Dynamo turned out to be stronger than Krasnodar thanks to Bozic's only goal

The middle of summer divided in half not only the calendar year, but also the 2024 season - first the teams closed the first round of the Super League, and then played the 1/8 finals of the Winline Russian Cup.

The blue and white closed it with a home match with St. Petersburg Zenit, postponed since March. For the second season, the St. Petersburg team remains the most inconvenient for Dynamo football players - they can neither beat it nor even score. We didn’t manage to do it this time either – the defeat was 0:2 and again without scoring goals.

However, the blue and white finished the first half of the championship in 4th place in the standings and have good chances to compete for the top three. At least, the gap to third-placed Lokomotiv before the start of the second lap was only one point, and there was definitely no point in regretting missed opportunities. The season continues, and the most interesting things for our team are yet to come.

Before the start of the second half of the Super League championship, the blue and white started in the second tournament of the season - the Winline Russian Cup. The rival of Sergei Lavrentyev’s team was the “Football Academy” from Tambov, the current champion of the First League, which defeated the Volgograd “Rotor” in the 1/16 (10:2). Dynamo, in addition to the away game, had to play on the artificial surface of the football arena, where the Tambov team hosts its rivals. Our girls passed this test too, fortunately this season they have already played in similar conditions - at the Yenisei Football Arena in Krasnoyarsk. The main character of the meeting was Elena Shesterneva, who scored a hat-trick; Kristina Komissarova, Lamunat Mustafaeva and Kaylan Williams scored a goal each, setting the final score of the match - 6:1! Now the blue and white will meet with the two-time winner of the Winline Russian Cup - Moscow Lokomotiv. The quarterfinal match will take place in early August at the Dynamo field.

Having received a short rest after winning the cup match, the Dynamo team returned to training this week and were actively preparing for the resumption of the championship and the match with Krasnodar.

Despite the two-week break between games, there were still some losses in our team. Kristina Komissarova, who left the Russian national team training camp early, was unable to help the club either. She remained out of the lineup for the game with Krasnodar, as did Irina Dricheva and Ksenia Kubichnaya, who will be recovering from their injuries until the end of the season.

This is not the first time this season that Yulia Bessolova took her place in the center of defense, and Lamunat Mustafaeva came out on the edge of the attack, exactly in Komissarova’s place. Otherwise, the blue and white starting line-up looked familiar.

The Dynamo team also started the game as usual: they themselves were careful and did not take unnecessary liberties for their rivals. True, this tactic could have failed already in the 8th minute, when Krasnodar striker Arina Shuba shot right at the crossbar of Diana Ponomareva’s goal. But here the Dynamo were lucky. By the way, looking ahead, they will also be lucky at the end of the meeting, when the same Shuba once again shoots into the frame of the Dynamo goal.

There was no luck in this match at all. Our guests were lucky too. For example, in the 26th minute, when Elena Shesterneva, who had previously aimed at shots from a very short distance, finally got the opportunity to shoot from a working distance - the ball passed dangerously close to the far corner of Natalya Silina’s goal.

It should be noted that in the first half hour of the game, the hosts of Novogorsk looked better: they created chances, did not allow them to approach their goal, and played pressure in such a way that it seemed that the hot weather was only hindering the southerners. But our girls lacked precision in the final stage, which is why there was a feeling of understatement every time the Dynamos didn’t bring their next attack to fruition.

For the last 10-12 minutes of the first half, the teams, tired of the heat, practically did not play, but played out the game. Although the blue and white created another scoring chance: they made such a fuss at the Krasnodar goal that in the end the Krasnodar team had to fight off a super dangerous attack, which was completed by Samoilova. Elina almost certainly shot, but this time the guests were lucky. We were lucky to go into the break with zeros on the scoreboard.

It would, of course, be unfair if a game of such intensity ended without any goals scored. And in order not to postpone the question of justice until the end, the Dynamo team answered it almost immediately after leaving the locker room.

In the 53rd minute, Helena Bozic came to receive a corner from Elena Shesterneva and, bending down from her height, shot right into Silina’s goal, so much so that she didn’t really have time to react - 1:0!

Further, with courage, Sergei Lavrentyev's charges could and even should have consolidated their advantage, but it would not have been the Dynamo we know. Moreover, the blue and whites risked running into a return goal, fortunately the Krasnodar team also created chances. Just one hit on the crossbar by Shuba, which we already talked about above, is worth it!

“Krasnodar” generally sat tight on the Dynamo goal around the 70th minute and periodically pumped up the pressure near and inside our penalty area. At these moments, the main hero of the Dynamo team was Diana Ponomareva, who looked spectacular not only thanks to her new hairstyle, but also to her confident play both at the exits and on the ribbon of her goal. It was also thanks to her, one can say frankly, that “Dynamo” retained the victory in this match.

The ending was especially hot. At first, Shesterneva could close all questions when she jumped out alone towards Silina’s goal, but the judges saw her as offside. Well, then the moments began to pour in with approximately the same force as the downpour that covered Novogorsk in the decisive minutes of the match.

I could have equalized Zharkov - the young star of Russian football missed the target. Fauzia Najjemba did not convert the three-on-one opportunity - Silin saved it. Finally, already in stoppage time, the Krasnodar team received such a penalty that Cristiano Ronaldo had to come running from Saudi Arabia. Fortunately, Dynamo has Diana Ponomareva in goal and, it seems, even the superstar Portuguese would not have scored against her in this match!

No matter how close both teams were to goals, everything was decided this Sunday by one goal scored by the central defender on a set piece. And that's cool too! And most importantly, it brought Dynamo three points and for a while even returned the team to the top three.

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