ART FOOTBALL

Russia is the leader of group A 06.06.2017 13:54

The Russian national team became the sole leader of the qualifying group A of the VII Artists' World Football Championship (Football and Music Festival “Art-football”). The Russian squad led by coach Marat Makhmutov got a victory over the South Korean team with a minimum score of 1:0 on Monday, June 5.

Football match “Russia — South Korea”, held in the evening at the Small Sports Arena “Lokomotiv”, gathered a fairly large number of spectators. The support of the fans played an important role in the positive outcome for our team.

The game was held in equal fight. Koreans, inspired by their victory in the first round, made attempts to break Russian defense in all possible ways: solo passages, throwing the ball at the attackers, long-range strikes. However, throughout the match, the defenders, led by an experienced football player, three-time Russian champion in Moscow “Spartak” Viktor Bulatov, acted in an organized manner and didn't allow opponents to create dangerous moments at the gates of Dmitry Velichko. For the whole game, the South Korean team had only a couple of chances, which weren't realized.

Russian players acted more accurately. As in the debut match, combinational actions prevailed, although this time the team clearly lacked creativity in the center of the field. Therefore, the goal came from the left wing. On 21st minute the left midfielder of the national team carefully rolled the ball into the center — on the oncoming Rostislav Hait, who aimed a shot from outside the penalty area with a “cheek” sent the ball to the right top corner of the Korean gates.

Further attacks, both Russian and Korean teams didn't lead to goals, and the match ended with a minimal, but very important for our team advantage. Having earned 6 points on the results of two games, the Russian team led its qualifying group and strengthened the chances of reaching the next stage of the tournament.