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 94th 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
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