Match № 27

The match № 27, semifinal, seventh tournament day

FINLAND – SAINT-PETERSBURG 2:2 (1:1), pen. 3:4

January 11th, 2013, Saint-Petersburg, Peterburgsky SCC, 2500 spectators

Referees: Oleg Sokolov, Alexander Rodionov, Pyotr Miroshnichenko

Finland: Koski, Tenho (Holmgren, 75), Saarinen, Starck, Ojala, Voutilainen (Pyysalo, 46), Skrabb(c), Sjöroos (Puro, 75), Viitikko, Rahimi, Hambo (Jokinen, 46)

Head coach: Kimmo Lipponen

Saint-Petersburg: Mzhelskiy, Anuchin, Karpov, Kovalenko, Alfyorov, Troyanov, Khodakovskiy (Kompaneyets, 87), Zakarlyuka (c), Solovyev (Simonyan, 82), Yesin, Yegorov

Head coach: Vladimir Kazachyonok

Goals: Skrabb (15), Zakarlyuka (28, 70), Jokinen (81)

Yellow cards: Zakarlyuka (67), Tenho (69), Kovalenko (77), Simonyan (86), Karpov (90)

Best players: Simon Scrabb, Alexandr Zakarlyuka

After match comments

Head coach of the team Finland Kimmo Lipponen:

– The match was played on a good level. It was nice to play against Saint Petersburg, because they play football. The first half started OK, but it ended not so good. We wanted to win, so we were trying to dominate in controlling the ball; but we were forced to fight and we lost control over the ball. In the second half we failed to realize the moments; it was perhaps because the guys were tired after the match with Iran. And we were a bit let down by Hambo: I wanted to see a different kind of player in this position, a different kind of football, so I substituted him with a quicker and more creative one. And this substitution allowed us to level the score by the end of the match. I think if there had been two additional halves we would have scored more.

Coach of the team Saint-Petersburg Anver Koneyev:

– We had problems before the game, one of our players was ill and another- injured and couldn't play today. We had only 3 players at the bench. Everybody needed some rest. That's why it took some time for them to get into the game. I want to thank all our fans and supporters who didn't let the opponents to score while they were doing final penalty-kicks. Our players are emotionally strong. I usually don't let left-footed players do penalty kicks. But today it was successfully done by those who were ready and we won. I'm very proud for my players and for the city. Special thanks to our friends – Vlad Radimov and Denis Mashkarin, who really helped us to analyze the game of our opponent and to build the tactical structure for our game. What's more, I'm very happy that we got into the list of finals that is really a good result. Now it's clear that in our city are many good players and perhaps The Football Union of Russia will see it and will build more sport field and stadiums.