Orenburg begins Turkish camp with victory over Surkhan
Orenburg crushed Uzbek side Surkhan in their first training camp match.
Football club Orenburg, which is actively conducting the winter transfer window, started with a win in the first of ten friendly matches. Surkhan from Uzbekistan resisted only until the middle of the second half, when a fantastic goal from the center circle by Evgeny Bolotov flew into their net. And then — two more. The score was 4:1. Here«s how it happened.
Training camp matches are played under heavy physical load.
Lineups and the first half
In the first half, Fahd Mufi played with the captain«s armband.
The squad of Ildar Akhmetzyanov could not count on all the players who arrived at the Turkish training camp. Aleksey Tataev is still recovering from an injury, Du Queiroz and Dmitry Rybchinsky have after-effects of a viral infection, and Irakli Kvekveskiri felt unwell just before taking the field. Also not playing were Gedeon Guzina and Ivan Ignatyev, but they are with the main group and are doing well, said the deputy director for commerce and communications Yuri Arakelyan.
The lineup for the second half.
As a result, Orenburg decided to play the match with two different sets of players, and in each of them there were trialists (no, not Roman Eremenko) — in the first half, defensive midfielder Tigran Avanesyan from Tula«s Arsenal, in the second half, goalkeeper Evgeny Zamerets from KAMAZ.
The scorer of the goal against Orenburg was Stephen Chinedu.
From the first minutes, the following lineup took the field. In goal: Bogdan Ovsyannikov. In defense: Danila Vedernikov, Danila Khotulev, John Palacios and Fahd Mufi. In midfield: Tigran Avanesyan, Omar Minatulayev, Dmitry Cherkasov, Damian Puebla and Jordi Thompson, in attack: Maxim Savelyev.
And here is the lineup of Surkhan from the city of Termez, if that means anything to you (the entire team is worth about one and a half times the recently purchased Damian Puebla — €4.3 million). Well, just in case.
In goal: Otobek Boymurodov. In defense: Nodirjon Nematjonov, Behzod Shamsiev, Javokhir Juraev, Behruz Shukurullaev and Behruz Jumatov. In midfield: Dostonbek Tursunov, Sunnatilla Abdulajonov, Sarvar Abdukhamidov and Tornike Dzebniauri, in attack: Muhammad-Ali Abdurakhmonov.
The first half against the tenth team of Uzbekistan was predictably a «warm-up». Orenburg controlled the ball, pressed actively in the opponent«s half, and had one absolutely clear chance — Maxim Savelyev avoided offside and chested the ball past the goalkeeper who came out in a rush — a penalty.
The fouled player himself stepped up to take the penalty, but the forward could not beat Otobek Boymurodov: Maxim shot frankly poorly — slightly to the right of the center at a comfortable height for the keeper. The teams went into the break with zeros on the scoreboard.
Second half and goals
For the second half, Orenburg fielded a completely different lineup. In goal: Evgeny Zamerets. In defense: Stanislav Poroykov, Artyom Kasimov, Emil Tsenov and Alexis Cantero. In midfield: Evgeny Bolotov, Ivan Ivashchenko, Pavel Gorelov, Yegor Antsiperov and Emircan Gurluk, in attack: Alexandre Jesus.
Just 7 minutes after the referee«s whistle, Orenburg opened the scoring. Emircan Gurluk moved from the right flank to the left, dribbling past a defender, and shot from the edge of the penalty area into the near corner. The ball rebounded off the post straight to Alexandre Jesus, who scored easily — from such positions you cannot miss — 1:0.
Soon Surkhan equalized. In the 58th minute, the newly substituted Nigerian forward Stephen Chinedu «hid» behind the defenders and, ignoring the hand signals of the referee Artyom Kasimov, moved to the right corner of the penalty area, from where he shot low into the far corner — the ball went in off the post — 1:1.
The draw did not last long: in the 64th minute, a masterpiece was created by Evgeny Bolotov. The defensive midfielder, noticing that the goalkeeper of the Uzbek team had come far out of his goal, struck the ball from the center circle and sent it over his head — 2:1, a goal from the halfway line. Bravo, Zhenya!
Six minutes later, Orenburg led by two goals. An attack down the left flank with short passes (via Cantero and Gurluk) reached Pavel Gorelov, who burst into the penalty area. The player pushed off the opponent with his body and shot low into the far corner, leaving the keeper no chance — 3:1.
And that was not all: in the 82nd minute, the captain Emircan Gurluk struck a fierce shot into the near corner of the «sleeping» Surkhan goalkeeper from the right corner of the penalty area — 4:1.
Orenburg«s head coach Ildar Akhmetzyanov said that the newcomers who have come from afar need time to adapt and the language barrier is still being felt, but in the coming months they will understand the playing principles.
«In the first half there were moments that can be counted as positives, but I will tell that to the team. In the second half, when the team scores four goals, words are meaningless. That»s what the first training camp is for, when the foundation is laid and a lot of work is done. Of course, not every player is «into it», but everyone is doing everything and trying to perform. They are great, but we need even more,« said Akhmetzyanov.
Orenburg have 9 more friendly matches ahead — their sparring partners are already known (8 out of 9). All transfer news and other interesting things regarding the «Gas Workers» will be reported separately by 56.RU correspondents. For example, here — about the fact that former Orenburg goalkeeper Alexander Rudenko has taken over at Novotroitsk«s Nosta.
