football rambles

While I was away Ely only registered one win out of four and so I went to this game with not much optimism of the Robins getting a decent result. There doesn't seem to be that many changes in the playing squad and the biggest change seems to be a diversion from the traditional all red kit to an all maroon one. It does however look like it is going to be a long hard season though. Bearing all that in mind, it didn't really come as a great shock when Mildenhall opened the scoring from a scrambled in corner on 12 minutes. However, Ely showed a lot of resilience to come back and equalise on 19 minutes from a terrific volleyed effort by Adam Claydon. After this the possession seemed to equal out, but it was Mildenhall who again took the lead on 90 minutes from a diving header at the far post. Ely did have the chance to go in at half time on level terms, but Mildenhall managed to scramble the ball off the line in stoppage time after a flurry of chances in the box. It was the vi...

Well, that's the end of the reports from football matches in Ukraine. Next up is Ely City v Mildenhall and then I'll try to get on with uploading the pictures from the games in Ukraine.

Obolon have had a bit of a tough time of it recently, so it was good to see them register a win when we went to their stadium. After relegation from the Premier League their administrators went too far with the fire sale and the brewery who were seeing their investment crumble pulled the plug. They then reformed the club but under their own administration in the Amateur League last season and entered the Second League at the start of this. They haven't had the most impressive of starts to the season, but they should make progress with a stadium and possible fan base that many Premier League sides would be envious of in Ukraine. They also seem to have the knack of making astute signings. The best example being Ivaschenko, who had an amazing game. Obolon got off to a terrific start scoring after Just 3 minutes. I only just saw the goal, as I was still in the queue for beer, but at 5 UAH (35p) a pint, you can't really blame me, but I was just in time to see Pavlo Hordiychuk sl...

This was probably a must win game for Oleh Blohin, after an indifferent run of form has seen Dynamo after just 5 games slip out of title contention, with rivals Shakhtar, Metalist and Dnipro finding good form, whereas Dynamo's has been somewhat indifferent. This game presented a perfect chance though, as Tavriya are pointless and at the foot of the table. From the start it was quite clear what Tavriya's game plan was and what Dynamo's main deficiency is. Tavriya defended resolutely and were happy to soak up the pressure whereas Dynamo lacked a forward who could make any impact. Andriy Yarmolenko was back in the team and playing with a passion that was absent in the team the week before, he was providing the crosses and having the odd white himself, but it was all very speculative. Like Chernomorets the week before Tavriya's game plan was to hit Dynamo on the break, most of their creative play came from the evergreen serhiy Nazarenko, but Shovkovskiy being broug...

After a very late night on Friday I decided to hit Kreshchatik for a few beers and topic is up tickets for the main game on Sunday. The under 21s were playing each other in a prelude to the game between Tavriya and Dynamo on Saturday evening, so after hitting the beer tents it was time to check out the younger teams. It is always interesting to see how the younger players are developing and to try and spot the future stars. It was a pleasant enough early evening and like everything else below the Premier League in Ukraine entrance was free. The stadium hadn't changed and the old lady who did the announcements was still in fine voice and Paramon put in an appearance, although he wasn't Looking in the best of nick, not that he ever really did! The crowd was pretty small with about 200 people in attendance, including a bunch of likely lads who were caught trying to smuggle smoke bombs in. From the kick off there was clearly a gulf in difference of class between the 2 teams. D...

In the morning we had been on the beach on another scorching day in Kyiv, but as the day progressed the clouds started to gather and it looked like we might get some rain. However, when we met Sid at Krila it was still sunny and it looked like we might get away without getting a soaking. How wrong we were though. The skies opened and we were liked drowned rats by the time we got there. Out on the pitch there was clearly a gulf in the difference in class between the two teams. Ukraine were playing a neat passing game and the Israelis were struggling to match them. Ukraine's next game will be against England in a crucial World Cup qualifier, it probably will be one of the best chances they will have of getting one over on England after their disappointment in the Euros. They will have to be less wasteful in front of goal though as they should have had a clear lead when Rotan broke the deadlock on 29 minutes. It is was just a friendly though and the frequent outbreaks of torre...

My first trip to the football in Ukraine was to the rebuilt Olympiskiy Stadium. Although I had been to the stadium before the redevelopment for 2012 when it was still frequently referred to as Respublikansky, this was my first trip to the rebranded and totally new ground. The crowd of just under 30000 was more than Dynamo would have had for a home game at Dynamo Stadium when that was still considered their home ground, but it still meant a number of empty seats in this massive stadium, although to be fair both the home fans and small band of away fans did their best to create an atmosphere. In the past this game would have been considered a walk in the park for Dynamo, who have along with Shakhtar been the strongest Ukrainian team more or less since Ukraine had a league and who were a by word for quality football in the Soviet era. Chornomorets have also had their moments, but have rarely threatened for silverware. During this period though both clubs are representing Ukraine...

I've been in Ukraine for the last two weeks, and I managed to get to 5 games while I was there. Here come the match reports and the photographs will follow.

It's always nice to get to a ground you haven't been to before and last night marked a visit to St.Ives Town at their Westwood Road Ground. The Saints recently gained promotion to the Southern League Division 1 Central, so play at a level above Ely. It also means that they may be moving ground in the near future, so it may have been my first and last chance to visit their ground. It was also my first chance to see the Robins in preseason action before the season gets underway. The weather was pleasent, so it seemed nothing could go wrong. Unfortunately, at times the game was pretty bad-tempered with fouls being commited by both sides. However, St.Ives came across as one of those teams who moans and argues with every decision and one of their coaches seemed to spend the whole match with his mouth to the ear of the linesman. If that wasn't bad enough Ely really performed poorly. At times it looked like they were trying to pass a rugby ball rather than a football aro...

Despite losing Cavani to Monaco, although they have replaced him with Higuan, much to Arsenal's chagrin and naming Benitez as their manager for next season I can see Napoli challenging for Serie A next season. They seem to have a number of quality players and plenty of strength in depth. Against Arsenal they certainly started off the brighter of the two teams. However, one definite fault in the Arsenal team was the way they fell for 2 Napoli sucker punches. Wenger is supposed to be tactically astute, but when you are relying on Mertesacker in defence it is perhaps not that wise. Napoli knew that if they played deep in defence and passed the ball around then they could lure Koscielny out of defence and then pump the ball forward to one of their fast players who would leave the flat footed Mertesacker lolloping behind like a pub player with a hangover. Lorenzo Insigne scored on 7 minutes with exactly the aforementioned trick and Goran Pandev made it 2 with an almost identical move....

The Arsenal players warm up Just before the players entered the pitch. The players enter the pitch.

Photo of Muslera saving Fernandez's penalty. Wesley Sneijder tracks back after Porto clear his corner. Porto attack the Galatasaray goal. Some random action from the game.

We were supporting Galatasaray in this game. I was behind them due to my connections with some of their fans in Azerbaijan and Sean got into supporting them after seeing them try and turn Finsbury Park into Istanbul before the game kicked off. It promised to be a decent game from the start with the Turkish team fielding a strong team that included Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder as well as ex-Arsenal player Emanuel Aboue. Porto went for their traditional 4-3-3 with Jackson Martinez as the target man. It was hard to say if the team was a strong one in some aspects though as Porto are a selling club that always seem to reinvent themselves into a successful team. Porto started the brighter of the two teams, but I was impressed with the Cim-bom defence, that was until Kelvin went down (perhaps a bit too easily) under a challenge from Chedjou. Fernandez stepped up to take the penalty, but it was hit tamely and it was easily saved by Muslera in the Galatasaray goal. Sneijder and Drogba...

Didier Drogba warms up for Galatasaray before they played Porto. The Galatasaray team get ready before the game. The teams line up before the kick off.

A few photos from the Emirates from before the tournament started.

Last year there was no Emirates Cup because of the Olympics, but the tournament was back this year. In 2011 Arsenal were joined by PSG, New York Redbulls and Boca Juniors. This time the opponents were Galatasaray, Porto and Napoli. The Arsenal fans lived up to their reputation of not creating any atmosphere and being more interested in consuming hot dogs and buying replica shirts, but there was a pretty big Turkish contingent, who made their presence known inside and outside the ground. The Napoli fans were also in good form and a rendition of 'Bella Ciao' made them more popular with me. The next few posts will be about things that happened on the day. We were there on the first day when Porto played Galatasaray and Arsenal took on Napoli. The tournament as a whole was eventually won by Galatasaray after a great performance by Didier Drogba in the final game against Arsenal on Sunday.