One cannot fall asleep at such football

19-01-15 19:14:22

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You should agree that Shakhtar are now a little bit of Columbus, who discover South America for themselves and the Ukrainian fans.

A little bit - because it is still made by feet of Aboriginals, who got a rare opportunity to present "the most Brazilian club of Europe" to their countrymen in general, and numerous relatives in particular. Recently, it has been said that, for example, that Alex bought two dozen tickets to the stadium in Salvador, to meet the needs of his large and, apparently, a friendly family.

Overall, at 30-degree heat at the peak of the Brazilian winter, the stadium Fonte Nova, which hosted half a dozen World Cup matches in 2014, found 17,213 fans in its seats that is likely a record for winter training camps of the Pitmen. Because it is impossible to expect such interest from crowd in January in neither Turkey nor in Spain, nor in the UAE, nor in Israel - traditional places of preparation for the season.

It was the stands in Salvador that created an atmosphere that made players from both teams to play in full gear, which is not a norm for a friendly game, and Ukrainian fans – be in full awake in the night from Friday to Saturday watching TV: it was hard to fall asleep at such football.

Scheduled to play in the Brazilian tour five matches, Shakhtar made the right schedule: better to move from small to large, and not vice versa. Like it or not, but Bahia are objectively the weakest opponent from the set of clubs that Shakhtar will face then. Formally - the first champion of Brazil, who won the title in the days of Pele and Garrincha, essentially the same - Brazilian analogue of Tavriya Simferopol, which by happy coincidence once climbed on the Ukrainian football Olympus and never approached it even close. One could even say that if Tavria had remained in the championship of Ukraine, by the end of this tournament, they would have probably been relegated from the Premier League. Just like Bahia did the last season, having been relegated moved from the Brazilian Serie A to Serie B.

Changing the weight class, the team of Salvador are significantly refreshed, rejuvenated, and the match with Shakhtar was the debut for many, including head coach Sergio Soares.

Donetsk team was captained by Luiz Adriano, which, in the absence of Srna, who was left on a bench, and in the presence of 8 Brazilians in the field out of 11 possible in this game look quite organically.

In the opening stages Bahia started very energetically, trying likely not only to stun opponents as to please the public, noisy rooting for their idols.

In the end spurt bore fruit in the form of goal, which can be considered fast. Bahia punished Shakhtar for an error from Fred who brought down one of the opponents near the corner of the penalty area. Such diagonal particularly dangerous for the goalkeeper, who until the last moment could not understand it – whether it was a direct shot on goal or a cross to team-mates who were ready to hit the target from close range. Pyatov did not understand: opponents flashed before him, did not seem to touch the ball, which after the bounce flew into the corner of the goal.

The Donetsk Brazilians are superior to their opponents from Salvador in class, and gradually it became increasingly apparent. By the middle of the half Shakhtar finally found their rhythm, the Pitmen began to spring quick attacks and as a result one of them Alex scored, who, I suspect, tried to celebrate the goal with family sitting in the sector behind the goal, but the steward stopped his attempt .

Then it was a Luiz Adriano turn, who first hit the post, and after three minutes scored a goal, striking a ball from 20 metres.

The advantage of one goal, of course, didn’t guarantee victory, but the course of events on the field left the strong impression that Shakhtar after the break would succeed, and everything happened exactly the opposite.

In the second half came, in fact, the new team: Sergio Suarez immediately changed all eleven, and Lucescu made eight substitutions at half-time, three more left for later, when, in particular, gave an opportunity for young Malinovskiy and Kovalenko to make the debut. It is worth noting especially the latter - for the tenacity in challenges, which once allowed to deny the opponent to bear down on goal.

However, this did not save the Pitmen from defeat. Dominating proceedings throughout the second half, the Ukrainian champions missed two counterattacks, which confirmed that the defence in any combination of performers is the most vulnerable part in the Pitmen’s backline.

Failure in a single training match did not dampen the spirits of the head coach of Shakhtar.

- I’m pleased with the game, for which we were preparing intensively. The atmosphere at the stadium was outstanding. I have long wanted to bring my team to Brazil, and the idea has been fulfilled now. Today, we liked everything. I remember the game that I played here, in Salvador, 47 years ago for the national team of Romania. There has always been just a fantastic atmosphere here, good support. The fans know their stuff. I think we will see the same thing in other games of the tour. As for today's game, we played the first half better, while after the break we made two mistakes and conceded goals. Well, we will continue our preparation. See you at the next games.

Sport-Expres in Ukraine
01/19/2015