Reaching the middle mark of exhibition games in Turkey we had the pleasure of playing against legendary Dynamo Kyiv – Ukrainian champions and a team that often sees themselves in the highest competitions of Euro cups. This time around we couldn’t break their defense earning a 0:2 loss against a great opponent.
Both teams started out playing aggressively pressuring each other thus neither side could take full control of the game. There was plenty of action on both sides of the pitch. Valmiera FC however, had more dangerous opportunities early on – the best one belonged to Luka Silagadze who managed to beat the goalie but the ball ended up hitting cross-bar.
Rihards Matrevics wasn’t going to get cold either as he had to get involved in the game on at least four separate occasions, one of which was a close distance shot that he took care of. Dynamo side finished off the first half on a high note yet the score remained 0:0.
At half-time, Camilo Mena and Ivan Zhelizko got involved in the game from the bench replacing Niks Dusalijevs and Masaki Murata.
Dynamo Kyiv’s side started the second half controlling things on the pitch. Our pressing didn’t allow them to enjoy things or make their life easier. 54th minute brought a very dangerous shot that Matrevics got a piece of sending the ball over the net.
A few unsuccessful chances for the opponent when finally in the 67th minute they managed to gain a 1:0 lead from a header. Following the goal, three more substitutions were made for Valmiera. At the end of the game, a penalty kick was awarded to the Dynamo squad that they managed to turn into a goal and gave them a well-deserved 2:0 win.
Starting 11 vs Dynamo Kyiv: RIhards Matrevics, Pape Fall, Roman Yakuba, Daniels Balodis, Alvis Jaunzems, Masaki Murata, Djibril Gueye, Daisuke Yokota, Luka Silagadze, Niks Dusalijevs, Raimonds Krollis.
Substitutes: Vjaceslavs Kudrjavcevs, Olgerts Rascevskis, Roberts Veips, Kristers Neilands, Rudolfs Zengis, Ivan Zhelizko, Vladimirs Stepanovs, Alexander Gapechkin, Kristers Lusins, Alioune Ndoye, Camilo Mena.
The next two exhibition games will be played on February 20th when we will match up against FC Akron Tolyatti (10:00 Latvian time) and FC Orenburg (16:00 Latvian time.)
