summary of Sunday matches

By: j | August 3rd, 2008

It was another great day in the Russian Premier League. The four matches on Sunday had a profound effect on this extremely tight title race in which more than half the table is less than ten points apart.

Samara Kryliya Sovetov 0 CSKA Moscow 0
Both squads looked very heavy legged and CSKA’s attack faltered considerably even though Samara Kryliya Sovetov played much of match one man down after the thirty-third minute. They came out in a 4-5-1 and weren’t able to create many scoring many opportunities. This was a good mid-field battle but both defenses were up to the task.

Terek Grozny 1 Saturn Moscow Oblast 0
The revolving door of Saturn Moscow Oblast lineup continued as they tried to right the horrible problems finishing now by changing up their normal striking duo of Marko Topić and Dmitri Kirichenko. Unfortunately for them it didn’t work and they’ve now been held scoreless in four of the five previous matches. Terek Grozny started their new trio of Romanian Internationals Andrei Margaritescu (formerly Dinamo Bucureşti), Daniel Pancu (formerly Rapid Bucureşti) and Florentin Petre (CSKA Sofia) and established considerably more ball control. As is so often the case, visitors to Grozny left with a loss.

Rubin Kazan 1 Luch-Energiya Vladivostok 1
A surprising match with not such a surprising score given the chore of playing well in Vladivostok. Rubin Kazan was on their back-heels for most of the match as Luch-Energiya Vladivostok pressed and led off Brazilian Alves (25′). With Rubin Kazan pressing late, Turkish International Gökdeniz Karadeniz, scored to draw the match level.

Spartak Nalchik 0 Amkar Perm’ 0
Disappointing draw for Amkar Perm’ but Spartak Nalchik played a very disciplined match, marking well and scoring opportunities were nearly non-existent.

Table
Rubin Kazan 16 – 8 – 6 -2 – 30
Amkar Perm’ 16 – 8 - 4 – 4 – 28
Dinamo Moscow 16 – 8 – 4 – 4 – 28
Spartak Moscow 16 – 7 6 – 3 – 27
Lokomotiv Moscow 15 – 6 – 6 – 3 – 24
Samara Kryliya Sovetov 16 – 5 – 8 – 23
Zenit St Petersburg 15 – 5 – 7 – 22
CSKA Moscow 16 – 5 – 7 – 4 – 22
Spartak Nalchik 16 – 6 – 3 – 7 – 21
Terek Grozny 15 – 6 – 3 – 6 – 21
FK Tom’ Tomsk 16 – 5 – 4 – 7 -19
Saturn Moscow 16 – 4 – 5 – 7 - 17
FC Moscow 16 – 3 – 7 – 6 – 16
Luch-Energiya Vladivostok 16 – 2 – 7 – 7 – 13
FC Khimki 16 – 2 – 6 – 8 – 12
YFK Shinnik Yaroslav 15 – 2 – 5 – 8 – 11