National cup

National Stadium
Spectators: 15921 (Terracing: 10000, Seating: 5448, VIP seats: 473) Petteri Hassinen made the kick off and thus started the match. Leo Uhlbäck made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Gleb Gorbunov in the 8th minute of play. A collision led to U21 Russia getting a freekick after 10 minutes play. Oles Byshovets hit a great ball. Taisto Bruun was probably a little too eager to shoot when he, in the 11th played minute, shot the ball from way out. The shot was hard, but the ball flew wide of the goal. With an all-out effort, U21 Finland's Sergey Sabadash threw himself towards the right post 13 minutes into the match and grabbed hold of the ball from Sipi Laakkonen, which otherwise would have been placed in the net. Sergey Sabadash took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Sipi Laakkonen, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. After 15 played minutes U21 Russia got a freekick which was hit by Viktor Bityagovskiy. Petteri Hassinen succeeded to score despite a near miss that spronge from right pole into the goal to 1-0 in the 18th playminute. After some fancy dribbling in the 23rd minute, Petteri Hassinen managed to get in a good position for a shot. U21 Finland's supporters rose to their feet, but Petteri Hassinen was a bit off balance and shot the ball just wide of the left post. Sergey Sabadash breathed a sigh of relief and went to take the goal kick. Grigoriy Kudryavtsev sent away a hard shot on goal in the 39th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. U21 Russia's Sergey Sabadash played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Armas Heinola in the 41st minute of play. 41 minutes into the game, Armas Heinola cracked a shot to the right of the goalkeeper, 3-0. Sergey Sabadash was not in position, and could only watch the ball fly in. Leo Uhlbäck took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Gleb Gorbunov, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. No-one was surprised that the home team were leading 3-0 at half-time.

U21 Russia made a substitution. Petr Klimovskiy replaced Oles Byshovets. The players of the home team were most fresh-looking when they entered the field to play the second half. Grigoriy Kudryavtsev was the one to do the kick off. Leo Uhlbäck made an important save on a dangerous shot by Grigoriy Kudryavtsev in the 54th minute. In the 56thth minute of the game Armas Heinola who was perfectly placed tried to make a shot on goal, but U21 Russia's Sergey Sabadash was lucky and managed to grab hold of the ball. U21 Finland were awarded a corner in the 57th minute after U21 Russia's defender lost control of the ball, allowing it to roll out over the line. Taisto Bruun took the corner. U21 Russia's Igor Romanchenko was substituted for Daniil Fomin. After 62 minutes, Igor Romanchenko mouthed his way into the referee's book. The tension between the U21 Russia and the U21 Finland players grew even worse after the yellow card. In the 68th match minute, U21 Finland was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Taisto Bruun to maneuver through the defense. Igor Romanchenko's shot was meant for the net just under the crossbar, but Leo Uhlbäck read the situation well and was quickly in position to make a wonderful save in the 68th minute of play. 70 minutes into the match, Adolf Jesus notched a goal, 4-0, to the right of U21 Russia's Sergey Sabadash. Sergey Sabadash was clearly disgusted with the effort of the defense and let the defenders know about it. When Sipi Laakkonen came up free with the goalie in the 73rd minute, the U21 Finland fans jumped to their feet. But the shot missed the goal by a fraction of an inch, and the fans sat back down disappointed that Sipi Laakkonen couldn't finish the play. An unexpectedly hard shot by Igor Romanchenko in the 74th minute of play forced U21 Finland's goalkeeper Leo Uhlbäck to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. In the 75th minute, U21 Russia's Grigoriy Kudryavtsev ran free of his marker and smoothly shot the ball into the goal behind Leo Uhlbäck. Leo Uhlbäck yelled at his defense, as they had left him out to dry. 4-1. In the 78th minute, Taisto Bruun hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. After some careless play in the U21 Finland defense, Grigoriy Kudryavtsev kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Leo Uhlbäck. The U21 Finland fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Leo Uhlbäck should have stopped the shot. 88 minutes into the match, U21 Finland's goalkeeper Leo Uhlbäck had to clear away a ball on his right side after a cunning shot by Vitaliy Fedchenko. Vitaliy Fedchenko could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 90th minute of the match, but Leo Uhlbäck made a huge save. Vitaliy Fedchenko could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 90th minute of the match, but Leo Uhlbäck made a huge save. 93 minutes into the match, Grigoriy Kudryavtsev had an open shot that he just couldn't miss and scored to the right of Leo Uhlbäck. U21 Finland's manager could be seen yelling to the referee that Grigoriy Kudryavtsev was offside, but the referee ignored the protest. 4-3. After some fancy dribbling in the 96th minute, Gleb Gorbunov managed to get in a good position for a shot. U21 Russia's supporters rose to their feet, but Gleb Gorbunov was a bit off balance and shot the ball just wide of the left post. Leo Uhlbäck breathed a sigh of relief and went to take the goal kick. The referee blew his whistle, and the match came to a close. The players exchanged shirts and headed down the tunnel. The U21 Finland fans cheered their team off the field, for while U21 Russia had put up a good fight, they were unable to come out of the game with any points to show for their effort.