July 13, 2023
One of the more interesting match ups in the first qualifying round of the UEFA conference league was the meeting between FC Vaduz from Liechtenstein and Belarus side Neman Grodno.
Vaduz are an oddity in that although they represent Liechtenstein they play in the Swiss League structure, having recently spent 4 seasons at the highest level, but are currently in the second tier. As Liechtenstein does not have its own domestic league and there are only 7 clubs in the entire country, participation in Europe comes via winning the Liechtenstein Cup. Vaduz have only failed to win the cup on one occasion this century.
Last season they made some headlines as they overcame Koper from Slovenia ( 2-1 on aggregate ), Konyaspor from Turkey ( 5-3 on aggregate ) and Austrian side Rapid Wien ( 2-1 on aggregate ) to advance to the Europa Conference group stages where they faced AZ Alkmaar, Dnipro-1 and Apollon Limassol. They bowed out of the competition after just two draws, at home to Apollon and away at Dnipro-1.
Home is the 7,838 capacity Rhein Stadion, which has a grass pitch and is also home to the national team.
The Vaduz starting XI tonight included only one player from Liechtenstein, keeper Benjamin Buchel ( 55 caps ), although two more were on the bench, midfielders Sandro Wieser ( 55 caps and ex-Reading and Roselare ) and Simon Luchinger ( 12 caps ). The rest of the XI consisted of 8 Swiss nationals plus German center-back Gabriel Isik and veteran Serbia midfielder Milan Gajic, who numbered Young Boys, FC Zurich and Luzern on his CV. Also on the bench was Finnish attacking midfield Tim Vayrynen, who impressed in these diaries in 2020 whilst with HJK Helsinki.
Neman were one of the sides involved in the exciting finish to the 2020 Belarus season during the Covid lockdowns, eventually fading to finish 5th, 6 points adrift of champions Shakhtyor Soligorsk. I even purchased a Neman scarf during the lockdown !
In 2021, Neman slipped to 11th and 9th place in 2022. However, with Shakhtyor, Energetik and Isloch being punished for historical match fixing claims, and FK Minsk and Gomel not applying for a European licence, Neman became the Belarus FA’s nomination for the final Europa Conference slot.
The most familiar name in the Neman line-up for watchers of the Belarus Premier League in 2020 and 2021 would be Pavel Savitskiy, formerly of Dinamo Brest and Rukh, and famous for his left foot. After a loan spell at Smorgon, keeper Konstantin Rudenok is now considered to be the best keeper in the Belarus league, striker Yahor Zubovich was a member of the Belarus side that made a favourable impression in the 2012 Olympic games but never progressed to earn a full cap, and Alimardon Shukorov had won 20 caps for Kyrgyzstan. Centre-back Ivan Sadovichiy has 1 cap and right-back Sergey Karpovich has two caps for Belarus.
Two Ukrainians were in the Neman starting XI, left wing-back Yuriy Pantya and ex-Energetik left-sided midfielder Roman Paparyga.
The match was being streamed live on Bet365.com, who made Vaduz 17/20 favourites, with Neman 33/10 outsiders and the draw at 21/10.
The temperature on a sunny day was around 26 degrees at the 20.00 local kick-off time. Neman were playing in their dark green kit with yellow trimmings rather than the tasteful yellow shirts with green diagonal stripes, whilst Vaduz were in all red.
Neman started on the front foot, but two crosses were confidently caught by keeper Buchel. After 6 minutes a long throw into the Vaduz area caused confusion but Savitskiy was unable to pounce and Buchel eventually claimed the loose ball.
With 10 minutes played a free-kick from the left-wing reached Zubovich, but he couldn’t make a decent contact on the ball, which rolled to Buchel.
It was all Neman in the opening 15th minutes, with Vaduz unable to string more than three passes together. From a Neman corner Evdokimov saw his shot blocked by his own player after a lay-back by Zubovich.
It was against the run of play when Vaduz took the lead in the 23rd minute. Ex-St Gallen right back Krauchi delivered a cross from the right wing which Parkhomenko missed with an attempted clearance, and the ball went between the legs of Sadovichiy, to fall to Cavegn, who swept home from 6 yards. It was a poor goal to concede.
However, Neman were only behind for 2 minutes as Vaduz returned the favour with a dreadful piece of defending of their own. Under no pressure at all, Berisha allowed a pass from Isik to go under his foot as he attempted to control it, and Zubovich gleefully took advantage to side-foot from the edge of the area past Buchel.
Although Neman continued to dominate possession, Vaduz created the next goal-scoring opportunity, but Cavegn’s near post headed flick on failed to find any team-mate and rolled away to safety with no-one on hand to finish.
With 40 minutes played, Tunahan Cicek, who had looked to be Vaduz’ most creative player and a dead-ringer for ex-Slutsk midfield maestro Yuri Kozlov, saw his shot deflected narrowly wide with the keeper wrong footed.
Vaduz continued to finish the half strongly and Cavegn produced a great dummy to beat Pantya, but a great tackle by Sadovichiy averted the danger.
As the teams headed down the tunnel for half-time, despite the scores being level, Neman would have been satisfied with their first half performance, and they had for most parts looked the better team.
Neman again started the half brightly and a nice move involving Savitskiy and Paparyga ended with Savitskiy’s shot being blocked for a corner. Sadovichiy headed over from the set-piece.
The game entered an even spell, with neither side looking as if they had the creative edge to break the deadlock.
Neman did fashion a good move but after Zubovich fed Karpovich, Savitskiy slipped inside the Vaduz penalty area so failed to get onto the end of a promising ball into the danger zone.
Neman though they had taken the lead in the 64th minute. A lovely cross from the right wing reached Zubovich, whose smart header at the back post nestled into the opposite corner. The goal was disallowed for offside but Zubovich was some way behind the last defender when the ball was crossed. It looked to be a dreadful decision unless the ball had flicked off the head of Savitskiy, but there were no TV or VAR replays to support the decision.
Neman continued to press, and after a free-kick was partially cleared, Kozlov sent the return 10 feet over the bar.
The best moment of skill from the home occurred in the 72nd minute. Fehr received the ball on the left, cut inside and then sent a tremendous shot from the angle of the penalty area, which slammed back from the bar, but was too fierce for Chabbi, who could only hurriedly head wide.
Neman were not done for, and with 8 minutes remaining a long throw was only partially cleared to the edge of the area where Shukorov sent a left-footed volley into the roof of the net giving Buchel no chance.
Although 5 minutes of added time were played, Vaduz were unable to get back into the match, and Neman safely saw out the closing stages to take a vital lead for the second leg, which is being played next week in Gyor, Hungary due to the sanctions against Belarus.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBn4-ihbe_8
FC Vaduz : Buchel – Krauchi ( Gasser ), Isik, Berisha, Fehr – Golliard ( Wieser ), Gajic, Fosso ( Vayrynen ) – Cavegn ( Destani ), Cicek, Djokic ( Chabbi )
FC Neman Grodno : Rudenok - Karpovich, Sadovichiy, Parkhomenko, Pantya – Evdokimov ( Pavlyukovets ), Kozlov, Shukorov ( Legchilin ), Paparyga ( Yablonski ) – Savitskiy ( Kravtsov ), Zubovich ( Yakimov )
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