The blue and white youth team lost minimally to Lokomotiv

Lokomotiv Moscow is another very serious rival for the blue and white youth team and a real contender for the Youth League gold medals. The railway workers got off to a great start in the second stage, winning two confident victories (over Krylia Sovetov and Master-Saturn) with a total goal difference of 6-3. The meeting in Egoryevsk turned out to be especially fun, where Saturn and Loko scored eight goals between them. This meant only one thing: the red-greens were letting in and they could score.

If Loko scores a lot, then Dynamo has problems with the attack. In the last four matches, the blue and white scored only two goals, while conceding eight - the balance, frankly speaking, is negative. Dynamo head coach Mikhail Kobyakov constantly talks about this; work on finishing in the final phase is systematically carried out in training, but not everything is working out on the field yet.

Dynamo met with Loko as part of the pre-season training and also at the Sapsan Arena, but that match ended in a major defeat (0:3). A new game is, in any case, a new story, so no one kept that meeting in their heads; we need to live for today.

The starting line-up included Shchervyanina, Malesiya, Greuli, Senoyedova, Petrova, Orlova, Yakovenko, Razvorotneva, Azeeva, Sergeeva and Skotnikova. As favorites, the hosts immediately set their priorities, seizing the initiative and demonstrating control, however, the guests did not sit back on defense, unleashing several interesting attacks. Sergeeva and Petrova especially tried, through whom, in fact, the blue and white game was built; it was Katya and Dana who were responsible for creativity in the center of the field.

At the same time, the dynamic team sat quite deep, in their own half of the field, so the problem of running away into attacks arose regularly - support did not always come in a timely manner. Mikhail Kobyakov also demanded a more active output, and from time to time there was this activity on the field. Take, for example, Petrova’s moment in the 11th minute, when Dana ran into the penalty area at a decent speed, but at the very last moment the Loko defender knocked the ball away.

Time passed, and gradually the picture emerged - Loko was a little more active, Dynamo responded well to the opponent’s challenges, so by and large the game was equal. The blue and white took aim and looked for their chances, but it was not so easy to get past the hosts' dense defense. And yet, in segments, it was the guests who looked more interesting, this was especially noticeable from the 20th to 30th minutes, when the game took place in Loko’s half of the field, the red-greens made mistakes more often, kicked the ball out of bounds and passed back passes.

The game has calmed down. The opponents largely preferred positional football; there were practically no counterattacks. Despite the abundance of chances, the first half was goalless.

In the second half, Loko improved their ball control and passing accuracy, the opponents no longer had the same losses as before the break, and the game in the final third was still not going well. The Dynamos continued to stick to their plan and so far everything was more or less working. And yet, the opponent increasingly escalated the situation at Nastya Shchervyanina’s goal - there were shots, entries into the penalty area, and successful corners. It was very dangerous a couple of times, but the blue and white defense coped with its task.

The game went on until one moment, and this moment happened in the 74th minute. The hosts dispersed the attack on the left flank, the ball ended up in the hands of the lonely Stelmakhova, who shot through the center and brought her team ahead - 1:0. Almost immediately, Loko responded with a dangerous attack, but the ball went just a few centimeters from the post.

For the last 15 minutes, fresh Demidova and Golubeva came on, replacing Azeeva and Skotnikova, and Ryzhikh and Kolesnikova also appeared on the field (instead of Senoyedova and Orlova). Loko literally unleashed a barrage of attacks on Shchervyanina’s goal, and the Dynamo team fought back as best they could.

In the last minutes of the game, Nicole Greuli was seriously injured and was taken away in an electric medical car. She was promptly replaced by Anastasia Linnikova.

Unfortunately, we failed to create anything offensively in the remaining time. In a generally good game in terms of content, Dynamo suffered a minimal defeat and lost their captain, because it was Nicole Greuli who led the team onto the field with the armband.

We wish Nicole good health, and the team not to lose heart, victories will definitely come. Moreover, the quality of the game turned out to be really good.

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