Underdogs revolt in Russian Cup
Published: 16 July, 2009, 11:19
Photo from moskva.com
TAGS: Sport, Football, Russian Premier League
There will be new Russian football cup holders this year, after CSKA crashed out of the competition on what was a night to forget for the top-flight sides.
The two-time defending champions lost away to first-division outfit Ural 1-0 in the last 32 round.
After a goalless first half, Army boss Zico deployed fellow Brazilians Love and Carvalho.
But they came up short as hosts Ural broke the deadlock 10 minutes after the interval. Vladimir Shishelov was first to the rebound to slot home what would turn out the only goal of the game. And the Ural side hung on to their lead against a dull CSKA to dish up the biggest upset of the day.
Safely through are Zenit St. Petersburg. They beat Torpedo Vladimir to book their place in the next round.
Konstantin Zyryanov fired home a free kick soon after the half-hour mark to open the scoring and give a moment of joy for their outgoing coach Dick Advocaat. And Pavel Pogrebnyak made it 2-0 from the penalty spot with seconds to go before the break.
Also advancing are Spartak Moscow.
The red-and-whites had the better of Krasnodar despite fielding a reserve line-up for the match.
But it wasn't a pushover for them, as the first goal came flying in with about 25 minutes to go, after Artur Maloyan drilled in a badly-cleared ball.
And Spartak sured up the win one minute into injury time. Zhano Ananidze made good use of another of the keeper's blunders.
Krasnodar responded with a goal of their own. Sergey Tsukanov nodded in from a corner at the death, but it was too little too late.
Next up for Spartak are FC Moscow, who beat Salyut 2-0 on the road. And Amkar were the only other Premier League club to reach the last 16.
The likes of Rubin, Lokomotiv, Dynamo Moscow, Rostov all bowed out. All this means there will be at least one lower division team in the final, while the last eight round will see a maximum of three Premier League squads.
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I hope we will see a new champion from the first division. It will help put good but unknown players out there for others to see and enjoy.