Risk groups: The 4th round of the Russian Cup will intensify the fight for playoff berths

The group stage of the Russian Cup RPL is entering a crucial phase. On October 13-15, the fourth round matches will be held — the first cup games after more than a month break. After three rounds, only one team has a perfect balance — Rostov (9 points out of 9, goals 7-0). Zenit scored eight points, Spartak and Krasnodar scored seven each. The situation is already becoming clearer. Izvestia — about the main matches this week.

CSKA Moscow – Rostov

The main match of the tour is a continuation of the September story. On September 1, Rostov beat the Army 2-0 on their own field. Since then, the yellow-blues have not lost a single point in Group D — three wins, seven goals scored and not a single conceded. However, things are not going well in the championship, which has already led to consequences. After two consecutive defeats from the Moscow teams Spartak and Dynamo with the same score 3:0, a coaching reshuffle followed: Spaniard Jonathan Alba was replaced by Dmitry Kirichenko, well—known to Rostov fans. The return turned out to be successful — Rostov beat Akron (1-0) and remained in the safe zone of 12th place.

CSKA, on the contrary, is the only Premier League team that has not lost in the championship yet: six wins, four draws, 22 points and second place after Sunday's 3-0 victory over Rodina. But in the Cup, the army team has only two points after three rounds — a victory is needed, otherwise the chances of getting out of the group will become minimal. The head coach of the red and blue Dmitry Igdisamov has already said that the injured are not forced to avoid relapses.

Rodina – Spartak

On September 2, Spartak defeated Rodina 3-1 at home, and even earlier, in the first round of the RPL, 3-0. Now the game will be held at the Khimki Arena. In Group A, the red-and-whites lead with seven points, Rubin and Orenburg have four each, and Rodina has three.

The teams have a polar position in the championship: Spartak is fifth with 20 points, just two less than Dynamo and CSKA, who share the lead, while Rodina occupies the penultimate, 15th place with five points and was defeated by CSKA on Sunday (0:3). At the same time, the red and white have no stability: on Saturday they played 1-1 with the Wings of the Soviets, having played in the minority for more than an hour and almost snatched the victory.

For the new coach of the hosts, Jonathan Alba, the match with compatriot Juan Carcedo is a chance to rehabilitate himself for the September defeat in the match Spartak – Rostov (3:0).

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Dynamo Makhachkala – Zenit

In Group C, the leader and the outsider will come together. On September 2, Zenit scored three unanswered goals against Makhachkala at the Gazprom Arena: Alexander Sobolev scored a double, and Alexander Erokhin scored in the end. Those two goals brought Sobolev's goal tally in the Russian Cup to 24 — he equaled the tournament record holder Oleg Veretennikov (Veretennikov has 24 goals in 42 matches, Sobolev has 45). There is also a correspondence duel with Ivan Sergeev, who also has 24 cup goals (in 59 matches). In Kaspiysk, the Zenit forward will have a chance to become the sole leader and record holder.

The blue-white-Blues are first in the group with eight points and have not conceded so far — 4-0 on goals in three matches. Makhachkala scored only one point (for a 1-1 draw in the main time of the away match against Baltika) and lost all three meetings. Vadim Evseev's team also had a failure in the championship: last Saturday it lost 0-4 against Orenburg, the third defeat in a row and the sixth place with 12 points. Zenit has 21 points and the third place after defeating Krasnodar (3:2).

Desperate home support is almost the only argument of the hosts, but the opponent's class is noticeably higher.

Krasnodar – Fakel

In the September meeting in Voronezh, there was a 1-1 draw, and in the penalty shootout, the Bulls turned out to be more accurate — 4:3.

Krasnodar leads Group B with seven points, and Fakel closes it with one. In the championship, Voronezh is the worst team in the Premier League — not a single win in ten rounds, three points and last place after 0-5 against Lokomotiv last Saturday. Krasnodar, on the contrary, led the table for a long time, but in the match with Zenit lost 2:3, finishing with ten, and lost the sole lead. Now we are in fourth place with 21 points.

Among the personnel losses is midfielder Nikita Krivtsov: tendon rupture, surgery, and, according to head coach Murad Musayev, he will not return to training until January. The bulls simply can't lose points at home — the catch-up is already two steps away.

Akhmat – Dynamo Moscow

In the first match on September 3, Dynamo defeated Grozny 3-0 at home: Ivan Sergeev, Yaroslav Gladyshev and Konstantin Tyukavin scored.

In group B, blue and white are second with six points, Akhmat has four points, and it is important for the guests not to miss the chance to strengthen in second place. In the championship, the picture is similar: Dynamo, after a 10-10 away victory over Rubin (0:1), led the RPL with 22 points. Last weekend, Akhmat exchanged a goalless draw with Baltika and takes 11th place with 11 points.

Dynamo looks like a clear favorite by name, but there are no easy matches in Grozny.

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Lokomotiv – Akron

A month ago, Akron was already knocking the railwaymen out of the fight for the first place: on September 1, the match ended 0-0 in Samara, and in the penalty shootout, Tolyatti was more accurate — 5:4.

By the second leg, the stakes were higher than it might seem: Rostov had already reached the maximum in Group D, so Akron (five points), CSKA and Lokomotiv (two each) were fighting for the only remaining place in the playoffs.

In the championship, the teams are adjacent in the bottom half of the table: Akron has eight points and 14th place, Lokomotiv has ten points and 13th place. But the railwaymen are approaching the match in high spirits: last Saturday they defeated Fakel 5-0, and this match is already being called the best of their season, and Nikolay Komlichenko, Sergey Pinyaev and Zelimkhan Bakayev looked the brightest of all.

Krylia Sovetov – Baltika

The first meeting on September 2 in Kaliningrad did not bring goals — 0:0, and Krylia turned out to be stronger in the penalty shootout — 5:3. Samaritans are second in Group C with six points, Baltika has three points and third place, so with Zenit leading, the fight is for the second ticket to the playoffs.

Both teams have 12 points in the championship, but Baltika is seventh and Krylia is tenth. Both teams did not win last weekend: Samara exchanged a draw with Spartak (1:1), and Kaliningrad did not score against Akhmat (0:0). The outcome of a face—to-face meeting can raise one of the teams to a confident second place in the group and lower the other.

Rubin – Orenburg

Group A is the densest in the tournament, and the match in Kazan directly affects this. On September 2, in Orenburg, the teams parted in peace (1:1): Jacques Sive opened the scoring for Rubin, Andrei Kasadzhikov equalized, and Kazan were more accurate in the penalty shootout — 4:2.

After three rounds, Rubin and Orenburg have four points each, three less than the leading Spartak.

In the RPL, the teams approach the match with equal baggage — 12 points each (Rubin — ninth, Orenburg — eighth), but with a different mood: Kazan lost to the leading Dynamo on Sunday (0:1), moreover, they finished in the minority, and Orenburg staged a pogrom against Makhachkala the day before. 4-0. The case when predicting the outcome of the upcoming match is the most difficult. Perhaps the most intriguing sign of the cup week.