Zenit St Petersburg v Terek Grozny match preview

By: j | September 12th, 2008

Keeping my impartiality on this match is difficult but it’s equally confusing. I appreciate the attack, no the symphony of Zenit Saint Petersburg but I embrace how Terek Grozny brought-in Florentin Petre, Andrei Mărgăritescu and Daniel Pancu mid-season and improved their club. However this match has more to do with what we don’t know then analyzing previous matches. With Zenit facing Juventus next Wednesday in the Champions League and coupled with the fatigue of many of the players involved in international duty this week, how much effort will we see in winning this match? Contrary to media reports and press statements, this is one match I’d stay away till the last piece of information is in.

Recent Form
Zenit Saint Petersburg – combined (3 W, D, 2 L)(10 GS, 9 GA)
Aug 2 Zenit St Petersburg 2 – 1 FC Moscow
Aug 10 Rubin Kazan 4 – 1 Zenit St Petersburg
Aug 13 Zenit St Petersburg 3 – 1 Terek Grozny
Aug 17 Zenit St Petersburg 1 – 3 Shinnik Yaroslav
Aug 24 Samara Kryliya Sovetov 0 – 3 Zenit St Petersburg

Zenit Saint Petersburg – away (1 W, 2 D, 2 L)(4 GS, 5 GA)
Jul 16 Luch-Energiya Vladivostok 0 – 0 Zenit St Petersburg
Jul 26 Dynamo Moscow 1 – 0 Zenit St Petersburg
Jul 30 CSKA Moscow 0 – 0 Zenit St Petersburg
Aug 10 Rubin Kazan 4 – 1 Zenit St Petersburg
Aug 24 Samara Kryliya Sovetov 0 – 3 Zenit St Petersburg

Terek Grozny – combined (2 W, 1 D, 2 L)(4 GS, 9 GA)
Aug 10 Spartak Nalchik 2 – 0 Terek Grozny
Aug 13 Zenit St Petersburg 3 – 1 Terek Grozny
Aug 17 CSKA Moscow 2 – 0 Terek Grozny
Aug 23 Terek Grozny 2 – 1 Lokomotiv Moscow
Aug 31 Luch-Energiya Vladivostok 1 – 1 Terek Grozny

Terek Grozny – home (3 W, 1 D,1 L)(6 GS, 3 GA)
May 11 Terek Grozny 0 – 1 Amkar Perm’
Jul 6 Terek Grozny 3 – 1 Spartak Moscow
Jul 20 Terek Grozny 0 – 0 Rubin Kazan
Jul 3 Terek Grozny 1 – 0 Saturn Moscow
Aug 23 Terek Grozny 2 – 1 Lokomotiv Moscow

This match gets going in roughly eight hours. Once I see the opening warm-ups and view lineups thirty minutes before it starts, I’ll have a better idea what direction to side towards. However before that, this entire match is up-in-the air on how it’ll be approached. It has all the makings of a perfect chance for Terek Grozny to pull off an upset if Zenit takes it likely but for the most part that is highly unlikely if they are Dick Advocaat is serious about making a Champions League run. If you want to discuss at that time, please comment and I’ll let you know how it goes because that will indicate whether Zenit is the easy choice or not.

I’ll report on it once it concludes.