26.07.2022 14:00

 

The first ranking game of the day for the 5^th and 6^th place saw the Tigers from Mexico defeat the English of Aston Villa for two goals to one in an exciting match. Next on the docket is Sparta Prague against Dynamo Kyiv, which will decide the 3^rd and 4^th spots. After beating the Tigers 4-0, the Czechs lost their 2019 final rematch with Palmeiras in the second game, thus missing their chance at another CEE Cup final. Dynamo Kyiv, on the other hand, squeaked by Aston Villa thanks to a penalty, but then tied against Slavia 2-2, which meant they barely failed to make it to the final. Today, both teams are sure to give it their all to win the bronze medal for themselves and their fans.

Perhaps for fear of conceding a goal or perhaps due to a lack of precision, but the fact is that the first half offered very little in terms of excitement. To say that it turned out to be an extremely cagey affair is possibly a bit of an understatement, but the truth is that it was so. The only moment of note came at the 25^th, when Dynamo's corner kick gave the Sparta defense a bit of a scare after Cechal fumbled his attempt to grab the high ball, but fortunately the mistake did not favor the Ukrainians. The remaining fifteen minutes offered little more, and the half closed with a disappointing score of 0 to 0.

The second half was a completely different affair, though, as the teams began to open up more and chances started to finally arrive. An incursion into the box by Horbach at the 5^th minute ended with a shot, but it was easily controlled by the keeper. At the 52^nd, a cross into the box found Kremchanin, but his header went wide of the goal. Despite Dynamo's good moment, it was Sparta who found the goal two minutes later after Rozanek won a contrast in the midfield, ran towards the area and placed a nice pass into the middle of the box for Vitarigov, who squeezed between two defenders and beat the keeper! The Ukrainians tried to tie things up at the 60^th with Kremchanin's header, but it was stopped by the keeper. Sparta's Kacer then got a yellow card at the 69^th after an attacking foul inside the box.

At this point Dynamo started to really push forward and almost found a goal at the 72^nd minute. The goal did arrive at the 77^th, after a cross into the box was headed by Horbach towards Kremchanin, who scored by putting the ball between the keeper's legs! An attack by Sparta two minutes later ended with Rozanek going down inside the box after a contrast with the keeper, but the referee did not consider it to be a foul despite the protests of the Sparta players and bench. In the end, even with a full five minutes of injury time given, the result remained unchanged and so the teams headed to a penalty shootout.
The first to go was Sparta's captain, Starek, who scored. Next was Dynamo's Kremchanin, and he tied things up again. After Avramenko saved Hruska's penalty, Dynamo had a chance to take the lead with Balaba, but his shot went out. The next four penalties were all scored, first by Cettl, then by Horbach, and finally by Rozanek and Gusiev in quick succession. At that point, with the penalty score tied at 3-3, Rebibo's penalty was saved by Dynamo's keeper and, after Tsarenko scored the last one, Dynamo Kyiv was able to celebrate a hard fought victory.

After a flat first half, the match heated up in the second and both teams managed to score a goal each. Many will probably discuss the incident at the 79^th minute, when Rozanek was taken down inside the box by Dynamo's keeper but the ref did not award a penalty. Perhaps this was karma's way of paying back the Ukrainians, who feel they were wronged with the decision to disallow their goal against Slavia. The bottom line is, however, that Dynamo's players were cooler headed when taking the penalties and they managed to come out on top. For Sparta, instead, a bitter taste must linger in their mouths, after failing to get their revenge on Palmeiras, to ultimately end up with a meager fourth place.