Football Dispatch

Monday Football
03 November 2008
by Jerrad Peters

Rubin Kazan wins Russian title

Buldirabiz! It’s the historical slogan of the Republic of Tartarstan. “We Can!”

They did. Rubin Kazan won a first Russian Premier League title, Sunday, beating Saturn Ramenskoye 2-1 on the outskirts of Moscow. With three matches to spare, 35-year-old Savo Milosevic notched the winner for the visitors in the 89th minute. The championship marks the second consecutive year in which the trophy will stay outside the Russian capital.

The title also comes on the 50th anniversary of the club. Established in 1958 as Iskra, the Tartar side did not compete in Russia’s top flight until 2003. Five years later, they become a mainstay of Russian football and will compete in next season’s Champions League group stage.

One of the region’s estimated one-million Sunni Muslims, manager Kurban Berdyev credited God with his club’s triumph. “Allah has listened to our prayers and given us the strength to fight for the title,” he remarked.

In actuality, it was more a parade to the finish line than a struggle. Rubin claimed the championship with 60 points from 27 matches and left their closest rival, CSKA Moscow, 10 points adrift of the pace. In so doing, they constructed a virtual wall in front of goalkeeper Sergey Ryzhikov, posting the division’s best defensive record. Offensively, Ecuadorian striker Christian Noboa and Turkey international Kdeniz Karadeniz paced the side with six goals apiece through Sunday’s matches.

Riots mar Moscow derby

Moscow rivals Spartak and CSKA have a hateful relationship at the best of times. Saturday’s encounter at Luzhniki Stadium, however, was especially ferocious.

For the first time in seven years, Spartak—previously operated by farming collectives—beat the capital’s army club, CSKA. And if that wasn’t enough to spark rioting and mass demonstrations, the loss ended CSKA’s chance at a first title since 2006. By the next morning, over 200 supporters had been arrested for partaking in the violence and 40 had been treated for a variety of injuries.

With three rounds to play, CSKA are all but locked into second-place in the Russian Premier League. With 50 points from 27 matches, they are six points ahead of both Dynamo Moscow and Akmar Perm. Spartak, meanwhile, climbed into a tie for fifth-place with UEFA Cup holders Zenit St. Petersburg. Zenit, however, have a vastly superior goal-differential and Spartak will have to gain additional ground before the end of the season in order to qualify for Europe.

Chelsea cull scouting staff

Roman Abramovich has sacked two-thirds of his international scouting staff. The Chelsea owner, who is owed an estimated 578M-pounds by the Premier League outfit, made the move in an effort to trim costs and reduce the club’s debt. Chelsea ran a deficit in excess of 70M-pounds last year and are unlikely to meet chairman Peter Kenyon’s target of balancing the books by 2010.

Furthermore, manager Luiz Felipe Scolari will have to run a positive transfer balance in January. There will be no additional funds to finance player acquisitions until July.

“It’s not [just] Chelsea who are not spending money,” commented Scolari after Chelsea hammered Sunderland 5-0 on Saturday. “I think all the clubs in the world will not spend as much as they spent before. The situation in the world is different to six months ago. The players need to be thinking about this and the clubs need to be thinking about this.”

While Scolari appears to be untroubled by the sudden downturn in his side’s financial stability, Frank Arnesen will be desperately trying to justify his annual salary of 1.8M-pounds. The Chelsea sporting director heads the scouting department and is in charge of player transactions. If Abramovich intends to further trim his front office, Arnesen will likely go the way of Damien Comolli, his Tottenham counterpart who was given the pink-slip last weekend.

Sunderland Keane on Lescott

Black Cats boss Roy Keane will attempt to lure Joleon Lescott to the Stadium of Light when the transfer window opens in January. The Sunderland manager fancies the 26-year-old as one-half of a long-term central-defensive pairing.

Lescott, for his part, is thought to be unhappy with Everton manager David Moyes’ persistence in playing him at left-back. He would likely be allowed to leave Goodison Park for upwards of 8M-pounds.

Have a question about football? Email your query to jerradpeters@gmail.com.

Jerrad Peters covers football for the Winnipeg Free Press, Soccer Three-Sixty magazine, ESPN Soccernet, and Soccer365.com. His work has also appeared in The Globe and Mail, TheMirror.co.uk, Canadian-soccer.com, Footy247.co.uk, Foot2ball.com, and Squadinfo.com.