Fans and lovers of Russian football are about to witness a duel between Moscow’s CSKA and FC Sochi.
The team from Russia's resort capital didn’t have the best start to their latest season in the Russian football elite. The spring decline of the last season persisted as evident from the league standings. After 6 matches played, FC “Sochi” occupies the 12th spot and only outperforms “Rubin”, who’s in the relegation playoff spot, based on additional indexes. In 6 championship matches, "Sochi" incurred 4 losses and won 2 games. The charges of Dmitry Khokhlov succeeded against FC "Rostov" and "Baltika". Matches turned out to be unsuccessful against "Lokomotiv", CSKA, "Krasnodar" and "Akhmat". In 2 Russian Premier League Cup matches, "Sochi" accumulated 3 points. The southern team outplayed "Fakel" and lost to "Orenburg".
In the second half of the last season, Moscow’s “army men” displayed their best qualities and put up a great segment of play, both in terms of results and content, allowing them to push back “Spartak” and secure the 2nd place. In the 2023-2024 season, CSKA is performing slightly worse. After the initial stretch, the last season’s silver medalists occupy the 6th position in the league table, trailing “Krasnodar”, the table toppers, by just 4 points. The charges of Vladimir Fedotov suffered 2 defeats in 6 matches, succumbing to "Dynamo" and "Ural".
In both matches, CSKA lost with a score of 2:1, which indicates an ongoing struggle throughout the match and the absence of one team’s dominance. The red-blue performed well in matches against "Akhmat", "Lokomotiv" and "Sochi". They played consistently in these matches, quite contrary to the red-blue’s performance in the Russia Cup. In the first round, the "army men" secured a 6:0 victory over "Orenburg", but in the second match of the tournament, they surprisingly lost to Voronezh’s "Fakel".
"Sochi" and CSKA have met in 13 official matches. In 7 meetings, "army men" turned out to be stronger, while "Sochi" players celebrated victory 4 times. The remaining 2 matches ended in a draw.
CSKA will secure the victory. The Moscow team hasn’t won the last two matches and needs an immediate recovery from their psychological slump, especially after Voronezh's deficit made CSKA treat the upcoming cup matches more seriously.
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