The new season of the Russian Championship begins in a week, but our clubs do not let their fans get bored. While Zenit participates in the PARI Premier Cup international tournament, CSKA and Dynamo have decided to organize their own mini-tournament called BetBoom Fraternal Cup.
More media than football
As we said earlier, only two teams participate in this tournament. The army team and the blue and white maintain very warm relations with each other, team matches have the status of a brotherly derby, hence the name of the friendly cup was born. Their matches were held on July 8 and 9 in the stadiums of the two teams.
The matches were played in an unusual format: three 30-minute periods. Thanks to this fragmentation, it is easier for footballers to enter the season after the holidays. In the intervals between times, peculiar challenges were carried out, which were divided into two categories: a duel between substitute goalkeepers in a 2-on-2 format and a penalty shootout with the participation of female footballers and illustrious fans.
Photo source: RIA Novosti
At first glance, this may seem like a fun innovation, viewers can have fun during the break and watch an interesting format. But winning the challenge gives +1 goal scored in the match. That is, now the fate of matches, even friendlies, is decided not by the ability of the players, but by victories in some events remotely related to football. Spectators observe a similar situation in Medialeague matches. Apparently, the heads of the Moscow clubs reviewed it before publishing the regulations.
Only Seydou made me happy
The first match of the Cup took place on Saturday at the VEB Arena. The blue and whites achieved a crushing victory with a score of 5:0! Yaroslav Gladyshev opened the scoring in the match, taking advantage of a one-on-one. Arsen Zakharyan scored another goal against CSKA in the second thirty minutes, and Andrey Mazurin scored in the third half. You may wonder, where are the two more balls in the goal of the army team? So these are the same challenges.
Photo source: FC Dynamo (Moscow)
Little could please CSKA fans with such a game. But the army team knows how to surprise. The team’s legendary striker Seydou Doumbia took part in the game. Before the start of the match he signed autographs, and in the 85th minute he appeared on the field himself. The Ivorian did not stand out for anything brilliant, but he managed to release several dozen comments, where he confessed his love for the club and spoke of his willingness to continue working on it if he received such an offer. Recently, the fidelity of the legionnaires to the red and blue colors has become extremely rare, especially in the context of the reports about the move of Mario Fernández to Zenit and Jesús Medina to Spartak. The Paraguayan, by the way, was present on the red and blue bench, but never entered the field. But he several times he managed to disrupt the deafening whistle of the stands when he hit the lenses of the cameras.
Photo source: FC Dynamo (Moscow)
youth gave heat
The second game of the “Fraternal Cup” took place the next day. As expected, the public saw radically different compositions. In the match, which took place in the VTB Arena, reservists and youngsters had their chance. But in addition to them, a true legend reappeared on the field, this time in the ranks of Dinamo. Kevin Kuranyi appeared in the composition of the nominal owners, although not for long. The blue and white fans welcomed the German very cordially, and the reunion of the attacking duo made up of Kevin and Fedor Smolov was especially symbolic. Also at the end of the match, former Dynamo captain Vladimir Rykov came on as a substitute. After the match, he addressed the stands very emotionally, thanking him for his support throughout his career.
Photo source: RIA Novosti
The match itself brought a sea of emotions. Balls were marked for all tastes and in all directions. Vyacheslav Grulev (Dynamo) and Adolfo Gaich (CSKA) scored twice, Nikita Ermakov (CSKA) and Fedor Smolov (Dynamo) also scored. The final result was marked by Andrey Mazurin in the last minutes. It seems that the score is 4:3 in favor of the blue and whites, but our favorite contests have changed it to 6:3. And you can’t explain why the army team is so mean to them. Perhaps the Dynamo players trained at the weddings of Smolov and Tyukavin, which took place in the off-season, who knows. 11:3 in total – and the cup goes to blue and white.
In the end, the tournament fulfilled its main mission. Both teams played two squads at once, the players tried their hand at matches with worthy opponents, and most importantly, the fans enjoyed the games. Both meetings were attended by groups of active fans, as FAN ID was not required to attend. Russian football is back with us, and this is good news!
