, with almost no emotional component in it, and sometimes it seemed that the team was gradually falling into hibernation, playing automatically and making a lot of mistakes. This winter dream was only occasionally interrupted by the whistles of the referee, who called violations and scored goals. Perhaps, the most striking event of this game is Artyom Shevchenko's captain's armband - his first while in Phoenix, but a well-deserved one.
From the first minutes of the match, our guys took the initiative, and it became clear that scoring the first goal was only a matter of time. As a result, the first standard position ended with a goal scored in Kharkiv City net. Ivan Konkov promptly reacted to Maksym Dolhulia’s jerk, and then Dolhulia opened the score with a powerful shot.
It is worth saying that the rivals greatly facilitated Phoenix task by often taking the wrong defensive position or by losing players. This happened in the episode with the second goal. Goalkeeper Eldar Bratchuk threw the ball behind the opponent, and Maksym Dolhulia had no trouble doubling the lead.
In less than two minutes, our guys scored the third goal. Nikita Bodnar passed on to Demid Yevsyukov, who raided from the center of the pitch to the rivals' goal and outplayed goalkeeper Yelyzaveta Dovzhenko. Then there was a lull, and the rivals began to show more discipline in defense, threatening Phoenix gates from time to time. For this perseverance, they were rewarded at the end of the first half, when Olexandra Litus was the first WFC Kharkiv City player to score in the match, striking into the far corner of Phoenix net.
Despite the conceded goal, there was a feeling that this was only an unfortunate misunderstanding, as Serhii Hrytsenko and Yurii Vashchenko's trainees were controlling the game. The whistle had just sounded for the start of the second half, when Kharkiv City missed a great chance to reduce the lag to a minimum. And already in the return attack, our team widened the gap in the score - Nikita Bodnar tried to pass the ball to Daniil Dudin, but it hit Alyona Linyova’s leg and was in the net.
This amusing goal 'woke up' the fans, and to the roll of drums Phoenix continued to dominate the pitch. The next attack, which led to a goal scored in the opposition's net, was implemented as smooth as ever: Artem Shevchenko, Daniil Dudin and Demid Yevsyukov skillfully performed the sequence in three moves. Note, that after the break, Anna Pocus's trainees added a bit to their pace, and Phoenix goalie, who was frankly bored during the first half, had to enter the game more often. However, the girls sometimes lacked mutual understanding on the pitch, with due respect to their diligence. In particular, Ivan Konkov and Nikita Bodnar scored goals just as the rivals organized a change of fours and did not have time to guard their own goal. As a result, 7:1 is the final score according to the ranking table.
And if the outcome of the former match was predictable, Phoenix-2 success in the head-to-head duel with DYSSh-9 turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It was with the third attempt only that our guys managed to gain their first victory in the tournament, whereas Dmytro Bakulin and Omar Hassan scored their debut goals as part of our team.