Old-timer versus debutant champion
so, we are starting our 22nd season in the Super League. About the same - almost 20 years – our current opponent was not in the Super League, capital MSTU. First, just a second, champion of Russia of the 21st century!
Another interesting fact: for the last time within the framework of the Russian Championship "Gazprom-Yugra" and MSTU (then ZSK-Gazprom and MSTU-Luzhniki) met in Surgut almost exactly 20 years ago, 9 and 10 October 2004 year - also within the first round of the championship. Then the Surgut team won twice in a difficult fight with a score 3:1, and according to the results of that championship, the Muscovites were relegated to the major league “A”. by the way, the current head coach of MSTU, Maxim Tereshin, played for MSTU in those days and was one of the best diagonal players in the country.
But history is history, but in fact, the last time Gazprom-Yugra and MSTU played at the Premier Arena was three days ago, comeback with 0:2 in the Russian Cup will probably be remembered by the fans. We kindly ask you to forget about the two victories of the Surgut team over the Muscovites in the cup battles! The Russian Championship is a completely different story, will be, as another legendary diagonal and MSTU coach Mikhail Beketov said, "much more interesting".
This doesn't mean at all, that MSTU will magically appear as a different team. But the mood will definitely be different, and our guys need to contrast the Super League debutant with the reinforced concrete confidence of an old-timer. Only here's the thing: In our composition, only Alexey Rodichev fully meets the criteria of a master who has passed through fire and water. Vitaly Papazov also has a very nice biography, in which, we hope, The brightest pages have not yet been written. Otherwise: youth and newcomers of the Super League. Yes, promising, Yes, with good prospects for the future: Maxim Kirillov, Mikhail Fedorov, Ivan Skvortsov, Georgy Serov, and Dmitry Kurbatov in total 24 recently turned one year old. But they just have to make their way in big volleyball.
The slightly more experienced Artem Masko will come to their aid, Nikolay Beskrovny, Nikita Vishnevetsky, Ilya Kirillov, Artem Ivanov, Alexander Slobodyanuk, Dmitry Shevlyakov, Vyacheslav Rudnev. But they also don’t have much experience playing in the Super League.. the main thing, that they also have something to prove, there's something to fight for. The current Gazprom-Yugra yearns for self-realization! So what we are facing is not a debate between an experienced academician and a young and daring candidate, but something fundamentally different.
Especially, that MSTU has such experienced guys, as Savely Pozdnyakov, Sergey Piraino, Gregory Dragunov, Maxim Purin, and captain Makar Bestuzhev managed to play well in the Super League, including for Gazprom-Yugra. Generally, there will be a battle between two equal ambitious teams, each of which wants to prove its worth among the strongest. I'm sure, that the match will be a worthy start to the Russian Championship, which will attract the attention of the entire volleyball community: the rest of the teams will start a little later.
Needless to remind, that the team is waiting for its fans at the Premier Arena: us like never before, that is, as always, need a seventh player in the stands! Start of the game in 19.00 local time.
