Cup content: what to expect from the matches of the third round of the group stage

In the Russian Football Cup, the middle of the group stage of the "RPL Path" is approaching. The third round will be held this week. He is not rich in face-to-face confrontations of top clubs, but a number of matches are of interest. Spartak Moscow, which is gaining momentum, will host Pari Nizhny Novgorod on its field, the main sensation of the start of the Russian championship, Kaliningrad Baltika, will play at home with CSKA Moscow, rushing to the leaders of the RPL, Dynamo Moscow will go to visit Samara Krylia Sovetov, and Zenit St. Petersburg to Orenburg.

Group A

Zenit will have to leave for Orenburg after a crushing victory in the championship over Dynamo Makhachkala (4:0), which allowed the Petersburgers, who failed to start the championship, to rise closer to the leaders, to sixth place. In the Cup, Sergei Semak's team is doing better — after defeating Akhmat Grozny (2:1) and Rubin Kazan (3:0) at home, the blue-white-blues are confidently leading the group and, if successful with Orenburg, they will practically ensure their entry into the playoffs.off the "RPL Path".

According to the results of the last championship, Orenburg took the penultimate place and was supposed to play in the First League now, but remained in the RPL after the withdrawal of the Moscow Torpedo from the competition, whose leaders were detained by law enforcement agencies in June for attempting to bribe a judge. Having started with almost the same squad that was going to the First League, Orenburg nevertheless regularly gains points in the championship and goes beyond the relegation zone after six rounds.

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The second consecutive draw between the red and green brought Krasnodar and CSKA to the top places.

However, he clearly missed the points in the last game. Vladimir Slishkovich's team missed out on a 2-2 victory over Akhmat at home, leading 2-0 after the first half. At the same time, they missed the advantage, having one more player after Egash Kasintura was eliminated from Grozny in the 9th minute with the score 1:0. And with the score 2:2 in the middle of the second half, Lechi Sadulaev was also removed from the Chechen club, but even in these conditions Orenburg did not put the squeeze on the opponent.

He's doing well in the Russian Cup. Starting with an away defeat against Rubin (0:2), they managed to beat Akhmat at home (2:1). In the other match of the round in Group A, the last-placed Grozny club will host Kazan on its field. Akhmat lost four matches at the start — three in the championship and one in the Cup. After that, he changed the head coach and increased dramatically under Stanislav Cherchesov. In the championship, the team rose from the bottom to the middle of the table, scoring seven out of nine points in three matches. Grozny's only defeat at Cherchesov was in a cup match in Orenburg.

— As usual in the group stage of the Cup, it is difficult to make predictions for matches, as teams often do not field the most basic squads, checking their immediate reserve, — former Zenit midfielder Maxim Demenko told Izvestia. — Although Peter still looks like the favorite of the entire group, including the match with Orenburg, since the club's bench is long anyway, many players from the closest reserve in other RPL teams could confidently play as a base. And the same "Rubin", "Akhmat" and "Orenburg" can again put up a reserve in order to save their strength for the championship. This is especially true for Orenburg, which is already fighting for survival in the RPL.

Group B

The current national champion Krasnodar became the leader of the current national championship last weekend. Moreover, in the last two rounds, the Bulls defeated the teams with which they are in the same cup group. First, there were home 5-1 over Sochi, then away 6-0 over Krylia Sovetov.

Now Krasnodar is going to visit Sochi, with whom it will play in the next round of the Russian Cup. Sochi is in last place in the championship with one point in six rounds. In the Cup, the team did better — at first, only in the last minutes, it lost away to Dynamo Moscow (2:3), and then won at home in a penalty shootout against Krylia (5:3) after a draw in regular time (1:1).

Krasnodar, in turn, lost to the Samaritans at home (1:2), but then defeated Dynamo on the road (4:0). In the other match of the tour, Krylia will play Dynamo at home.

"Krasnodar has a well—placed game and there are good young people on the bench who have already performed well in the match against Dynamo," Maxim Demenko, a former Krasnodar and Sochi Zhemchuzhina midfielder, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — So, no matter which team he plays in the cup match, the team will still look like the favorite. And he can lose only if the opponent plays a perfect match, as Krylia did in the first round, which were then defeated by Krasnodar already in the championship. The same situation may be with Sochi, but overall Krasnodar looks like the favorite. The situation in the Krylia-Dynamo match is much less clear, since it is unclear how the coaches will rotate the squad, how the Samaritans will react to the defeat from Krasnodar.

Group C

"Pari Nizhny Novgorod" is in the relegation zone of the championship. One win and five losses in the first six rounds led to the penultimate, 15th place. In the Russian Cup, Alexey Shpilevsky's team lost away to Dynamo Makhachkala (0:1) and won at home against Rostov (1:0). Spartak is only one point ahead of Nizhny Novgorod.

The red and white started with an away victory over Rostov (2:0), but then drew at home with Makhachkala (1:1), losing to it in a penalty shootout (3:4). Meanwhile, in the championship, after a disastrous start, Dejan Stankovic's wards began to show signs of recovery. They played a high-quality match with Zenit (2:2) and confidently beat Rubin away (2:0). This allowed Spartak to rise into the top ten.

Rostov will host Dynamo Makhachkala at home. Both teams are in the zone of transitional matches and risk getting bogged down in a difficult struggle for survival. Hence, it is unclear how actively they will try to succeed in the Cup.

"After the games with Zenit and Rubin, we can say that Spartak is coming out of the crisis," Andrei Chervichenko, the former owner of the Red and white team, said in a conversation with Izvestia. — But we don't know how long the team will be able to play such football as in the last two matches. It happens to her that she seems to hold separate meetings that are close to ideal. And then it fails again. But it is unlikely that this will happen in the cup match with Pari Nizhny Novgorod, which still looks very weak. And, perhaps, he will decide to focus more on the championship now.

Group D

Last weekend, CSKA took second place in the championship. And in the cup group it is on the same line. The Army team started with a 2-1 derby victory over Lokomotiv and a 4-5 away penalty shootout defeat against Akron Togliatti after a 1-1 draw in regular time. Now Fabio Celestini's team is flying to Kaliningrad, where they will meet with the main sensation of the start of the championship.

Baltika did not lose a single match in the first six rounds of the national championship — three wins and three draws. And it goes fourth. In the Cup, things are worse for her — two defeats at the start away from Akron (1:2) and Lokomotiv (0:2). At the same time, the head coach of the Kaliningrad team, Andrei Talalaev, rotated the squad in those meetings, releasing many young people not from the base. After losing to Loko, he did not rule out that in the next meeting against CSKA he would release those who successfully compete in the championship.

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Akron leads the group with five points. And things are not going well for him in the championship. The Tolyatti team is in 12th place next to the transition zone. Now he will go to visit Loko, who started average in the Cup and lost the lead in the championship after two consecutive draws in the last rounds.

—Lokomotiv and CSKA look like the favorites for the upcoming matches," Nikolai Naumov, former president of Loko, told Izvestia. — Unless Baltika can resist the army if it releases the base. A lot depends on what kind of team CSKA will play. And Lokomotiv looks like an unequivocal favorite in the game against Akron, which has now slowed down compared to last season.

The matches of the third round of the "RPL Paths" group stage of the Russian Cup will be held from August 26 to 28.