There are grounds for the continuation of Rotan’s draw epic
On Saturday, April 29, a match of the twenty-third round of the Ukrainian Premier Football League will be held in Kryvyi Rih at the “Hirnyk” stadium, in which “Kryvbas” from Kryvyi Rih and “Olexandria” will play. The starting whistle of referee Kateryna Monzul from Kharkiv will sound at 15:00 Kyiv time.
Kryvbas
Kryvyi Rih “Kryvbas” had great prospects and far-reaching plans before the start of the current campaign, but already from the first rounds it became clear that the team’s debut season in the “elite” division will be very difficult. “White-red-black” started with two defeats in a row, and their first victory had to wait until the end of October. Obviously, after such a start to the football year, it was unnecessary to talk about the prospects in the Eurocup zone, but Yuriy Vernydub’s team gradually found their football. The culmination of the first part of the season was a victory over Dnipro “Dnipro-1” in the regional derby (2:1), when Oleksandr Kucher’s team was still at the top of the tournament table.
After such success, “Kryvbas” felt that everything was within its power, and in such a state, any team would pose a threat to its opponents. Shakhtar Donetsk almost lost points in Kryvyi Rih after the resumption of the season, but won (3:0) in the final phase of the meeting. Luhansk “Zorya” recently wanted to implement a similar scenario, but it did not work out – a 0:1 defeat. As a result, it turns out that of the leaders of the current campaign, only “Dynamo” Kyiv has not had serious problems with the Vernydub team so far. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Kryvbas’ rivals in recent matches.
Zakarpattia “Minay” and Odesa “Chornomorets” needed points no less than the people of Kryvyi Rih, and they eventually succeeded (1:0 and 3:2, respectively), interrupting the three-match unbeaten streak of the UPL newcomers. Six points remain before the Eurocup zone, but if “Kryvbas” does not beat “Alexandria”, it will be almost impossible to get there.
Alexandria
Meanwhile, the reaction to Ruslan Rotan’s work at the head of “Alexandria” in the second half of this season went from cautious interest and lively optimism to a nervous smile in response to yet another draw in the match with the participation of “polygraphs”. Joke or not, but after the resumption of the championship, the teams managed to play at least eight meetings, but seven of them ended with only one point for the team from Kirovohrad region. What makes matters worse is the lack of goals in three of those meetings, two of which have come in the last two weeks.
Thus, there is no need to talk about any potential participation in the fight for the fourth line, and even more so – the “bronze” set of awards, in the context of “Alexandria’s” participation in this process. Many will correctly point out that Rotan’s team has not yet lost in any of the official matches of 2023, but it is unlikely that the fans expected such a result against the background of a good first half of the season under the leadership of Yuriy Gura.
Needless to say, if even “Vorskla” with its rather sensational, as for this football year, series of three victories in the same period scored more points than “polygraphs”. Of course, there is still a match in store for the Rotany team, but the opponent in it is Dnipro-1, so you only have to dream about victory. And this with such a solid set of performers!
Meeting history
The football paths of “Kryvbas” in its current form and “Alexandria” previously crossed only once within the framework of the UPL. The rivals played in an official match in October of last year – the game in Alexandria ended with the victory of “polygraphs” with a score of 2:0. Maksym Tretyakov scored the goal for “Olexandria”, and Dmytro Khomchenovsky scored an own goal. Maksym Dyachuk and Nazar Voloshyn were eliminated in that match.
Themis
The main referee of the upcoming game will be 41-year-old Kateryna Monzul from Kharkiv, who already has 71 matches in the “elite” division to her credit. Side referees will be Svitlana Hrushko and Maryna Striletska, and Anastasia Romanyuk will serve as a reserve referee. The VAR system will be present at the match – Mykola Balakin and Valentin Kutsev will be responsible for it. Monzul has the experience of holding matches with the participation of “Kryvbas” – 2 wins and 2 losses, while it crossed with “Alexandria” 9 times (2 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses).
Estimated compositions
“Kryvbas”: Sarnavsky – Dibango, Stetskov, Bezkorovainy, Opanasenko – Khomchenovsky, Tatarkov, Prykhodko – Zaderaka, Lunyov, Mykytyshyn.
“Alexandria”: Shevchenko – Kopina, Baboglo, Bondarenko, Miroshnychenko – Kovalets, Sigheev – Tretyakov, Mustafaev, Kozhushko – Kulakov.
Forecast for the confrontation
We believe that the guests will win with a productive game. Our bet will be the position – Victory of “Alexandria” by one goal or a draw with a coefficient of 1.80.
April 29, Saturday
