After yesterday’s win over Chorne More of Odessa, the team of Serhii Hrytsenko and Yurii Vashchenko was supposed to counter Energiia of Lviv – an even more serious rival. The team had lost Artem Shevchenko in its battle against the Odessites by then.
The coaches had to reshuffle the four-player squads. Maksym Dolhulia was assigned the role of a pivot, whereas Danylo Boldyzhev and Mykhailo Soldatenko would switch back and forth along the left flank. The second four-player squad remained intact.
Phoenix astonished all from the very start of the match, trying to play attack first. That resulted in two goals in the early first half. In minute four the first goal took place. The first four-player squad was getting ready to implement its set piece and bring in the ball from the sideline and next to the net of the opposition. The set piece did not go as planned, having been intercepted by the coach of the opposition in a timely tip to his players. Ivan Konkov sent a powerful shot towards the net, the ball deflected off Volodymyr Manevskyi, caught unawares, and ended up in the net.
Having led the score, Phoenix chose to attack in a rather bold manner rather than close down its defense. Mykyta Bodnar showed a particularly good game in the left flank in those minutes. His fast tumbling passes created a number of challenges for the opposition. Moreover, in minute 6 they led up to a second goal.
The next goal came only in 6 minutes but it was worth waiting for! Volodymyr Lazeba gave a chip pass to Danylo Dudin, who relocated to the net and sent a great corner kick into the top far corner of Energiia goal! That is how by the end of the first half Phoenix came to lead 3:0.
Two minutes after our presence was cut down. Dudin and Bekar were fighting for the ball and the former kicked the rival’s legs from behind being outside the sideline. Yurii Kondratiev showed our player a red card, having overlooked Bekar’s sweep.
The reduced squad of Phoenix played for 40 seconds of the first half and around 90 seconds of the second half. Even though those minutes were strenuous, the opposition failed to make use of its numerical advantage in terms of goals scored. On top of that, our guys had two wonderful moments to shine, both Bodnar and Bezruk lacked precision, though. In a short while after the squads were even numerically Energiia managed to fight off one goal.
The coaches had to reshuffle the four-player squads again, this time re-staffing the stable second squad. Boldyzhev replaced Dudin. The pressure on our goal increased. The fatigue and the strain were growing in equal proportion. Both in territory and in gameplay the initiative was then on Energiia’s side. Things got worse with Bodnar’s microtrauma and Yevsiukov’s injury, as well as with a second goal the Lviv team scored into our net.
Over the last 10 minutes of the match Phoenix was doing its best to play the defensive style with whatever players were left. To keep the four-player squads was no longer important, it was important to keep going - whoever had the energy. Lazeba succoured, Bodnar, Yevsiukov, Konkov, Soldatenko threw themselves into the game headstrong. Bezruk and Dolhulia made attempts to keep the frontline.
Three minutes till the end of the second half Energiia switched to the 5-a-side style. Our guys played a robust defense, though, just like in yesterday’s match with Chorne More. The final whistle claimed our win over the most challenging rival we have had so far. Moreover, we went through to the semi-final of the Ukrainian Cup off the leader’s position in a highly sophisticated group!
The dead rubber match, Phoenix played in experimental four-player squads, giving rest to those who had microtraumas, before entering the final. To the guys’ honour, they took the match seriously and beat Shturm of Shyriaievo 14:4.