Champions League hunt: CSKA Moscow
By: j | September 7th, 2008In the fourth of our installment on the Rosgosstrakh Football Championship and the race to the Champions League we’ll look at CSKA Moscow chances.
Although Koni sits fourth in the table behind Rubin Kazan, Dynamo Moscow, Spartak Moscow and Amkar Perm’, they are playing some of the best Football in the league every week. However that is not to say they have it easy move into a European spot because in addition to a very tricky schedule they also have the extra burden of UEFA Cup competition, starting next week against NK Slaven Koprivnica, continued play in the Russian Cup and they have four key members part of Guus Hiddink’s Russian squad in World Cup qualifying.
CSKA Moscow remaining schedule
Sep 14 Luch-Energiya Vladivostok
Sep 21 @ Zenit St Petersburg
Sep 28 Tom’ Tomsk
Oct 5 @ Khimki
Oct 19 Amkar Perm’
Oct 26 @ Dynamo Moscow
Nov 1 Spartak Moscow
Nov 9 @ FC Moscow
Nov 16 Rubin Kazan
Nov 22 @ Shinnik Yaroslav
Clearly CSKA is capable to win there way through to the Champions League however they need to be at their absolute best. A resurgent Zenit Saint Petersburg will be significant problem to get by and I expect them to swarm with a defensive net against them. Following a easier match against bottom-dweller Khimki, they have a tough run with UEFA Cup matches, International commitments and successive matches against Amkar Perm’, Dynamo Moscow, Spartak Moscow, FC Moscow and Rubin Kazan. If they survive that deadly run with ten points plus points, they should be able to see through to the Champions League. Their back-line of Sergey Ignashevich, Aleksei Berezutskiy, Vasili Berezutskiy and Deividas Šemberas are playing some of the best defensive Football you’ll find. Igor Akinfeev has a run of eight clean sheets in a row and looks impossible to beat while Yuri Zhirkov leads an attack that is slowly regaining its footing with Vágner Love and the eighteen year-old phenom Alan Dzagoev up top.
Category: Team News
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