What an opportunity Ignashevich’s team missed! Baltika repeated the unpleasant anti-record of the RPL
Georgy Ilyushchenko March 3, 2024, 21:30 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The Kaliningraders and Sochi tied and only complicated their situation.
As soon as the RPL returned, the main fight for survival immediately took place. Báltika received Sochi, teams that occupy 15th and 16th places in the standings.
Both the inhabitants of the Baltics and those of Sochi have noticeably renewed themselves in winter. What else, when you’re in the relegation zone? The guests, led by the eminent former coach of Monaco Golovina, had Alexey Sutormin as newcomers from the first minutes on the right flank in attack (finally not defender), in the midfield – Saavedra and Yukic, and in attack – Córdoba (not to be confused with Córdoba of Krasnodar). It turns out that poor Chistyakov remained in his previous reserve role even after moving from St. Petersburg. It must be a shame.
The Kaliningraders played with Fernández (Alex, Roberto still defending) and Rybchinsky on the flanks, Kovalev down, Kaplenko in the center, Fameye up front, Andrade and Luna behind. In terms of personnel, these are not at all the teams that were the worst in the RPL in the fall. Which is quite logical: they don’t want to fly.
Alexei Sutormin
Photo: FC Sochi
We should have scored in the first minute! Sutormin fed Kramaric and he headed towards him from a meter away. Little Lett turned on Buffon mode and crawled. Later, he once again won the duel against the Slovenian, deflecting his shot from a dead ball into the wall under the crossbar with a jump. In general, Eugene reigned. For example, he also jumped to the left corner and deflected an attempt about 10 meters from Córdoba with his fingertips.
The locals also had their moments. Álex Fernández was not blocked in the corner and crossed the center towards Andrade. The Colombian had his back to the goal and missed. In the first half, the defender missed not only an assist, but also a goal: at the end of the half, from a free kick, he hit the corner hard and asked for a stop from Zabolotny.
The Kaliningraders hit the goal more often, the Sochi players kept the ball and attacked harder. To the delight of Orenburg, Ural and Akhmat, who compete with them for survival, none of the strategies worked.
Sochi had an extremely powerful transfer campaign:
The RPL’s most powerful transfer campaign this winter
Halfway through the second half of the match, Lisakovich came out as a new Sochi player. Shortly after, Kramaric had another possible scoring episode, but his shot didn’t work at all: his opponents blocked it.
At the end of the match, Burmistrov had a great moment: Latyshonok actually took out Cordova’s header from the corner and Nikita played in the shot. The goalkeeper also made a save here. And before the final whistle the locals almost scored. Malyarov crossed to the center and Fameye had to finish from a meter away. Everything was ruined when Drkusic interrupted the broadcast. What an opportunity it was!
Sochi football seemed much more complete. But what’s the point if he didn’t let them jump from last place? The teams finished at zero, although they did not need a draw. “Baltika” could catch up with “Orenburg”, “Sochi” could overtake “Baltika”. In the end they were left alone. The battle for survival is becoming increasingly difficult for them.
Let’s get acquainted with the legionnaires who arrived in Russia in winter:
32 foreign players arrived in the RPL during the winter window. The main thing is about each of them.
The Kaliningraders have a schedule that is not so complicated yet, but the southerners will continue to play with Loko, CSKA, Rostov and Spartak. If they don’t get a decent amount of points, at that point the salvation of the First League may be completely lost.
By the way, Sergei Ignashevich should think about it: his team did not score in the seventh consecutive RPL match. This is a repeat of the Rotor anti-registration, which the residents of Volgograd achieved in 2021.
