In search of a legend
6 November Gazprom-Yugra will play in Kazan against one of the best teams in the world. In the absence of international tournaments, this fact cannot be verified, but i'm sure, that Zenit-Kazan is somewhere there, among the best.
The best setter in world volleyball. Well, or one of. World legend in diagonal. One of the best finishers on the planet - Dmitry Volkov. The most experienced Volvich, young talents Fedorov, Labinsky, Romanovsky. A plus here is the stability of the composition, good interaction. Car, in short.
Surely, in the match with the Surgut team, Alexey Verbov will give someone a rest - the team will have a return match in the Russian Cup with St. Petersburg Zenit coming up.. Or he won’t give it - for the same reason. It does not matter, in any composition, the Kazan team now represents for us an elusive peak. Just different weight categories.
But! Such games can and should be used to the maximum. Opponent will suggest volleyball level, which the, like a litmus test, will show you, what are you worth. There's no shame in losing, but you can get very important experience for the future.
There were times, when Gazprom-Yugra beat Zenit, although few people succeeded in this in principle. Almost 10 years have passed since the away victory of the Surgut team over the Kazan team 22 November 2015 counting years 3:2 – then Brjovic played against Leon and Anderson, Bakun, Apalikov, Ilinykh, Safonov, Rodichev.
The captain of Gazprom-Yugra must remember that match well. In the fifth set, he came out to serve when the count was 9:10 and scored two aces with two short serves, and then he organized a passing ball - 12:10. Then we won 15:12 and long, season or more, no one else could beat Kazan.
The last time we beat Zenit at home, 7 Martha 2020 of the year, in the last round of the “covid” championship. Then we had Maciej Muzaj, and the Kazan team has Tsvetan Sokolov in the diagonal and Maxim Mikhailov in the final game. That defeat cost the Kazan team “gold”, awarded based on the results of the regular part of the championship.
clear, that Zenit has much more victorious memories, but this is our story from a series of legends about David and Goliath. Feoktistov and Gutsalyuk in the match against Dynamo will not be enough, so that the match 6 November 2024 became, if not legendary,, something enjoyable to watch again years later: here is young Kirillov, here is the veteran Rodichev, here are the rest - and how they played in Kazan with one of the best teams in the world, devils!
