Dynamo – Porto: Champions League Preview
By: Yevy | November 5th, 2008
It appears Dynamo drew the right Portugese club in the Champions League this time around. A year ago Sporting Lisbon beat Dynamo twice to end the Kiev side’s miserable European campaign. On Tuesday Sporting completed the “Ukrainian Sweep” with their second victory against Shakhtar Donetsk, leaving the Miners grasping for a UEFA Cup parachute. Today at Lobanovskiy Stadium Dynamo will attempt to pull a double of their own on Sporting’s more accomplished league rival, Porto. Three points would all but assure a berth in the knockout round for the UPL leaders.
Dynamo and Porto appear to be clubs heading in opposite directions. The Portuguese outfit followed their home defeat to Dynamo with two shocking league losses, which dropped the three-time defending champions to sixth in the table. Meanwhile Dynamo has not tasted defeat in any competition in over three months. The run of form has seen the Kiev club leap from 46th to 21st in the rather meaningless but still entertaining world club football rankings. While it would be tempting to install Dynamo as clear favorites in today’s match based on both teams’ recent performances, nothing can be taken for granted when a desperate side of Porto’s quality comes to town.
With two points separating the teams in Group G standings, today’s match will go a long way towards determining who goes to the knockout round and who has to settle for the UEFA Cup. While Dynamo players have been insisting that they will be looking for a win, in truth any result except a loss would strengthen their chances of advancing. With a home fixture against woeful Fenerbahce to follow, a conservative approach to this match would be the smart play. Which is why, despite having both Ismael Bangoura and Artem Milevskiy fully fit, I expect manager Yuri Semin to stick with the 4-5-1 variant he has employed so far in the Champions League. The availability of both strikers gives Semin the flexibility to change the team’s shape should they fall behind, but I just don’t see him opening up the field for Porto from the start.
On the injury front, Malkhaz Asatiani has been ruled out with a knock he sustained a week ago in the cup match against Zorya. Milos Ninkovic was left out on Saturday because of a fever, but should be ready to go. Still, I expect Badr El Kaddouri to make an appearance in the holding midfield role as he has against Fenerbahce and Karpaty. If he stays out of the referee’s book early on he will do just fine. As for the players recovering from long-term injuries, the reinforcements won’t arrive in time to help Dynamo in this match. Semin said Oleh Husyev and Carlos Correa have “no chance” of appearing against Porto, as the midfielders just have not had enough match practice.
For his efforts between the posts in October, Stanyslav Bohush has been named Dynamo’s player of the month by his teammates. As long his workload stays light today, the White-Blues should have no problem earning a result. Shutting down Cristian Rodriguez should be the number one priority for Dynamo’s defenders. The Uruguayan looked dangerous cutting in from the right in the previous meeting, and Ognjen Vukojevic should be there to greet him any time he strays from the flank.
Fearless Prediction: Porto will not be able to unlock Dynamo’s defense, Roman Eremenko will thrive on the counter, and the hosts will score from a set piece that for once will not be a direct effort from Oleksandr Aliyev. Dynamo 2 – 0 Porto.
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Tags: Artem Milevskiy, Badr El Kaddouri, Carlos Correa, Champions League 2008/2009, Cristian Rodriguez, Dynamo Kyiv Team News, Fenerbahce, Group G, Ismael Bangoura, Karpaty Lviv, Malkhaz Asatiani, Milos Ninkovic, Ognjen Vukojevic, Oleh Husyev, Oleksandr Aliyev, Porto, Roman Eremenko, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting Lisbon, Stanyslav Bohush, Yuri Semin, Zorya LuhanskSubscribe
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