Youth Team Lost In Saransk
The young Railroaders were not in their best spirits by the time they went to Mordovia to meet the local team. The previous trip to Tula turned fruitless but that could be justified - eight players were absent, all being part of the various Russian national teams enforcement.
In Saransk, the staff problems continued: out of the strong midfield trio Makarov - Barinov - Miranchuk only the latter was present. Our main wingers Nikolay Kipiani and Rifat Zhemaletdinov were also unavailable, and that's just four of the total eight people lacking.
The hosts, on the contrary, had no problems with staffing their team. Their attacking line was comprised of Ebecilio, Donald, and Pavel Yakovlev. The Ajax Academy graduate Ebecilio played under Yuriy Syomin's leadership at Azerbaijan's Gabala club. He had a bad start at Mordovia with a broken leg just after an hour of play, and then returned 8 kilos overweight after the recovery. Now the ex-Netherlands U21 international is gaining form with the youngsters.
Another starter, Donald, is also a former Oranges rep. Pavel Yakovlev is well known, too, the former Spartak top flight player has been loaned to Mordovia but got ejected in the previous game and was now supporting his working conditions with the youth. So actually these 'youngsters' turned to be much older than the visitors who had even schoolchildren in their squad.
As you can guess, the run of play was quite predictable. But that's the reality, a call-up to the national team is prestigious and instrumental for a player's professional progress. The side effect is that it weakens the club. Let's hope next time we'll see a properly staffed squad.
Anyway, Mordovia wanted to have the initiative early, but they only managed to have possession. Our guys knew the masterplan - aggressive counter-attacks and careful defence - and were determined to follow it. However, Pavel Yakovlev tried his luck from outside the box three times in the first half, but the defenders and the keeper Ilya Lantratov worked well.
Om 26 minutes Donald played one-two with Yakovlev and hammered the ball goalwards from about 8 metres but Lantratov made a fantastic save! Lokomotiv responded with several promising attacks, when Chukanov and Miranchuk dribbled past their opponents, took long-range shots, and made through passes to the teammates.
On 40 minutes Smirnov attempted to score but the keeper handplayed. When Smirnov was on another offensive shortly before the break, the keeper cleared the ball from his feet again.
In half-time, Miroslav Lobantsev replaced Lantratov. Lobantsev had been called up to the national team for a friendly against Kazakhstan. The defence worked particularly well in the second half, not allowing a single chance to Mordovia.
Lokomotiv had several opportunities to score. Logunov could have scored twice, but in the first episode the keeper saved, then his teammates blocked the shot. The Red-Greens began moving faster in the second half making the more experienced opponents lose control of the ball.
During the injury time, Mordovia set up a rapid attack up the centre and Abbakumov sent the ball home. Probably, the visitors forgot about their goal trying their luck on the opponents’ third. But the main thing is that the guys got experience playing against older counterparts. When the internationals return home, they will meet the more skilful mates.
Mordovia (youth) - Lokomotiv (youth) - 1:0 (0:0)
Goal: Abbakumov, 90
Mordovia: Khaykin (Kalyuzhniy, 46), Ozmanov, Usov, Chubukin, Guyganov, Krutov, Adayev (Shinkarenko, 75), Askerov (Abbakumov, 58), Ebecilio (Larin, 75), Donald (Malanyin, 85), Yakovlev.
Lokomotiv: Lantratov (Lobantsev, 46), Nikitin, Gusar, Logunov, Solovyov, Shadrin, An. Miranchuk, Anisimov (Dorofeyev, 56), Mostovoy, Chukanov, Smirnov.
Yellow cards: Krutov, 36; Ebecilio, 42.
21 March. Saransk. Start Stadium.
The official website was providing live text comments, the official Twitter account was following the game.
Watch the recording of the game on Lokomotiv’s official YouTube channel.