The teams started off quite dynamically. The energy and desire of both teams to get a ticket to the final of the national cup was immediately visible.
The first moment of the meeting came from Eguinaldo. The Brazilian was aiming at the far corner of the “sailors” goal, and if he had hit it, it’s unlikely that Varakuta would have saved the shot. From the first minutes, Marino Pusic’s team, as expected, took possession of the ball and pinned their opponents. A few shots, and Shakhtar achieved their goal.
Sudakov spun around several opponents, burst into the Odessa penalty area and crossed perfectly to Sikan. The Pitmen’s forward had no choice but to simply trip him up – 1:0.
There was a feeling that a missed goal would make the task as difficult as possible for Roman Grigorchuk’s team. Odessa will need to open up, which will create areas behind them for Shakhtar’s speedy wingers.
However, we must give credit to the guests. “Chernomorets” was very quickly able to establish parity on the scoreboard. Despite the numerical advantage, the Odessa residents managed to bring the ball to the final addressee, but Shtogrin had no chance to miss. The intrigue is alive!
Then the game returned to its original direction. The Odessa team again sat down in their half, and the Donetsk team was high in pressure and acted as number one. “Chernomorets” did not have any more good chances, but the Odessa residents held on. But Shakhtar was very close to taking the lead again at the end of the first 45 minutes. The “Sailors” were saved from conceding a goal after a header by Bondarenko.
Nevertheless, Shakhtar scored its second goal in the first half. Grigorchuk’s team couldn’t withstand the pressure. Saluk brought the penalty into his own goal, hitting Eguinaldo’s foot. The center back understood everything and didn’t even argue. As a result, Bondarenko took the 11-meter kick. Varakuta guessed the direction of the ball, but did not reach it.
The teams barely had time to leave the locker room when Sudakov doubled his team’s lead. Pure individual craftsmanship. Georgiy switched on Messi mode, dribbled the ball across half the field and hit the far bottom corner of the goal from outside the penalty area. Definitely a contender for the title of goal of the entire campaign. Bravo!
It seemed that this was all frankly. Yes, there was still a good 40 minutes left to play. However, the Pitmen were superior to their opponents in all game components and statistical parameters. A certain doom was felt in the actions and faces of the Chernomorets players. The third goal conceded should have excited the Sailors. There was nothing left to lose.
Boychik had a good opportunity. Riznyk made a mistake on the way out, but the visiting forward got entangled in his own legs and released the ball over the baseline. Roman Grigorchuk’s team finally came to life and for a short period began to be more active in attack. In particular, the Odessa team tried to use high pressure as much as they could.
However, no matter how offensive it may sound for the overall intrigue of the confrontation, Shakhtar was much closer to their next goal than Chernomorets was to reducing the gap. But let’s be honest – the intrigue was killed.
The apotheosis of this semi-final was another individual performance from Sudakov. The hosts’ number 10 elegantly sent two Chernomorets defenders for coffee and calmly fired past Varakuta. Without a doubt, Georgiy is the MVP of this fight. The double and the assist speak for themselves.
The Sailors’ coach, frankly, delayed the substitutions. Roman Iosifovich made his first rotations in the last 10 minutes, when in fact the game was closed… The replacement of four players had absolutely no effect on anything, and given the amount of time, it couldn’t have had any effect.
And so we finished – 4:1. Good old “miners”. An extremely confident victory in the class from the wards of the Dutch specialist of Bosnian origin. Well, we thank Roman Grigorchuk’s team for their long cup journey and for their character.
Shakhtar is the first finalist of the Ukrainian Cup of the 2023/24 season. In the decisive match, the Donetsk club will face the winner of the Polesie – Vorskla pair.
Semi-final of the Ukrainian Cup 2023/24 season
04/03/2024. Lviv, “Arena Lviv”
Shakhtar – Chornomorets 4:1
Goals: Sikan 12, Bondarenko 44 (penalty), Sudakov 52, 79 – Shtogrin 18
“Miners”: Riznyk (c) – Azarov (Pedrinho 46), Matvienko (c), Bondar, Hemp – Bondarenko – Kevin (Zubkov 67), Sudakov (Marlon 82), Kryskiv, Eginaldo (Stepanenko 67) – Sican (Traore 67).
Spares: Rudko, Gocholeishvili, Pedrinho, Miroshi, Stepanenko, Zubkov, Nazarina, Marlon, Traore.
Head coach: Marino Pusic.
“Chernomorets”: Varakuta (c) – Ermakov, Guchek (Ogyrya 85), Salyuk, Putria (c) – Vasiliev – Shtogrin, Bragaru (Shapoval 85), Avagimyan, Badibanga (Alvarenga 85) – Boychuk (Yede 85).
Spares: Bilyk, Eternal, Sitnikov, Prisyazhnyuk, Iede, Ogirya, Ze Gomez, Shapoval, Alvarenga.
Head coach: Roman Grigorchuk.
Warnings: Bragar is 16.
Referee: Kopievsky Viktor
