Karpin has a new hero. Super goal and winning penalty from the 18-year-old defender!
Dmitry Zimin September 20, 2023, 19:55 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Rostov could not defeat Rubin in regulation time, but did so in a series of penalty kicks.
After Rubin’s resounding defeat against Zenit (0-3), Rashid Rakhimov significantly renewed his squad in the Russian Cup. He sent many leaders to rest, who could not do anything against the current champions. At the same time, Rostov still had a good group of players. Let’s consider just two foreign newcomers who arrived at the end of the transfer window: defender Drezgic and forward Chumich. They entered the first team for the first time and had the opportunity to demonstrate their skills.
Rostov is doing very well in the Cup. Two victories after three rounds and a secure second place. And this despite the fact that Karpin, like all other coaches, prefers to experiment in this tournament. And sometimes it turns out even better than in the championship. The match against Rubin showed it.
In the first minutes the teams decided who would have more possession of the ball. At first it seemed that Rostov achieved this privilege by taking several curves. But then the Kazan team remembered that it was the home team and asked for the ball back. However, Nikita Medvedev could not create anything dangerous on goal.
At some point many clearly thought that the half would be boring and that the teams were not in the mood to score goals. But an episode involving 18-year-old German defender Ignatov changed everything. For him it was a debut with the Rostov first team, which he will surely remember for the rest of his life. In the 27th minute, Ignatov received the ball on the left flank and very boldly flew with it towards the goal. Rubin’s defenders were also astonished by this impudence. In the end, it all ended with an accurate shot on goal and a goal.
The goal helped open the game. Langovich could have scored almost on the next attack. The defender tried to cross into the area, but the ball fell off his foot and went straight to the crossbar. If the trajectory had been slightly different, Janovich may not have reacted.
“Rubin” – “Rostov” – 1:1 (2:4)
Photo: RIA Novosti
And at the end of the half, Rubin had two great opportunities. First, the same newcomer Chumich, after a corner kick, shot from a lethal position, but was stopped by Medvedev. And then Kuznetsov shot at goal from close range, but Rostov was saved by the goal post.
Rubin got involved immediately in the second half, setting up an early goal. Chumich flew down the left flank and crossed towards the goal, where Apshatsev finished, who finished competently.
After this, the teams calmed down a bit, the coaches made substitutions and, it seemed, they were preparing for the final assault. Already at the end of the match, the Rostovites made a great combination with the participation of Tugarev, Ignatov and Shchetinin. The latter was supposed to shoot through Yanovich, but the goalkeeper miraculously took his shot first and then Utkin’s.
Already in added time, the Rubin player scored, beating two defenders. However, Ekaterina Kurochkina registered an offside, which was confirmed by the video assistants. Even before the penalty shoot-out, Viktor Melekhin hit his head on the grass. Doctors had to intervene, but everything seemed to go well.
Here are the four games of the day:
Russian Cup on penalties? All four matches of the day ended in 11-meter penalties!
The penalty shootout is a familiar attribute of today’s Cup. And in this the Rostov goalkeeper Medvedev showed himself better. The first blow missed and Nikita received the fourth. Interestingly, the winning penalty for the Donetsk team was scored by Ignatov himself, definitely the hero of the match.
