The most difficult off-season for the Kyiv club
On Wednesday, August 3, Dynamo will play Austrian Sturm in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. The match against Łódź will be the 12th match for the Kyiv club over the past month and a half, and the team has covered almost 10,000 kilometers during this period of time. Sport Arena analyzes the most difficult off-season in the recent history of Dynamo.
Kyiv – Lodz – Liverpool
For a month and a half, Dynamo visited 11 cities. Having gathered in mid-June in Kyiv, the white and blue flew to Switzerland for a training camp, having traveled a lot around the country of watches and cheese. Yverdon-les-Bains, Lausanne, Savieza, Friborg, Emmen – in all these cities Lucescu’s team played control/charity matches.
This was followed by a move to France, a fight in Belgium, then a trip along the route Lodz – Istanbul -Liverpool and returning back to Lodz. According to the most conservative estimates, the white and blue spent about 9,500 kilometers on the road.
From Yverndon to Everton
For a month and a half, the white-blues played 11 matches, of which only two – both matches with Fenerbahce in the second qualifying round of the Champions League – were official. The diversity of rivals also inspires respect: Yverdon, Sion, Lausanne-Sport, Young Boys, Lucerne, Lyon, Antwerp, Fenerbahce and Everton.
The result of a month and a half of preparation: four wins, three draws and four defeats, plus reaching the third round of the Champions League qualification and the European Cup autumn.
Sturm: victory over the favorite
The assault in the Austrian championship started with a draw, having painted the world in the first round with Wolfsberger. And this Saturday evening in Graz was the central match of the second round in the Austrian Bundesliga. The assault took place at the Merkur Arena Salzburg. Vice-champion against the permanent champion. Last season, Salzburg was 15 points ahead of Sturm, losing only twice this season.
As hosts, Sturm was more active in attack, playing mainly through the left flank. Sturm’s mentor Christian Ilzer used a 1-4-4-2 formation. What was especially striking was that the players of Sturm are trying to put pressure on the opponent, even on the outskirts of someone else’s penalty area. This is how the first goal of the game was scored. The guests threw an out in their own half of the field, the defender threw the ball into the goalkeeper’s area, where the keeper, who had unsuccessfully handled the ball, was ahead of the center forward of the hosts Rasmum Hoilunn. In a split, he pushed the ball into the corner of the goal – 1:0. It was the 23rd minute of the meeting. Salzburg rather lazily tried to turn the tide of the game, but the Brazilian Fernando, well known to our football fans, who played in Donetsk Shakhtar last season, could not do anything with the defenders of Sturm.
As soon as the second half began, Sturm scored again. Salzburg attacked, but near his own penalty area, the left-back of the hosts went into the selection, and his partner threw Hoylund into the breakthrough. The center forward started from his own half of the field, beating one defender, went one on one with the goalkeeper and powerfully shot under the crossbar from 15 meters.
It is worth dwelling on the young talent of Sturm in more detail. The left-footed forward is Dane. He is only 19 years old and this year he moved from Copenhagen to Sturm. We can safely say that Sturm got a diamond in his composition. Hoylund is very similar, stylistically and physically, to the Norwegian Erling Haaland from Manchester City. Well, it’s a copy. Perhaps only a couple of centimeters below the stellar Norwegian.
See also: Ukraine dropped to 14th place in the UEFA rankings
Hoilunn is a typical nine. He has a powerful shot, not bad on the second floor, ready to press in the 85th minute in someone else’s penalty area. Whether Zabarny and Popov will cope with it is a big question. But the people of Kiev are obliged to resolve this issue.
Only at the end of the match the guests otkvitali one ball. After filing from the right half into the penalty area, on the left flank, the Salzburg player dropped the ball into the center of the penalty area, where Kjergaard, who came running, hit the opponent’s goal in touch – 2:1.
Source: Sportarena
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
