Dynamo and Krylia Sovetov played to a draw in Samara

If Dynamo is famous for its love of historical moments and events, then here is another one to add to the piggy bank: it seems that no team in the history of football has prepared for the next round of the championship for almost a month. We are not talking about pre-season training or a long winter break, as is customary in the men's RPL, for example. Namely, about the fact that almost a month passed between the games of one team in the middle of the season.

The white-blues played their previous official match on August 17 with WFC Lokomotiv at the RZD Arena. By the way, another historical event for Dynamo - this was the first meeting in history at a stadium of this level in which our team took part. After this match, two semi-final duels were held in the Winline Russian Cup, which the white-blues left (by the way, after losing to Lokomotiv), as well as the meetings of the 18th round of the Super League, which Dynamo also missed, this time according to the regulations.

So it turned out that after the derby with the railwaywomen in mid-August, our girls returned to active participation in the life of Russian women's football only in mid-September. Having had a short rest, the white-blues came out of their mini-vacation on August 26, underwent a routine medical examination and resumed preparation for the decisive part of the season.

And if in general all this talk about such long pauses during the season sounds a bit wild, then in the case of Dynamo this can be seen as a huge plus - numerous injured players of our team finally got time for a calm and systematic recovery, without forcing.

The game with Samara's Krylia should have shown how much Sergey Lavrentyev's team had rested, or rather, rebooted during this almost month. Yes, the game was away, but the Samara team is not the standard of a home team. On their home field, the Volga women have won only two victories in the Super League and one in the Winline Cup of Russia this season, in the rest - draws and defeats. Moreover, Alexander Mikhnovets' charges have not yet earned the status of a solid mid-table team this season. To put it into perspective, Krylia only achieved their first Super League victory in their 9th match. And Samara should not even remember last season.

So, for a return to the season after a long break, the white-blues had an opponent that was, if not ideal, then quite suitable for this non-trivial task.

Before the starting whistle, it became clear that not only the players but also the coaching staff had been actively working during the pause in the Dynamo team's championship. Just look at the starting line-up of the blue and white: Kaylan Williams and Elina Samoylova were in central defense, nominal defender Maria Galay was on the left flank of attack, and Kristina Komissarova took the role of center forward.

It is clear that the Dynamo coaches were pushed to take this step primarily by numerous losses in the squad, from which the team did not recover even during this month-long break. Neither the main central defender Helena Bozic, nor the main forward Fauziya Najemba recovered from their injuries. So, the seemingly unexpected composition of Dynamo for this game is quite logically explained.

To be fair, we should note that the coaching idea, at least partially, paid off. Already in the 10th minute of the meeting, the blue and whites opened the scoring, and it was done by Komissarova, who was at the forefront of the attack and literally drove the ball into the net of the Samara goal after a successful ricochet from a Samara player

In the opening game in Samara, the Dynamo women's team looked quite good. Our girls succeeded in many things, including the combination play. Lavrentiev's players created at least two killer chances to strengthen their lead in the score. In both cases, Yulia Bessolova was the main player, but the blue-and-white captain missed the mark slightly in each of these moments.

Meanwhile, the Samara players did not think of giving up under such pressure from the Muscovites and were just waiting for their chance. As it turned out, they had to wait for it not long. At the 34th minute, this time the Wings' captain Nadezhda Ilyinykh, together with her teammates, took advantage of the uncertain actions of the Dynamo defenders and scored her goal — 1:1.

It would seem that nothing terrible happened for our team, there was still plenty of time to get the victory, but the further course of the game showed that the blue-and-whites' performance in the first half an hour in Samara was just a flash in the pan. Moreover, already at the end of the first half, the home team took the initiative and literally pinned our girls against the gate, bombarding our goal and penalty area with set pieces

Probably, the halftime whistle was needed more by Dynamo than by Krylia

A small hope for a successful outcome of the voyage to the banks of the Volga flashed after the break, when the Dynamo players again actively started the half - they made several attacks, however, without any particular threats to the Krylia goal.

But after 15 minutes the game calmed down so much that the teams switched to a mode without any goal at all. But if such a leisurely pace suited Krylia, then the white-blues came to Samara exclusively for a win and should not have felt such goodwill towards their opponents.

If you do not count the long-range and very tricky parachute shot by Maria Galay, which flew and flew but did not fly into Kristina Fedorova's goal, our girls did not create anything super dangerous in the second half. Even the appearance of Jose-Diana Pamen Tchato as a central defender and the transfer of Williams to her native position in the attack did not help.

But the Dynamo players could have easily received a couple more goals in their goal. We can safely say that the hosts simply forgave us. For example, in the moment with Marina Kiskonen, who was practically alone in front of the goal, but shot wide. Or two more episodes at the very end of the match, when the Samara footballers screwed up two goal-scoring opportunities in a couple of minutes, and if it weren't for Diana Ponomareva, our girls wouldn't have even managed to play a draw in Samara. Perhaps, scared of just such dangerous attacks by Krylia, the Dynamo players didn't even dare to make a final assault on the Samara goal, but were content with the result achieved in the first half.

For full details on the starting lineups and events of the match, see the match centre.