Zenit St Petersburg v CSKA Moscow

By: j | July 30th, 2008

You can put the mid-summer Football boredom aside because today in Moscow, a truly unbelievably match is about to take place between defending Russian Premier League champions Zenit St Petersburg and powerhouse CSKA Moscow.

Zenit St Petersburg
It has been an interesting period for the squad from the beautiful city on the Baltic. A surprise winner of the UEFA Cup too many, topped off the perfect double of winning the Russian championship a few months earlier. Yet with the Russian season starting in March in-order to avoid the harsh winters, plus losing five players to the UEFA Cup, in addition to the injury of Pavel Pogrebnyak while playing for the national team, put the club in a very difficult position in the early season and it is quite obvious the fatigue of an extended season is taking its toll. In-fact it has only been in recent matches that they have started to click near at full cylinder but with nine matches scheduled in twenty-eight days, its is a brutally tough time for them. In addition to that, the constant pressure and rumours of Andrei Arshavin moving to another has surely weighed on the club. Now with the campaign nearing the half-way mark, the champions will need to respond but knowing Dick Advocaat, he will find a way. This past weekends 1-0 loss to Dinamo Moscow was a heart-breaker as the squad played one-man down from the thirty-seventh minute after Fatih Tekke was excused, only to lose to a late goal. They will need to rebound in Moscow or lose further ground on the table.

While English-speaking Football media seems to have “discovered” the brilliant twenty-seven year-old Andrei Arshavin, not to dispel his extraordinary gifts, these team is jam-packed with talent. Unfortunately for those watching the Euros, Striker Pavel Pogrebnyak was injured in a match leading up to it and lost for the championship. I suspect that if he had played, Football pundits would talking of the extraordinary predator at Zenit and the upper-echelon of the sport would be trying (or shall we say trying a lot harder) to secure his services. He is still out with the same knee injury but is expected back mid fall. However for those who did watch the Euros, you were notably impressed with the play and sheer tenacity of the Turkish squad and luckily for Zenit, Fatih Tekke offers the same style and commitment with each match but unfortunately will not be available for this match given the red care versus Dinamo. Coupled with the secure ‘keeping duties of Vyacheslav Malafeev, defenders Aleksandr Anyukov and Roman Shirokov along with the midfield patrolled by team captain and Ukraine International Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Zenit is a joy to watch.

CSKA Moscow
Like Zenit, this perennial powerhouse has had a challenging first half of the season, which in my opinion is due to fatigue and complications of the season with five players in International duty. Led by a brilliant Manager Valery Gazzaev, CSKA is a cut-above other Footballing institutions in how it honourably develops regional talent while equally having a highly unique blend of world-wide talent on the squad. The Striking duo of Brazilian Vágner Love and Bosnia and Herzegovina International Elvir Rahimić are an exciting duo that as the squad’s midfield solidifies will find the back of the net. But the real star ready to emerge in twenty year-old Polish striker Dawid Janczyk who came over this time last year from Legia Warszawa, although unfortunately he is presently out of the lineup. In midfield is Yuri Zhirkov, a twenty-four year-old virtuoso, who has all the makings of standout player on the international scene. Equally for those who like to keep an eye on up and coming talent, eighteen year-old midfielder / striker Alan Dzagoev is starting to show extreme promise. The back line of CSKA can be an absolute wall of all Internationally capped players, with captain Igor Akinfeev in goal and a defensive line of the brothers Berezutskiy, Aleksei and Vasili Berezutskiy as well as Sergey Ignashevich.

I’ll be filling you more on this match as well as the Saturn Moscow Oblast v Krylia Sovetov Samara.