The games of Phoenix and the children’s sports school of the town of Valky have always been intriguing from their very first to the very last minutes. That is what the Summer Futsal Cup was needed for – at the very least for that kind of battle.
Today’s match has opened the count to the third dozen of games the violets played with the team of Viktor Detyuk. In most of the cases the match would finish with a very slim advantage to either of the teams or with penalty shootouts.
In this Summer Cup Valky is represented by two teams – the one staffed with the players born in 2005 and the other – with the players born in 2006. The first team is close to being the main underdog of the tournament and the second one has all the potential to fight for the same status. Moreover, Valky Sports School apart from Anatolii Naku – the main goalie of the club – has topped itself up with Daniil Syrotenko - a key player of the senior team and its skipper.
In the lead up to the match the organizers sorted out the tournament formula for our age. The teams will play one round with each other and the first two teams will go through to the semi-finals. The teams ranked 3-6 in the standings will compete for two remaining spots in the semi-finals. So, the leadership race in the group has become harsher. For the second Valky team, which lost points in its game with Kolos of the town of Derhachi, today’s match acquired special importance: second loss did not deprive the Valkovians of a chance to go through to the semi-finals, making the path there thornier though.
All this explains why the guests went for the attacking style today. Valky Sports School, having become first serious rival to our guys after the March finals of the Cup of Ukraine, was fighting Phoenix off on the level. Viktor Detyuk’s players turned out ahead of us in terms of their physical shape. At times, one would think the three-month-long quarantine had no influence over the Valky team and they had been practicing at their regular pace all this time. The seven field players looked rather motivated and refreshed, losing the tempo only after the second missed goal.
Realizing that physical struggle will be of prior importance, Serhii Hrytsenko and Yurii Vashchenko introduced some changes to the composition of the two four-player squads. So, the first four-player squad started off with Danylo Boldyzhev as a pivot – an uncommon position for him – whereas another Danylo – Khodatskyi – was entrusted with the full back position. At the start of the match Phoenix could have scored twice if the team had been luckier completing its attacks.
The guests were luckier at the start though. One of the mistakes the violets made in their attack led to the ball ending up at the feet of Roman Koveria, who outplayed Danylo Khodatskyi and shot into Eldar Bratchuk’s net point blank.
Having conceded, Phoenix put more pressure on the goal of the competition. The coaches decided to try more frequent changes in order to refresh the game in the heat that the city had not experienced since 1954, as Kharkiv’s Weather Service claims. Such steps yielded in Artem Shevchenko’s accurate assist to Ivan Konkov, who sent a thought out shot into Anatolii Naku’s net.
In the second half the competition was more proactive and in certain components of the game its lead was particularly dominating. The Valki team made 16 shots on the target 9 of which hit the crossbar. Moreover, the Valkovians passed 8 corner shots, whereas Phoenix could boast of none of such. A big credit should go to Volodymyr Lazeba for his flawless play and the miracles he was working in the second half.
Phoenix surpassed the competition in terms of effectiveness the team showed when realizing their moments and in terms of sheer luck at the own net. In the second half our team shot into Valky Sports School net only twice, both of the shots being on target and one of the two becoming decisive. Mykyta Bodnar shot excellently along the net and Demyd Yevsiukov turned homed and scored the decisive goal of the match.
Frankly speaking it should be noted that Viktor Detyuk’s players could have scored at least three times in the remaining six minutes. Especially dangerous seemed the moment when two players in salad uniforms simultaneously were trying to tackle the goalie and Volodymyr Lazeba against all odds managed to turn home, making the greatest save of the match.
Phoenix beats the Valkovians in this challenging fight obtaining the twelfth victory and remains the leader of the group stage. There are two complex games ahead of Phoenix – the one with Kolos of Derhachi and Valky Sports School-1.