August 25, 26 & 28, 2021
Sheriff Tiraspol’s fixture in round 8 was delayed a couple of days due to their continued participation in the Champions League, which have seen them become the first side from the Moldovan League to qualify for the group stages, where they will face Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk.
As a result of a number of postponements due to Sheriff’s progress in Europe, the league table has an unusual look to it, but thanks to the early season form of Milsami-Orhei and Petrocub, it looks like this season will not be a formality for Sheriff, who have won 19 out of the past 21 championships.
Since their opening day draw with Sfintul Gheorghe, Milsami-Orsei have set the pace, winning their subsequent seven league matches to top the table. Their match against Sheriff was postponed but they did manage to defeat Petrocub, the only points that Petrocub have dropped.
Wednesday August 25, 2021
Sfintul Gheorghe 3-4 FC Milsami-Orhei
Ojog ( 21 ), Suvorov ( 64 ), Stina ( 65 ): Racu ( 31 ), Ginsari ( 60, 83 & 86 )
CS Petrocub Hincesti 2-0 FC Floresti
Gulceac ( 56 ), Platica ( 65 )
Thursday August 26, 2021
Dinamo Auto 3-3 FC Zimbru Chisinau
Fedorov ( 43 & 69 ), Ciopa ( 82 ); Sidorenco ( 45 ), Cojocari ( 51 ), Ebenezer ( 90 )
Saturday August 28, 2021
FC Balti 0-2 Sheriff Tiraspol
Yansane ( 45 ), Dago ( 51 )
Milsami-Orhei looked in danger of suffering their first defeat of the season when they trailed 3-2 at Sfintul Gheorghe with less than 10 minutes left on the clock. Ojog had given the home side the lead in the 21st minute with a clever back-heel from a corner. Racu headed the equaliser for Milsami 10 minutes later and a header from Radu Ginsari in the 60th minute looked to have put Milsami in control. However, two goals in a minute for Sfintul Gheorghe put them ahead, Surorov converted a penalty for handball before Stina’s 20 yards shot managed to escape the Milsami keeper.
Moldovan international Ginsari had the final say though, first heading home a free-kick, and then converting a penalty after Antoniuc had been fouled.
Super-Cup winners Sfintul Gheorghe started the season with three draws, but after losing to Petrocub recorded wins over Zimbru and Floresti before this set-back.
CS Petrocub Hincesti recorded their 7th win out of 8 games with a straight forward win over Floresti, who have lost all 8 of their matches and look certainties for relegation. Floresti remain on minus 6 points, after being penalised for match-fixing in previous years.
Despite being outclassed Floresti held out for 56 minutes until Gulceac was left in space to fire into the roof of the net from close range. Platica sealed the victory for Petrocub with a left footed drive from just outside the area into the corner of the net.
The match between Dinamo-Auto and Zimbru saw an entertaining, end-to-end three all thriller, with plenty of dodgy defending. Zimbru had started the season in promising fashion with two wins, and looked likely to perform much better than last season, However, four consecutive defeats had painted a different picture and opponents Dinamo-Auto had also lost four on the trot. Therefore, it was perhaps inevitable that the two sides played out a draw, albeit an entertaining one,
Zimbru dominated the first half but missed a hatful of chances before Ukrainian forward Artem Federov struck to give Dinamo-Auto the lead two minutes before half time with a neat left-footed finish, although Zimbru keeper Chirinciuc could have done better to have kept out. Zimbru managed to level in added on time before the break, Sidorenko’s messy overhead finish bounced over the defender on the post.
Zimbru took the lead when Cojocari was given plenty of space to smash home a cross from 12 yards before Federov claimed his second after capitalising on a misplaced pass and impressively firing home from 20 yards,
Dinamo-Auto looked to have grabbed the winning goal when Caruntu’s cross deflected off Ciopa and past his keeper for an own goal. However, in the 90th minute Nigerian Okezie Ebenezer burst through a weak challenge from Gafina to give Zimbru a deserved equaliser.
In the final match of the round, Sheriff Tiraspol got revenge over newly promoted FC Balti for their shock 0-1 home defeat on the opening day of the season. After a promising start by the home side, Sheriff gradually applied the pressure and should have taken the lead in the 31st minute, but Momo Yansane somehow shot wide from 6 yards. However, the ex Isloch favourite made amends on the stroke of half-time with a simple side-footed finish into an unguarded net after good skill by ex Olympiakos and Aris Salonika Brazilian winger Bruno Felipe to beat two defenders and play a simple ball across the face of the goal
Sheriff extended their lead 5 minutes after the break with Yansane again involved. This time his clever short pass went through the heart of the Balti defence and enabled Ivorian Dago to run clear and round the Balti goalkeeper Agachi. Yansane should have added a third but his shot hit Agachi’s legs.
Despite the encouragement of the large crowd, Balti were unable to get back into the match, with Danu shooting wide with their best chance. Sheriff moved upto 4th place but have played three games less than Milsami and Petrocub. Balti remained 4th having lost for the third time this season.
European Update
As mentioned above, Sheriff have had a record breaking season in the Champions League qualifying competition. After eliminating Teuta Durres of Albania and Alashkert of Armenia, Sheriff stood in the way of a potential explosive and money making tie between Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade. Perhaps fortunately for UEFA’s safety committee, Sheriff surprisingly eliminated Red Star 2-1 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in Belgrade, and then followed up by eliminating Dinamo Zagreb 3-0 on aggregate thanks to an emphatic home win that could easily have been greater, in front of 5,281 spectators.
As previously recorded, 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.
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