Dynamo avoided a major defeat from CSKA in the last minutes

The third Moscow derby for Dynamo this season is perhaps the main test of strength for the blue and white this season. Yes, there have already been meetings in the championship with Spartak (1:3) and Chertanovo (2:1), but, firstly, they were played, in fact, by two different Dynamo teams: they played with red and white Dynamo under the leadership of Sergey Lavrentiev, with Chertanovo" – already under the leadership of Alexander Katasonov. Therefore, it is not entirely correct to compare the state of the team in these two matches and somehow project them to the upcoming meeting with CSKA.

And the level of CSKA and the two metropolitan teams with which dynamovki have already met is also incorrect to compare. "Spartak", although it has already become the bronze medalist of the championship last year, but so far it is only the second season at the highest level and still does not have such formidable authority that the army club has.

Therefore, whatever one may say, but it is Saturday's match with CSKA that is currently the most important this season. However, as always, before meetings with the army team, the ominous statistics of meetings with him pops up in the fans' heads: 6 matches – 6 defeats, in which Dynamo football players were able to score only 4 goals… But there is also good news: Dynamo have drawn with the red and blue twice, both times in friendly matches. The last of them happened this winter at the pre-season training camp.

Is this considered some kind of good sign? Perhaps, based on the statistics of official matches between the two clubs, this is the only thing left for Dynamo fans to do. Well, Dynamo football players should do everything that depends on them so that not the worst result of friendly matches becomes a reality of official matches.

At least, before the starting whistle, I wanted to believe that dynamovki would use all their unused moments in the previous match with Zvezda-2005 against their most uncomfortable rivals.

But, as they say, our expectations turned out to be our problems again. Dynamo has never had such a discouraging start this season: the army team scored the first goal already in the 2nd minute, and three more later it consolidated the advantage. Two goals conceded in five minutes – it is difficult to move away from this not only for a self-confident team, but also for such an emotionally and gaming unstable team as Dynamo this season.

And although by the 10th minute the blue and white managed to calm down the game a little and put out the hurricane pace that the army took from the first minutes, it was clear that it would be difficult for them to oppose something like CSKA. This was confirmed by the middle of the first half, when the pace of the game was expected to drop after such a stormy debut, and the blue and white did not seize the initiative, and in general it did not become clear how they would win back in this match.

The maximum that they could squeeze out of their attacks was long–range shots at Anastasia Ananyeva's goal, which did not always go on target, and if they did, they did not pose a particular danger to the CSKA goalkeeper.

At the end of the half, the Dynamo coaching staff decided to intervene in the course of such an unsuccessful game: Alexander Katasonov, without waiting for a break, immediately made a double substitution – instead of Maria Galai, who was already hanging on a yellow card, and Elina Samoilova, he released Milena Nikitina and Berivan Ichen. These changes in the Dynamo lineup did not change the balance of forces on the field much, and the teams went on a break with the same score that was set in the very opening of the match.

The second half, or rather, its first half, seems to have instilled some hopes in the hearts of Dynamo fans that they will see some goals from their favorites, and it's quite realistic to win back two goals in a half, especially in modern football. At least the dynamos took the ball for themselves and even started creating something at the opponents' goal.

But, as in the first half, a new trouble happened unexpectedly: in the 61st minute, Elizaveta Semenova, who had just come on as a substitute, hit Dynamo's goal with her head so accurately that there was practically no chance for Arina Taranchenko to save her team from the third missed…

After just a few minutes, Nadezhda Koltakova could have caught the goalkeeper on a mistake, but her header turned out to be inaccurate. If our defender had scored at that moment, the game could have turned out a little differently.

But after this episode, the teams seemed to have secretly agreed to finish this match without nervous shocks and excesses, and to make noise only at the very end. Moreover, it became boring for the army football players, who in the last minutes earned a completely optional penalty in their own goal, and Berivan Ichen realized it, slightly sweetening the bitter taste of the final defeat, which did not become at least devastating.

For full information about the starting lineups and the events of the meeting, see the match center.