Spartak played 140 minutes for the First League club. But the team only had enough for one goal
Kirill Zakatchenko July 8, 2023, 20:15 Moscow time
Akron once again gave the rojiblancos serious problems.
Spartak continues with preparations for the new RPL season. Today the Moscow team played two control matches in Tarasovka with Akron. Thus, in the spring they eliminated the rojiblancos from the Russian Cup. And this time, the results of the matches once again pleased the fans of the First Division club.
The teams agreed that they will play two 70-minute games (two 35-minute halves). Spartak planned to do this with two different squads. In fact, the opponents played four times in a row with short breaks. In the first segment of the game, I remember teams trying to go from defense to offense through a pass. There is no mindless takeout.
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Spartak achieved the success in the first minutes thanks to the activity of Daniil Denisov. He rushed down the right flank and performed an ideal canopy over Pavel Melyoshin’s head. The 19-year-old forward hit his head very well – the ball bounced off the bar and flew into the net. It is impossible not to mention Denisov. He ran forward very actively, in some episodes he was the closest to the goal of other Spartak players.
Spartak players before the match with Akron
Photo: FC Spartak
However, the joy of the rojiblancos did not last long. It only took Akron a couple of minutes to recover. Separately, the guests should thank Alexander Maksimenko. The “Spartak” goalkeeper rushed to intercept, but did it with as little success as possible. And he missed the ball, and he crashed into Ruslan Litvinov. Akron forward Andrés Ponce made the most of the gift: it was almost impossible not to score in such a situation.
After such a vigorous start, we were entitled to productive football. But in the first game there were no more goals. Perhaps ‘Spartak’ was closer to snatching the victory, but the ‘Akron’ goalkeeper dragged his team away. He first handled a long shot from Quincy Promes and then flicked the ball under the crossbar after a shot from Daniil Khlusevich. Simply handsome! The first match of the winner was not revealed – 1:1.
For the second game, the rojiblancos, as expected, put together a different line-up. Georgy Jikia, Anton Zinkovsky, Keita Balde, Alexander Sobolev appeared in this combination. Pavel Maslov deserves a special mention: Guillermo Abascal left him in the position of right back. Earlier, Spartak broke with Maciej Rybus and Tomas Tavares broke the crosses.
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The second game started for the hosts with a big failure. Already in the 2nd minute, Ruslan Apekov deftly placed the ball in the far corner; Alexander Selikhov did not help. By the way, it was Apekov who almost surprised Spartak for the second time, but from a good position he shot the ball just over the crossbar. Frankly, in this episode, the Akron football player forgave the opponent.
In general, the first half of the second game turned out to be somewhat boring. Akron defended well and looked for opportunities for good counterattacks, while Spartak did little. In the second half, the Spartak fans were briefly alarmed when Jikia ended up on the pitch after contact with an opponent. However, there were no injuries, there was enough frost.
Giorgi Jikia entered the field wearing a protective mask
Photo: FC Spartak
And towards the end of the meeting, Akron again upset the Spartacists. The goal turned out to be the most ridiculous and offensive for the locals. Leon Klassen, following Alexander Popov’s cross, sliced the ball out of the arc and flew into the nearest corner. Substitute goalkeeper Ilya Svinov did not have time to develop. Obviously, the goalkeeper did not expect such a set-up from a teammate.
The game of “Spartak” was not impressive, although this is truer for the second match. The rojiblancos didn’t find anything interesting in the opponent’s goal, and the rival defended very well. We must pay tribute to the coaching staff of Yevgeny Kaleshin – his team showed a good side.
