Tuesday, August 8, 2023

FC Tobol Kostanay v Derry City: Match Preview

FC Tobol Kostanay v Derry City: Match Preview

 

FC Tobol v Derry City, UEFA Europa Conference League Third Round First Leg, Kostanay Zentralstadion, Thursday 10 August 2023, kick-off 8pm Kazakhstani time (3pm Irish time)

 

            Derry City put on yet another historic European performance last week as they defeated Finnish side KuPS 5-4 on aggregate, progressing to the Third Round of European competition for the first time since 2009. Following a 2-1 win in the first leg at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, the Candystripes travelled to Finland knowing that a draw would suffice in order to progress further in the UECL.

 

            Both teams went at it from the start, with KuPS dominant in the early stages. Just over twelve minutes in, a loose ball in the centre of the park was intercepted by Cameron Dummigan. The former Oldham Athletic man fed the ball to Paul McMullan who, in similar fashion to his assist in the Brandywell, drove down the right flank. After a feint unbalanced Collins Sichenje, the Scotsman clipped the ball to the back post where Cian Kavanagh was on hand to head Derry into a 3-1 aggregate lead. Another European assist for McMullan and another vital European goal for Kavanagh. Knowing that they now needed three goals to win the tie, KuPS went on the attack. An Anton Popovitch corner on the 24th minute was fumbled by Brian Maher, allowing Jasse Tuominen to bring the score level on the night. Twenty minutes later, the Finnish striker turned provider. A long ball forward was nodded down by Tete Yengi then flicked by Tuominen into the path of Saku Savolainen. The 26 year old’s shot was deflected by Ronan Boyce and flicked over Maher in the Derry goal to give KuPS the lead. It was 3-3 on aggregate going into half-time.

 

            Ten minutes after the restart, the ball found its way to Michael Duffy on the left wing. His pass to Will Patching was dummied by the Englishman and struck by Sadou Diallo from distance. Diallo’s first shot rebounded back out to him, but he made no mistake with his second effort, leaving Kreidl stranded and giving Derry the aggregate advantage once again. The Finns had an instant reply. Savolainen found himself one on one with Maher and cooly poked the ball under the onrushing Derry goalkeeper, levelling the tie. On the 69 minute mark, Sadou Diallo floated a lovely ball into the KuPS box. It was directed into the bottom corner by Michael Duffy who wheeled away in celebration. With twenty minutes to go, KuPS needed two goals to progress and seemed to lose hope. Despite the introduction of fresh attacking legs in the form of Jake Jervis and Pyry Lampinen, the Finns failed to threaten Derry’s lead. The thirty or so travelling fans, along with the Derry players and staff, were delighted when referee Dario Bel blew the final whistle. With Kazakhstani side Tobol Kostanay defeating Basel 4-3 on aggregate, the City faithful knew that the long journey to the East awaited them.

 

            For the first time in fourteen years, Derry City find themselves in the third round of European qualifying. In 2009, after defeating Skonto Riga 2-1 in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, Derry were drawn against Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia. Despite a 1-1 draw in the Brandywell, Sofia progressed thanks to a 1-0 win in Bulgaria. The Candystripes will be hoping for a different outcome this time round. After defeating FC Honka in the first round, Tobol overcame Swiss giants Basel 4-3 on aggregate. Despite an impressive 3-1 home win over the nine-man Swiss side, Tobol lost 2-1 in Switzerland. That wasn’t the first time they met Basel in Europe either, losing 3-1 to FCB over two legs in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup in 2006/07. As it happens, Derry progressed to the First Round proper of the UEFA Cup that season. With famous home and away wins over IFK Göteborg in the first round, City hammered Scottish side Gretna 7-3 in the second round. In the first leg of the first round proper, Derry held a star-studded Paris Saint-Germain side to a scoreless draw in the Brandywell, before losing 2-0 in the Parc des Princes. That European escapade is the Candystripes’ most famous, but there are whispers that the run of summer 2023 may be up there.

 

            There is, believe it or not, a connection between Derry City and Tobol Kostanay. Former Manchester United, Manchester City and Everton winger Andrei Kanchelskis was named Chief Executive Officer of Tobol Kostanay in July 2023. In October 2015, the Irish Mirror reported that Kanchelskis had applied for the vacant Derry City manager job following Peter Hutton’s sacking a month prior.[1] Paul Hegarty was Derry’s caretaker manager at the time and was favourite to the land the job permanently. Ultimately, Kanchelskis was unsuccessful and Kenny Shiels was named Derry’s new manager prior to the 2016 season.

 

            Tobol have an interesting continental history. Similarly to Derry, the Kazakhstani side have never got further than the third qualifying round of European competition, despite winning the 2007 UEFA Intertoto Cup. As reward for winning the Intertoto Cup that year, Tobol were entered into the second round of UEFA Cup qualifying, were they lost 3-0 to Polish side Dyskobolia Grodzisk. After winning the Kazakhstan Premier League for the second time in 2021, Tobol entered the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League in the first qualifying round. Ferencváros, who beat Shamrock Rovers 4-1 in the play-off round of the Europa League that season, defeated the Kazakhstani side 5-1. After dropping into the UECL following this defeat, Tobol defeated Lincoln Red Imps 3-0 in the second round before losing 2-1 to Zrinjski Mostar in the third round. They reached the UECL third round the season prior too, losing 6-0 to Žilina after impressively defeating Hajduk Split 4-3 in the second round. Defeating Basel 4-3 is probably Tobol’s most impressive European result in their history. Other notable results include a 1-0 home win over Austria Wien in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup, and a 1-1 draw with Galatasaray in 2009-10 Europa League qualifiers.

 

            In their 56 year history, Tobol have played four less European games than Derry City (44 to Derry’s 48). Despite this, they have won 17 times, compared to Derry’s 11, and have lost 18 games. This makes for stark contrast to Derry City, who have lost 28 European matches. In saying that, Derry’s first European tie, in which they lost 5-0 to Steaua Bucharest in 1964, came three years before Tobol Kostanay’s creation, under the name Avtomobilist in 1967. According to UEFA’s club rankings, Tobol Kostanay currently sit at 232nd. HB Tórshavn, who Derry defeated in the first round, sit at 191st, whilst KuPS sit at 124th for reference. Derry are seemingly punching above their weight, placed at 367th.

 

            In terms of league form, FC Tobol seem to be struggling to get a run together this season. They currently sit in 6th place, with eight wins,two draws and six losses after 16 games. Their negative goal difference of -1 will certainly be of interest to Duffy, McMullan and co. In a similar fashion to Ruaidhrí Higgins, Tobol manager Milo Curcic tends to field either a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1. He has deviated from this just twice this season, moving to a 3-4-3 against Kairat Almaty and Kaysar back in May. Both games ended in losses.

 

Tobol Kostanay currently have three international players in their squad. Midfielders Ramazan Orazov and Samat Zharynbetov, along with defender Bagdat Kairov, have 34 combined appearances for the Kazakhstan national team. Russian goalkeeper Ivan Konovalov came through the ranks at Spartak Moscow and made 20 appearances for Rubin Kazan. He joined Tobol from Scottish side Livingston, where he made 7 appearances between 2022 and 2023. The Russian was in that 2022/23 Livingston squad alongside former Shelbourne and current Cork City midfielder Jaze Kabia, and former Dundalk winger Stephen Bradley.

 

            The centre back partnership of Bojan Mlađović and Ivan Rogać has started in all four of Tobol’s UECL fixtures this season. The former can deputise at left-back and plied his trade in Serbia prior to his switch to Tobol in February. The latter began his career in Red Star Belgrade’s second team and made two appearances for Serbia’s U20s. Despite making just four league appearances, left back Roman Asrankulov has also started in all of Tobol’s European games, having to deal with Swiss international winger Dan Ndoye against Basel. Jovan Ilić and Samat Zharynbetov are mainstays in the Tobol midfield, whilst Ramazan Orazov has tended to feature in attacking midfield.

 

Right winger Islam Chesnokov has scored and assisted in the UECL this year, whilst netting thrice and creating three assists in the Kazakhstan Premier League. A direct winger with an eye for goal, he’ll certainly be a handful for Ben Doherty. On the other flank, Miljan Vukadinović has scored twice in Europe this season. He played 16 times on loan at Slavia Prague from Mladá Boleslav in 2015/16 and featured for the Serbian national team against Panama and the Dominican Republic in 2021. Completing Tobol’s front three is Ivorian striker Serges Deblé, who has two goals and two assists in the UECL this term. With five goals and two assists in thirteen in the Kazakhstan Premier League this season, the 33 year old definitely knows where the back of the net is. With teams like Charlton Athletic, Angers, and Nantes on his CV, his pedigree cannot be undermined.

 

Derry will be high on confidence following their win over KuPS, as will Tobol considering their impressive win over Basel. Despite a long day of travelling to Kostanay, via Budapest and Tbilisi, Ruaidhrí Higgins will be wanting to come home with a solid result. It seems like both managers are taking no chances ahead of Thursday’s game. Last Sunday’s proposed league game away to UCD was postponed in order to allow Derry more preparation time, whilst Milo Curcic rested his entire preferred starting eleven in his side’s 2-0 defeat to FC Kaysar at the weekend.

 

Derry City themselves are in conversation with UEFA, the IFA and the FAI ahead of changing City’s ‘home’ fixture to Windsor Park in Belfast, from Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. There is no doubt that Derry fans would travel in numbers to Tallaght, but with a 7:45 kick off, a lot more would make the shorter trip to Windsor. With a capacity of 18,500, Derry fans will be hoping to pack Linfield’s stadium should the venue change be confirmed in the coming days.

 

I can’t see at least one of Tobol’s front three not being in amongst the goals on Thursday, especially in front of their own fans. Their quality seems to be shining above the rest on the European stage. However, as Derry proved both home and away to KuPS, they have no problem in recovering from going a goal down in Europe. Sadou Diallo has scored twice in Derry’s four European games this season. Paul McMullan has two assists in Europe, whereas Michael Duffy has a goal and two assists. Cian Kavanagh has also netted twice in his two European appearances. Their away clean sheet against HB Tórshavn will provide extra motivation.

 

After last week’s matches, Derry City are now the only team left on the island of Ireland fighting on the European stage. In the early hours of last Friday morning, a number of Derry fans made their way to City of Derry Airport to welcome the team and travelling fans back from Finland. The players know how much a European run means to City supporters and, despite the distance, know just how much support they have back home. They’ll strive to put on another historic performance in Tallaght (or Windsor) next Thursday. First though, Derry City will have to show Tobol Kostanay what they’re about in Kazakhstan.

 

Pól O’Hare - 8 August 2023




[1] Paul O’Hehir, ‘Manchester United legend has applied for the Derry City manager job’, Mirror Sport, 11 October 2015 (https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/manchester-united-legend-applied-derry-6613585)


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