The meeting of the 4th round of the group stage of the FONBET Cup of Russia, held in Sochi, ended with the victory of our team with a score of 4:0.
Kurban Rasulov made his second appearance in goal for Dynamo. The defensive line had completely changed since the derby, but the central axis remained the same, with a front three of Nicolas Ngamaleu, El-Mehdi Maouhoub, and Konstantin Tyukavin.
The white-and-blues took control from the start, and in the second minute, Anton Miranchuk tested Sochi newcomer Ivan Lomayev with a direct free kick – the southerners' goalkeeper made no mistake. Then, from the next set piece, Miranchuk crossed into the center of the penalty area, where Mauhoub won the ball and sent it home – 1-0!
Five minutes later, the Moroccan came close to scoring a second when Tyukavin put him one-on-one with Lomayev, but Mauhoub's shot hit the home team's right hand. However, we didn't have to wait long for the second goal: Daniil Fomin made a great pass to Dmitry Skopintsev, who found himself alone in the opponent's penalty area, controlled the ball and drove it under the crossbar from an acute angle.
Rasulov's first appearance came only in the 27th minute, when he made a brilliant come-out, punching the ball away. Dynamo, meanwhile, continued to bombard the opposing goal: Roberto Fernandez shot just wide, and Ngamalyo's effort was accurate but not powerful enough. Another set piece brought success: Skopintsev crossed from a corner to the far post, where Nicolas Marichal beat Lomaev on his second attempt.
At the start of the second half, the long-awaited moment occurred. Mauhoub headed the ball into the penalty area. Aleksandr Osipov missed, but Tyukavin capitalized on his opportunity perfectly, scoring in his second match since returning!
Having done his job, the striker retired with Fomin, while Denis Makarov and Viktor Okishor entered the field. These substitutions could soon have been productive after a well-executed free kick: Okishor softly crossed the ball to Fernandez, who passed it to the far post, from where Makarov shot just over the bar.
The outcome of the match had already been decided, so the pace of the match dropped significantly, but the score could still grow. At first Ngamaleu unsuccessfully executed a penalty kick from the killing point, and at the very end the referee did not dare to award a penalty for a foul on Makarov, having seen Dmitry Alexandrov's hand play in the initial phase of the attack.
After 4 rounds Dynamo with 7 points are in second place in group B. In the next match Dynamo will play away from Orenburg on Sunday, September 21.
