Review : Moldova Divizia Nationala 2021/22 Season – Rounds 2 & 3

July 17, 18, 24 & 25

Weeks 2 and 3 were abbreviated as Sheriff’s games were postponed to allow them to prepare for their Champions League ties. These just happened to be matches against Petrocub and Zimbru, potentially the biggest dangers to the defence of their title !

Saturday July 17, 2021

FC Zimbru Chisinau  4-0 FC Floresti ( att : 500 )

Patras ( 34 ), Sidorenco ( 46 ), Rusu ( 63 ), Bacalov ( 89 og )

Sunday July 18, 2021

Dinamo Auto 2-2 Sfintul Gheorghe ( att : 100 )

Federov ( 38 ), Bulat ( 67 ); Pires ( 89 ), Solodovnicov ( 91 )

FC Balti  0-1 FC Milsami-Orhei ( att : 1,500 )

Istrati ( 61 )

Saturday July 24, 2021

FC Floresti 0-1 Dinamo Auto ( att : 0 )

Novicov ( 47 )

Sunday July 25, 2021

Sfintul Gheorghe 1-1 FC Balti  ( att : 300 )

Ugochuckwu ( 24 ); Molochko ( 9 )

FC Milsami-Orhei 2-1 CS Petrocub Hincesti ( att : 600 )

Onana ( 31 og ), Ginsari ( 76 ); Gulceac ( 61 )

Zimbru recorded their second win out of two by outclassing a poor Floresti side, to add weight to the suspicion that a resurgence is happening for them this season. The pick of their four goals was probably Sidorenco’s turn and finish, but the Floresti defenders appeared to be taking social distancing to an extreme, given the amount of space he was given and no-one attempting to close him down.

Milsami-Orhei are the league leaders of the fragmented table though, having edged out a lively Balti side thanks to Istrati’s goal from an impossible angle, made possible by Balti keeper diving out of the way.

Milsami followed that up with a 2-1 home win over Petrocub, a repeat of the result last season, which was Petrocub’s only defeat to a side other than Sheriff, making Milsami perhaps Petrocub’s bogey side ? Petrocub will feel a little aggrieved to have lost having missed several chances, hit the bar, and had a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside when Bogaciuc’s in-swinging cross was missed by everyone and nestled into the corner of the net. Platica had attempted to make contact but missed the ball but was deemed to be offside and interfering with the goal-keeper’s line of vision. However, the TV replays showed he was clearly onside, and there is no VAR in Moldova ! 

 

Milsami had taken a first half lead with a three man move, but the players were all from Petrocub ! A deflected cross bounced off the keeper onto the unwitting Onana and into the net. Gulceac’s free-kick from close to the left hand touchline sailed over everyone and in off the post for Petrocub’s equaliser, but Ginsari’s close range finish condemed Petrocub to defeat.

Newly promoted Balti sit in third place, having recovered from their defeat at home to Milsami to gain a point at Sfintul Gheorghe who have drawn all three of their opening fixtures. Balti could have taken all three points but Argentine Alvaro Bely put his penalty wide of the post.

The week before Sfintul Gheorghe had played out a 2-2 draw at Dinamo Auto, having looked dead and buried at 0-2 down with 89 minutes on the clock, but got back to parity as the Dinamo defence went AWOL. It could have been even worse for the Transnistrian side when the visitors were awarded a penalty for handball in the 94^th minute, but Stina’s spot-kick was well saved by keeper Apostolachi.

 

The Dinamo Auto back four regained their defensive orientation the following week as a 1-0 at Floresti was secured but again with a couple of jittery moments in the last 10 minutes. The victory took Dinamo Auto to fourth place, and consigned Floresti to rock bottom eight, with all three matches lost, no goals scored, and still on minus 6 points for the penalty for match fixing. It is hard to see anyone else being relegated.

The league table does have an unreal look to it. Sheriff lie second from bottom, having lost the only game play ( the shock home defeat to Balti ) whilst Petrocub are in seventh having also lost a game.

European Competitions

Sheriff have progressed through two qualifying rounds of the Champions League, overcoming Teuta Durres of Albania 5-0 on aggregate, including a 4-0 away win, and then eliminating Armenian champions Alashkert 4-1 on aggregate. Naturalised Moldovan citizen, Brazilian Henrique has scored 4 goals in the competition so far after re-signing for Sheriff after seven seasons playing in the UAE. A tougher tie awaits in the Third Qualifying round though, in the shape of Red Star Belgrade.

In the Europa Conference, Milsami bear Bosnian side FK Sarajevo 1-0 on aggregate in the First Qualifying round but were then hammered 0-9 on aggregate by Swedish side Elfsborg. Petrocub also got through their first tie, winning 2-1 overall against North Macedonian side FK Sileks, before losing 0-1 home and away to Turkish side Sivaspor. Sfintul Gheorghe were eliminated in their only tie, going down 4-8 on aggregate to Albanian side Partizani.

Week 4 Fixtures

Saturday July 31, 2021

Dinamo Auto vs FC Balti 

FC Floresti vs Sheriff Tiraspol

Sunday August 1, 2021

FC Zimbru Chisinau  vs FC Milsami-Orhei

CS Petrocub Hincesti vs Sfintul Gheorghe

 

 

Belarus Football 2021 – Week 18

July 30, 31, August 1 & 2, 2021

Week 19 starts on Friday evening this week but there are three games on Monday, involving the three  sides competing in the Europa Conference who face lengthy journeys home. Given the EU travel restrictions on Belarus, Dinamo Brest are playing their home tie in Yerevan, Armenia, and Torpedo will play in Kazan in Russia. Shakhtyor have an away tie in Luxembourg and will not be able to fly directly back to Belarus. BATE are fortunate that their Georgian opponents are able to travel to Borisov so they play in the Sunday evening fixture.

Shakhtyor will hopefully get to play a league game, after nearly a month break, and may even still top the table by the time they set foot on the pitch, as BATE have a tough looking tie at Gomel. There is a potential crucial encounter at the foot of the table, as the bottom two sides, Smorgon and Slavia Mozyr meet.

Energetik BGU Minsk vs Rukh Brest ( Friday at 18.30 UK time )

A good match in prospect, with Energetik on a run of only one loss in 7, and Rukh are unbeaten in 8. Rukh have drawn 4 times away from home though, and may have to settle for another draw. 1-1

Result : 0-2. Rukh dominated the opening stages, with Tweh at the heart of most of their moves, and they took the lead after 29 minutes when Big Denis Laptev scrambled home at the second attempt. Energetik had most of the play thereafter, but failed to create any significant inconvenience to Rukh. The visitors sealed the result 10 minutes from time with a smart move resulting in Nikiforenko placing the ball into the top corner from around 15 yards.

Energetik again played their home fixture in Borisov rather than Minsk

FK Smorgon vs FK Slavia Mozyr ( Saturday at 16.00 UK time )

A must win for both sides. Smorgon have drawn 4 of their last 6 but their only victory this season was against now-defunct Sputnik. A much changed Slavia line-up managed a home draw against Isloch last week, but that only made it 2 points from 7 matches. 1-1

Result : 0-2. A disastrous result for Smorgon, losing badly to a relegation rival and finishing the match with 10 men. It’s now looking grim for the Bears, whilst Slavia will hope they have turned a corner.

Smorgon conceded two poor goals. They fell behind in the 40^th minute, Shtygel unable to keep out Esin’s shot across goal that may have just been sneaking inside the post, and a minute after half-time Narh’s speculative effort sailed over Shapko and into the net. A second yellow card to Savostyanov 20 minutes from time had little bearing on the result.

 

FK Slutsk vs Dinamo Minsk ( Sunday at 16.45 UK time )

Slutsk look good at times, but have lost 4 out 5, whereas Dinamo have won 4 on the trot, playing some sparkling football at times. 1-3

Result : 1-1. Dinamo will see this as two points dropped, although Slutsk deserved credit for a battling performance, especially after falling behind after only 4 minutes. Klimovich was left alone in the centre of the Slutsk defence to control a hopeful ball into the box and then side-foot on the half volley past Gomelko.

Slutsk drew level in the 20^th minute, Potapenko timed his run perfectly to meet Buraev’s cross from just inside the left hand side of the penalty area to head past Khatkevich

Thereafter Dinamo missed a number of good chances, the best of which was from the penalty spot, but Naumov’s spot-kick struck the cross bar and over. The foul on Davyskiba by Zhevnerov appeared to be outside the area so perhaps justice was done. Naumov was then denied again when Zhevnerov made an outstanding goal-line headed clearance

In other chances for Dinamo, Bykov headed narrowly wide, Gomelko did well to push away a dangerous shot volley from from Batsula, and the Slutsk keeper also made a brave block at point-blank range from Klimovich. Poe just failed to get on the end of low cross, when any contact would almost certainly sent the ball into the unguarded goal

 

FK Gomel vs BATE Borisov ( Sunday at 18.45 UK time )

BATE are now clearly in transition following the departure of Skavysh, Dragun out with a long time injury, and a disappointing loss at home to Dinamo Brest last week. They will do well to get a result against an enterprising Gomel side who have impressed everyone this season.  2-2

Result 2-2 : BATE should have won this one, but Gomel got the reward for their persistence. BATE opened the scoring in the 18^th minute thanks to Bessmertny’s long range left-footed shot, after which Yusov’s flicked header bounced back off a post. Gomel were level at the break though after Vaskov volleyed a loose ball into the roof of the net after a bit of a goalmouth scramble.

BATE were in the ascendency for most of the second half. Yusov shot horribly over from 6 yards with just the keeper to beat but with just over 20 minutes to go they won a penalty. Zayats’ challenge on Milic was adjusted to have been inside the penalty area, although TV replays suggested it may have been marginally outside the area, and Yusov drilled home low from the spot.

The points looked to be heading to Borisov but with just under 5 minutes to play Vasyliev’s not too powerful shot went under Chichkan’s dive for an equaliser for Gomel. The BATE custodian really ought to have done better……….

FK Isloch Minsk vs Shakhtyor Soligorsk ( Monday at 15.00 UK time )

Shakhtyor must have forgotten what it is like to play a league game, and probably won’t fancy a test against the team who knocked them out of the 2020/21 cup. However, Shakhtyor are head and shoulders above everyone else and will be even stronger with Skavysh in their line-up. 0-1

Result : 0-1. After their disappointing exit from the Europa Conference against the mightly Fola of Luxembourg, Shakhtyor rang the changes with Darboe, Kendysh, Gutor and Ahmedi all on the bench. However, it was another insipid performance and they barely deserved to win. Shakhtyor took the lead in the 4^th minute in fortunate circumstances when Isloch keeper Pankratov somehow deflected Djordje Ivanovic’s low cross across the face of the goal into his own net. Igor Ivanovic, who was perhaps Shakhtyor’s best player overall, then miss-kicked with the goal at his mercy.

Isloch gradually improved, and Filipenko had to head off the line from Stepanov just before the break. In the second half, Morozov had two good chances to equalise for Isloch, but he first acrobatically volleyed wide and then saw Shakhtyor keeper Chernik make a good block at close distance.

 

Dinamo Brest vs Neman Grodno ( Monday at 16.50 UK time )

Dinamo are on a high after their surprise win at BATE, and assuming they are not to fatigued after their journey back from Yerevan, they should be too strong for struggling Neman. 2-0

Result 1-3. Perhaps Neman’s fortunes are turning for the better after this win where for once good fortune appeared to be on their side. Dinamo will be wondering how they went away pointless from this match.

There was a strong element in good fortune in the way Neman took the lead in the 1^st minute as Kouadio’s speculative cross evaded the stretching Gribovskiy and bounced past Stepanov and into the corner of the goal. Dinamo’s Shestyuk shot over the bar from a great position before Neman doubled their lead in the 14^th minute with more good fortune, Yablonski’s header appeared to be heading wide until taking a deflection of the back of Milyutin.

Dinamo responded well, but Yudchits 30 yard effort rebounded back from the bar with Kurganski beaten. Early into the second half Shestyuk side-footed over from 6 yards after Kurganski could only push a shot into his path, and to rub salt into Dinamo’s wounds, five minutes later Zubovich was left free to head Neman into a 3 goal lead. Kouadio should have made it 4-0 before Sedko teed himself up to volley from 25 yards against the Neman bar with Kurganski motionless. Yudchits then saw Kurganski make another remarkable save before Dinamo finally scored a consolation goal in the last minute, Kurganski being powerless to stop Yudchits bullet header.

 

FK Vitebsk vs Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino ( Monday at 18.50 UK time )

A close match in prospect between two sides in mid-table mediocrity. It’s unlikely to be entertaining, and could easily be another 0-0 involving Vitebsk, but Torpedo are on a poor run. 1-0

Result : 0-1. Well, at least there was a goal ! Gabovda broke the deadlock in the 67^th minute, being set-up for an open goal after Antilevski’s unselfish lay back after controlling a low cross from Nikolaevich. In a game of few incidents, Torpedo deserved the win by being less worst than Vitebsk, and nearly all of the handful of the chances fell to them. Torpedo hit the post in the first half and Gabovda forced Gushchenko into a decent reaction save to push the shot over the bar.

Summary :

Energetik BGU Minsk 0-2 Rukh Brest ( att ; 170 )
FK Smorgon 0-2 FK Slavia Mozyr ( att : 950 )
FK Slutsk 1-1 Dinamo Minsk ( att : 1,115 )
FK Gomel 2-2 BATE Borisov ( att : 8,100 )
FK Isloch Minsk 0-1 Shakhtyor Soligorsk ( att : 250 )
Dinamo Brest 1-3 Neman Grodno ( att : 3,284 )
FK Vitebsk 0-1 Torepdo BelAZ Zhodino( att : 782 )

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpEnfPOftaU

Comments

With BATE dropping points at Gomel, Shakhtyor’s unimpressive win at Isloch saw them increase their lead at the top to three points with three games in hand. Dinamo’s draw at Slutsk saw the gap between joint third and the top increase to 7 points with three games more played. Rukh moved level with Dinamo after their win at Energetik.

At the bottom, Smorgon now look doomed, but the three-way battle to avoid the relegation play-off intensified with wins for Neman and Slavia enabling them to close the gap on Slutsk, with Neman drawing level and Slavia now only 2 points adrift of the "Sugars".

In the 7 matches, there were 16 goals, one missed penalty and one red card.

It was a poor week for Belarus clubs in the Europa Conference, as all 4 sides exited the competition. BATE’s result was perhaps the most disappointing, leading 1-0 on the night and 2-0 on aggregate at half-time at home to Dinamo Batumi, but conceded 4 times in the second half to crash out 2-4 on aggregate. Shakhtyor failed to overcome their 1-2 first leg deficit in Luxembourg, and lost 0-1 on the night to Fola. Less surprisingly, Dinamo Brest were unable to overturn their 1-2 loss to Plzen, and lost the “home” leg 1-2 in Yerevan. Torpedo lost 0-5 in Kazan to go out 1-9 overall to FC Copenhagen.