KuPS 1-0 Milsami-Orhei ( att : 2,316 ) – 2025/26 Champions League First Qualifying Round

July 8, 2025

The 2025/25 UEFA Champions League commenced today, just 38 days after the 2024/25 Final.

In the past two seasons, these diaries have covered the first match to be played in the Champions League First Qualifying Round.

In July 2023. Armenians FC Urartu conceded a late goal to lose 0-1 at home to Bosnian side HSK Zrinjski Mostar, whilst in July 2024 Lithuanian champions FK Panevezys caused a surprise with a 3-0 home win over HJK Helsinki.

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The honour of the first match this season fell to KuPS, another side from Finland, against Moldovan champions Milsami-Orhei, which kicked off one hour ahead of ties in Armenia and Georgia.

Kuopion Palloseura ( KuPS )

KuPS are based in the city of Kuopio, which is located 390km north of Helsinki and is the 8^th largest municipality in Finland, with an estimated population of around 126,000.

KuPS have not had an individual match previously featured in these diaries, but were regularly mentioned during the round-ups of the 2020 season in Finland, and there were brief summaries of their Europa League wins over Slovan Bratislava ( on penalties ) and Lithuanian side FK Suduva ( 2-0 ), and the 1-3 defeat in Romania to CFR Cluj. KuPS had earlier lost the infamous student kitchen derby 0-5 to Molde in the Champions League Qualifier.

Indeed, it was commented that KuPS, 2019 champions, had managed finish third in a two-horse race for 2020 title, losing their last 4 matches when the championship was theirs to lose, after having lost only once in their first 18 matches.

Since then, KuPS had finished as runners-up in 2021, 2022 and 2023, before securing their 7^th title in 2024. A double was achieved in 2024 with a 2-1 victory over Inter Turku in the FA Cup Final, their 5^th Cup win.

Home is the 5,000 capacity Vare Areena, which has an artificial surface, and their usual colours are yellow shirts and black shorts. Their nicknames are either the yellow-blacks or the Canaries.

Since their Europa League run in 2020, KuPS have continued to enjoy some limited success in Europe. In the Europa Conference in 2021/22 they eliminated Armenian side Noah ( 5-1 on aggregate ), Ukrainians Vorskla Poltava ( 5-4 ), and Kazakh side Astana ( also 5-4 on aggregate ) before being beaten by Union Berlin ( 0-4 on aggregate but with a 0-0 draw in Berlin ).

In 2022/23, again in the Europa Conference, Georgian side Dila Gori were beaten 2-0 over two legs, after which, in a precursor of today’s fixture, Milsami-Orhei were overcome with a 2-2 draw at home but a 4-1 triumph in Moldova. Young Boys of Berne were too strong in the next round as KuPS exited the competition 0-5 on aggregate.

In the 2024/25 Europa Conference, KuPS progressed past Luxembourg side UNA Strassen 5-0 on aggregate but failed to get past Tromso.

KuPS This Season

The 2024 champions are making a robust defence of their title, and after their 16^th game of the season, a 2-2 draw last Friday evening at Oulu, they sat in second place in the table, level on points with Inter Turku, who had played two games fewer. Ilves were a point behind but with one game in hand, whilst HJK were four points behind having played one game fewer.

KuPS had an overall 9-3-4 record, and were 7-0-2 at home. The home defeats had been 0-3 to Ilves and 0-2 to VPS.

KuPS had started the season with a 1-1 at Inter Turku and then embarked on a run of 7 consecutive victories. However, their form then dipped with four defeats in their next five games, the only point coming from a 0-0 draw at HJK, and included home and away 0-3 losses to Ilves.

KuPS were unbeaten in their last three matches though, beating HJK 3-0 and Gnistan 6-2 at home before the draw at Oulu.

The average home attendance for KuPS this season was 2,487, which compared to 3,233 in 2024.

KuPS Squad

Five players had scored five times in the Veikkausliiga this season for KuPS, winger Joslyn Luyeye-Lutumba, midfielder Otto Ruoppi and centre-forward Agon Sadiku ( 2 caps ), who is on loan from Dutch side FC Emmen. Veteran midfielder Petteri Pennanen ( 1 cap ) had found the net four times, and had scored twice whilst playing for Ilves against Inter Turku in a game covered by these diaries in 2023. Guinea forward Mohamed Toure also had four goals to his name.

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Other foreigners in the KuPS squad included two Ghanaians, wing-back Bob Nii Armah and left-back Clinton Antwi, and ex-Nice and Nancy Ivorian centre-back Ibrahim Cisse. Kosovan under 21 striker Dion Krasniqi was on loan from Swedish side Elfsborg whilst Austrian keeper Johannes Kreidl had played for Nurnberg .

Left-back Nico Hamalainen ( 12 caps ) had played for Queens Park Rangers, Kilmarnock and LA Galaxy and midfielder Saku Savolainen was, along with Pennanen, the only survivor from the 2020 team. Midfielder Jaakko Oksanen ( 1 cap ) numbered Brentford, AFC Wimbledon and Greenock Morton amongst his former clubs

Ex-Stockport County and Hibernian midfielder Jarkko Wiss ( 47 caps ) was the coach of KuPS.

FC Milsami-Orhei

FC Milsami-Orhei are based in the Moldovan city of Orhei, which has a population of just over 20,000 and is located 40km north of the capital Chisinau.

Home is the 3,000 capacity CSR Orhei, and their nickname is The Red Eagles, despite their current kit being all white with red trimmings.

The 2024/25 title was Milsami’s second success, following their win in 2014/15. However, their triumph was considered to be controversial as owner Ilan Shor has been implicated in the theft of $1billion from three Moldovan Banks in 2014, which was 12.5% of the country’s GDP. Shor is reportedly now living in Moscow and is under sanctions from the EU, UK and Switzerland.

All of this came after the alleged Russian Mafia backing of Sheriff Tiraspol in the breakaway Republic of Transnistria, which had led to 21 titles for Sheriff in 23 seasons, although Sheriff had now failed to win the league for two seasons in a row, after Petrocub Hincesti had won the 2023/24 title.

Like KuPS, Milsami had not previously featured in an individual match report, but were regularly mentioned during the round-ups of the Moldova 2021/22 season. Matches from Moldova used to be streamed free to air on YouTube, but since 2022 both live streams and highlights had been subject to a small fee, so Fatbear had not covered the league since then.

At the 2021/22 winter break, Milsami were in third place in the table. International midfielder Radu Ginsari had led Milsami to the top of the league by the end of August but then left to join Greek second division side Xanthi and the results suffered.

Milsami ultimately finished the 2021/22 season in third place, and the following seasons resulted in 3^rd, 4^th and 4^th placed finishes, before last season’s title win.

Milsami have an ordinary record in European competition, with their main successes having come against Belarus opposition, overcoming Shakhtyor Soligorsk on penalties in the 2013/14 Europa League, and Torpedo Zhodino in the 2024/25 Europa Conference ( 4-2 on aggregate ). Other triumphs came against Bulgarian side Ludogorets in the 2015/16 Champions League ( 3-1 on aggregate ), Sarajevo in the 2021/22 Europa Conference ( 1-0 on aggregate ) and Panevezys in the 2022/23 Europa Conference ( 2-0 on aggregate )

FC Milsami-Orhei This Season

The Moldova Super Liga was the first of the European Winter Leagues to commence this season, and Milsami had already played three matches. Zimbru were beaten 3-0 on the opening day in June, and Politechina UTM were beaten 3-0 away in Round two.

However, their most recent match saw a 1-2 home defeat to Sheriff Tiraspol. Ginsari had given Milsami the lead from the penalty spot after Ndon had been brought down by the Sheriff keeper, but Sheriff got back into the game after a red card to Nigerian defender Christoper Mwaeze, who is on loan from Ukrainian side Zorya Luhansk, to take the three points. Milsami were consequently in third place after three matches.

FC Milsami-Orhei Squad

Ginsari ( 47 caps ) rejoined Milsami in 2022 and remained their key player, whilst Vasile Jardan was another survivor from the 2021/22 team. Keeper Emil Timbur ( 1 cap ) had a brief spell at Panezeyvs.

Foreign members of the Milsami squad included French midfielder Nabil Khali, who had played in Slovenia for Tabor Sezana, Nigerian midfielders Oladotun Olatunde-Matthew and Ime Ndon, Ghanaian left-back Frederick Takyi and Burkina Faso midfielder Abdoul Yoda.

Belgian centre-back Danny Lupano had previously played for Hednesford Twon, Hull City, Derry City. King’s Lynn Town and Virton whilst Dutch right-back Hennos Asmelash had played for ADO Den Haag and Top Oss as well as playing in Ukraine and Poland.  Striker Kabamba Kalabatama was born in Zambia but grew-up in Norway, and Malian attacking midfielder Sibiry Keita had played for Eupen and Slavia Sofia.

Matchday Information

The distance from Orhei to Kuopio is around 1,800km by road. There are no direct scheduled flights between Moldova and Finland, so Milsami would either need to transfer somewhere eg Riga, Warsaw, Copenhagen or Frankfurt, or charter an aircraft. They would still then need to travel from Helsinki to Kuopio !

Tickets for today’s game ranged between €11 to €26

The weather at the 18.00 kick off time ( 16.00 UK ) was dry and 17 degrees. Light rain was forecast for during the match

The match was live streamed on Bet365, who made KuPS 2/7 favourites, with Milsami at 8/1 and the draw at 15/4.

KuPS made seven changes from the side that drew with Oulu with Kreidli, Savolainen, Cisse, Antwi, Oksanen, Ruoppi and Pennanen coming into the side, and all the dropped players were amongst the substitutes. Eight of the starting line-up were qualified to play for Finland.

Milsami-Orhei made four changes from the side that lost to Sheriff, with Asmeleash, Lupano, Keita and Kalabatama coming in for Chele, Lisu, Olatunde-Matthew and Ndon. Milsami only named six substitutes, two of which were goalkeepers. The Milsami starting XI contained only three Moldovans, although a further five more were on the bench.

KuPS were playing in their usual kit of yellow shirts, black shorts, yellow socks, whilst Milsami-Orhei were all red with white trim and numbers. There was no sponsor on the front of their shirts.

The referee and his assistances were from Latvia.

Match Report

The game started quietly, with KuPS enjoying nearly all of the possession but the final ball was usually overhit and went through to the Milsami keeper or to a defender. The home fans were in good voice though ( and would be throughout the game ).

Milsami keeper Timbur was first called in to action to come out of his area to reach a long ball out of the KuPS defence and concede a throw in.

The first sight of Milsami as an attacking threat came in the 7^th minute as a cross from the left went  slightly behind Ginsari, who could only head high over the bar from 10 yards.

The home created a good opportunity in the 13^th minute as Oksanen released Ruoppi in to the left-hand channel inside the Milsami penalty area, but his right footed shot hit the sliding Jardan and went off for corner. After the corner was partially cleared, the reworked ball in from the right wing was cleared by Lupano.

Ruoppi tried his luck again two minutes later but his first time low shot from just inside edge of area was straight at keeper Timbur, who made a comfortable save

In the 22^nd minute, Milsami’s Nwaeze lost possession 10 yards outside his area and Sadiku looked to break into the penalty box, but Jardan was covering and made an important tackle. KuPS appealed for a penalty but the referee wasn’t interested.

At the other end, Kalabatama delivered a dangerous cross from the right-wing which was punched away by keeper Kreidl. Shortly after, Keita again released Kalabatama but this time his low ball across goalmouth cleared by Miettinen.

Just after the half-hour mark, Ruoppi fed Antwi but the shot was blocked. A minute later Pennanen ran onto a defence splitting ball but his left footed shot from 10 yards was blocked by a combination of the keeper and a defender. The rebound fell to Antwi, who shot wildly across goal and Sadiku sliding in at the far post couldn’t apply final touch. It was a great chance !

Milsami’s Khali then had two attempts on goal inside two minutes. First, a 25 yard left footed shot bounced just wide of far post, although keeper Kreidl looked to have had it covered. Keita’s second effort with his right foot wasn’t nearly as impressive and sailed high and wide.

Pennanen won a corner for KuPS, which was headed away. Antwi crossed the ball back into the danger zone, and after a bit of pinball, the ball rolled harmlessly to keeper Timbur. The ball may have hit an arm of a Milsami defender but the referee waved play on.

The home side came close to opening the scoring three minutes before the interval. A cross from the right wing went over the head of Sadiku and hit Milsami’s Asmelash. The ball looped back across the goalmouth and struck the crossbar before bouncing away to safety.

A minute later Pennanen launched a 25 yard left footed drive which was spectacularly tipped over the bar by Timbur. The keeper flapped at the corner, which everyone missed, and the ball went off for a goal kick.

Timbur was in the action on the stroke of half-time but his tip over the bar from Sadiku’s 25 yarder was a regulation save. Savolainen, under pressure beyond far post, headed Antwi’s corner well wide.

There was still time for Keita to be shown the first yellow card of the game for a stray arm into face of Antwi. It was 0-0 at half-time, but KuPS had dominated, having had 62% of the possession, and the corner count was four to nil

KuPS forced a corner almost immediately at the start of the second half. After taking a short corner, the ball into the area was poor, but Yoda dallied rather than clearing. KuPS were able to regain possession, but the ball towards the far post was shielded off for a goal-kick by Asmelash.

Milsami earned their first corner of the game in the 47^th minute, which was blocked at the near post and then hoofed away.

Takyi then saw his left-wing cross headed away by a KuPS defender but a 25 yard shot from Asmelash flashed across goalmouth but bounced a couple of yards wide.

With 52 minutes played, Ruoppi played a smart pass to put Pennanen clear inside the area on the left but incredibly Timbur came off his line to make an excellent sliding tackle !

Ruoppi then displayed good control and trickery but was closed down at the expense of a corner. A scramble ensued when the ball was played in the 6-yard box and Sadiku shot for goal, only to be denied by Nwaeze’s header off the line.

Lupano was having a good game for The Red Eagles, and more excellent defending blocked a cross from Antwi for a corner, which was punched away by Timbur under pressure in a crowd of players.

Milsami created their best chance of the game to date in the 68^th minute. A raking cross to far post was headed across the six-yard line by substitute Sorin Chele. Kalabatama tried to turn and shoot but his control was poor and the ball ran away from him and the chance was gone.

Khali’s cross was then deflected and Kreidl was unable to prevent the ball from going out for a corner. Chele’s delivery was poor and was cleared, and when Chele regained possession, his cross went straight to the KuPS keeper.

Pennanen then did well on left and his cross from close to the byline was headed back across his own goal by Takyi. The ball reached Ruoppi, who athletically struck the bouncing ball with his left foot from the angle of the 6-yard box across goal, and the ball nestled inside the far post. It was the last contribution from Pennanen as he was immediately substituted after the goal. The restart was delayed and three minutes after the ball had hit the net, there was a VAR for a potential offside against Toure, for possibly impairing the view of the keeper. However, after a wait of nearly 5 minutes, finally the goal was given and it was 1-0 with 73 minutes played.

The Milsami keeper then needed to dive onto a low ball from left before Ruoppi could pounce, and at the other end Keita’s left-footed shot from the edge of area bobbled wide.

Asmelash entered the referee’s notebook for bringing down Ruoppi as he ran down the left wing towards the byline, after which Oksanen saw yellow for an off the ball block on Kalabatama.

With time running out, KuPS had two corners which came to nothing after which Milsami won a corner following a cross from Khali being headed off by Savolainen. The corner was punched away by Kreidl.

Five added minutes were to be played but Milsami seemed content to play around at the back, with just a couple of aimless lumps forward. KuPS comfortably saw out the end of the game to finish winners of the first leg.

It’s all to play for in the second leg but KuPS may come to regret not having a greater lead to take to Moldova

KuPS : Kreidl – Savolainen, Cisse, Miettinen, Antwi ( Hamalainen ) – Oksanen, Ruoppi, Arifii – Luyeye-Lutumba ( Toure ), Sadiku ( Heinonen ), Pennanen ( Voutilainen )

Milsami-Orhei :  Timbur – Asmelash ( Arhirii ), Lupano. Jardan, Takyi – Khali ( Ghimp ), Mwaeze, Ginsari, Yoda ( Lisu ) – Keita ( Chele ), Kalabatama, 

 

 

Review of the Moldova Divizia Nationala 2021/22 Season at the Winter Break

December 16, 2021

These diaries last reviewed the Moldova Divizia Nationala at the end of August after round 8 of the season when Milsami-Orhei and Petrocub Hincesti topped the table, with Sheriff Tiraspol ten points behind but with three games in hand.

With Moldova now entering its winter hibernation, Sheriff Tiraspol predictably sit at the top of the table, but despite ( or maybe because of ) their record breaking season in the Champions League, they have not been as dominant as in recent seasons.

Admittedly, they currently lead the table by two points, have games in hand over their closest rivals and no-one seriously thinks they will not retain their title. Nevertheless, they lost their first game of the season at home to newly promoted CS Balti ( 0-1 ), and points were also dropped in draws at Zimbru ( 1-1 ) and in a feisty, bad-tempered game at Petrocub ( 0-0 ) in early December.

Round 19 was completed at the end of November, but Sheriff have since played two of their catch-up games to conclude this year’s activity. Round 20 is schedule for March 12^th, with Sheriff playing their two remaining backlog matches on March 1^st and 5^th.

In their 17 games played, Sheriff have won 14, scored 55, conceded just 5 times and neither Petrocub or Milsami-Orhei have scored against Sheriff in 4 matches so far. Dinamo-Auto have twice been beaten 7-0 in the Transnistrian derbies, whilst the other encounter was 7-1 ! Revenge was also extracted over Zimbru with 6-0 and 4-0 victories.

Guinean striker Momo Yansane, a folk-hero to followers of football in Belarus after his spell at FK Isloch Minsk, is their top scorer in the league with 9 goals ( including a hat-trick against Zimbru ), whilst Colombian forward Frank Castenada and Luxembourg play-maker Sebastian Thill both have 6 goals.

As previously documented, Sheriff have had a record breaking season in the Champions League. 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 to become the first side from the Moldovan league to reach the Champions League group stages.

The fairytale continued as Sheriff amazingly won their first two group matches, first shocking Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 in Tiraspol with Traore and Yansane on the scoresheet, and even more incredibly went to Real Madrid and won 2-1, with Uzbek Jasurbek Yakshieboev ( another ex-star from the Belarus League ) and a stunning last minute finish from Thill silencing the Bernabeu faithful for possibly the biggest upset in the Champions League history.

Another upset appeared possible in the San Siro against Inter when Thill’s 25 yard curling free-kick brought Sheriff back to 1-1 early in the second half, but the Italians eventually proved to be too strong and went onto win 3-1.  

Sheriff appeared to have run out of steam, falling to two home defeats, Inter ( 1-3 ) and Real ( 0-3 ) in front of crowds of 5,900 plus, but an injury time equaliser in Donetsk meant Sheriff finished the group with 7 points, having already secured third place and continued European football.

In the last 16 of the Europa League, Sheriff have been drawn against Sporting Braga, currently 4^th in the Portuguese Primera Division, and a side who were only able to take one point from two matches against Red Star Belgrade in their Europa League Group encounters. On this form line, Sheriff have a good chance of further progression, although Bet365 have Braga the favourites to go through.

Petrocub and Milsami-Orhei continued to lead the table with Sheriff playing less games due to their commitments in Europe, but a 4-0 home win over Zimbru in one of their rescheduled fixtures played after the completion of round 19 took Sheriff above Petrocub and to the top of the table.

Petrocub have drawn three and lost three of their 19 games, the same number of losses as suffered in the whole of the 2021/22 season, when they finished 10 points clear of third place and were the only side to inflict a defeat on Sheriff. To date, they have taken only one point from Sheriff in three matches ( 0-2 A, 0-2 H & 0-0 A ) whilst honours have even in the three games versus Milsami-Orhei ( 1-2 A, 1-1 H & 3-1 A ). All other fixtures have been won, apart from a 1-1 home draw to Sfintul Gheorghe in November.

Eight Petrocub players were in the most recent Moldovan national squad, but one of those not selected, captain and forward Vladimir Ambros ( 12 caps ) is their leading scorer in the league with 13 goals. Two other players not called up, Mihai Platica and Vadim Gulceac have 9 and 6 goals respectively, whilst Ukrainian midfielder Artem Federov scored 5 goals for Dinamo-Auto before signing for Petrocub in September.

Milsami-Orhei were the early season pace-setters, cemented by having their fixture against Sheriff postponed, and then overcoming Petrocub 2-1 at home, and going on to be unbeaten in their first 11 matches, until losing 0-2 at home to Sheriff. By this time Milsami had lost both international midfielder Radu Ginsari ( 44 caps and 6 goals in 7 appearances this season ) to Greek second division side Xanthi and Artiom Puntus ( hat-trick scorer against Dinamo-Auto ) to Albanian side Kukesi. To fill the void, veteran ex-Sfintul Gheorghe striker Segiu Istrati was signed from a third division side in Romania and has contributed 11 goals in 15 appearances.

Milsami’s only other reverse was at home to Petrocub, but they have been held to draws by Sfintul Gheorghe ( twice ), Balti and Petrocub. They lie two points adrift of Petrocub but with a game in hand, albeit against Sheriff.

Sftintul Gheorghe are in fourth place, the same as where they finished in the 2020/21 season but trail Milsami by 15 points so can be considered “the best of the rest”. They actually started the season by winning the Moldova Super Cup, beating Sheriff on penalties after a 2-2 draw, and they began the league by holding Milsami-Orhei to a 1-1 draw away from home. Subsequently, victories have been registered over Floresti ( twice ), Balti ( twice ), Dinamo-Auto and Zimbru, with further draws against Balti, Dinamo-Auto, Zimbru ( twice ), Petrocub and again at Milsami. Their 5 defeats have been against Petrocub ( twice ), Sheriff, Milsami and Balti. Victor Stina tops their scoring charts with 7 goals

Transnistrian side Dinamo Auto are in 5^th side after a quite bizarre season to date. They have conceded 53 goals in 19 goals, with 21 of these coming in three games against Sheriff, whilst they also were on the received end of hammerings from Petrocub ( 6-1 ), Milsami ( 4-1 ) & Balti ( 4-1 ). However they possess a 5-0-5 away record with wins at Floresti ( twice ), Sfintul Gheorghe, Balti and Zimbru, whilst home wins were recorded over Balti and Floresti.

Ukrainian midfielder Artem Federov scored 5 goals before joining Petrocub and former international midfielder Maxim Mihailov has scored 5 times in 19 appearances.

Newly promoted Balti started the season with a sensational 1-0 away victory at Sheriff and had lost only to Milsami, Petrocub and Sheriff in their first 8 fixtures. However, their form has steadily declined andthey  have lost 9 of their last 12 matches, including their last five, in which only one goal has been scored. Nigerian centre-forward Emmanuel Alaribe has scored 7 times and Nichita Motpan has 5 goals.

Fallen giant Zimbru Chisinau had high hopes of doing much better this season and inspired by the signing of experienced striker Eugeniu Sidorenco recorded impressive home wins over Dinamo-Auto ( 3-0 ) and Floresti ( 4-0 ) to top the table after two matches. However, life was soon much harder, the goals for Sidorenco dried up, and Zimbru have just one win in their last 10 matches, and that was against doomed Floresti. Currently occupying the relegation play-off position, they lie 4 points behind Balti. Their away form is one of the main problems, with just one win ( at Floresti ) and a draw at Dinamo-Auto. By far and away the highlight of the season was holding Sheriff to a 1-1 draw.

Floresti started the season with a minus 6 point penalty for match-fixing offences in prior seasons, and they remain the only side in Europe to still be on negative points, having lost all 18 matches played so far with 61 goals against. Only 12 goals have been scored, 6 of which were by Andrei Cobet and there are six players which one goal each. They are already doomed to relegation.

Balti are by far and away the best supported side in the country, with an average so far of 1,675, and that is despite Covid restricts for the final match of the year being limited to only 300. Milsami are next with 573, then Petrocub with 474. Sheriff’s European success hasn’t translated into higher crowds for domestic matches, and they have the fourth best average with 461. Dinamo Auto are the worst supported side, with an average of just 72

Round 19

November 28, 2021

Zimbru Chisinau 1-1 Sfintul Gheorghe ( att : 400 )

CS Balti 1-2 CS Petrocub Hincesti ( att : 300 )

Milsami-Orhei 5-0 Floresti ( att : 300 )

Sheriff Tiraspol 7-0 Dinamo-Auto ( att : 300 )

December 2, 2021

CS Petrocub 0-0 Sheriff Tirapsol ( att : 300 )

December 11, 2021

Sheriff Tiraspol 4-0 Zimbru Chisinau ( att : 350 )

Review : Moldova Divizia Nationala 2021/22 Season – Round 8

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 21^st 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 60^th 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 7^th 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 90^th 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 4^th place but have played three games less than Milsami and Petrocub. Balti remained 4^th 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.