MOSCOW, 9 November 2004 — Defending champions CSKA Moscow lost the lead in Russia’s title race after being held to a 0-0 draw by city rivals Dynamo in a Premier League derby yesterday.
Lokomotiv, 2002 champions, leapfrogged CSKA at the top of the standings by beating Torpedo 3-1 in another heated Moscow derby.
The railway side have 58 points from 29 matches and lead CSKA by a point with just one round of matches remaining.
Zenit St. Petersburg, last year’s runners-up, lost any chance of capturing their first league title since 1984 after crashing to a 3-2 defeat at home to mid-table FK Moscow.
The championship will be decided on Friday, the last day of the league season, when Lokomotiv travel to Yaroslavl to take on Shinnik and CSKA meet city neighbors FK Moscow.
CSKA coach Valery Gazzayev, however, would not concede the race was over just yet.
“It’s not over. We’ve got one more game, then we’ll see who is on top,” he said, adding that his team had the greater number of chances but could not find a way past Dynamo goalkeeper Maxim Levitsky. “He was just super,” Gazzayev said of Levitsky.
Zenit, who have 53 points — the same as Krylya Sovietov Samara who beat bottom side Rotor Volgograd 1-0, can only secure third place if they beat the already relegated Rotor.
Torpedo, who remained on 51 points after losing to Lokomotiv, face 12th-placed Rostov, who avoided the drop after edging Rubin Kazan 1-0.
The battle is just as fierce at the bottom of the table, where Kuban Krasnodar kept alive their slim hopes of remaining in the top flight with a 1-0 home win over Shinnik.
Meanwhile Dynamo, despite keeping the powerful CSKA strikers at bay, dropped two places to 14th and are now in danger of being relegated. They lie just three points above 15th-placed Kuban.
Dynamo’s fate lies in the hands of their bitter city rivals Spartak, whom they meet in the season’s finale.
The clash between two of Moscow’s most popular sides will have added spice with Dynamo coach Oleg Romantsev coming up against his former club.
Former Russia manager Romantsev, fired by Spartak after 15 years in the job and nine league titles following a bitter feud with club president Andrei Chervichenko, took over at Dynamo two weeks ago.
If Kuban beat Amkar Perm and Dynamo slip to defeat against Spartak, the Moscovites would lose their proud record of being the only Russian club never to be relegated.
Arsenal and United Summoned by FA
In London, Arsenal and Manchester United have been summoned to a meeting with the Football Association which is determined to prevent a repeat of the public relations fiasco surrounding United’s controversial 2-0 win last month.
The FA has written to both clubs inviting them to meet chairman Geoff Thompson and Premier League officials to “avoid any repeat of the adverse publicity that surrounded the game”, an FA statement said.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was charged by the FA yesterday with improper conduct over a reported comment about United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Wenger was alleged to have called the Dutch striker a cheat after the United win, which ended the champions’ record 49-game unbeaten league run. The French manager said later: “I cannot deny what I didn’t say.”
The FA, however, decided to take no immediate action about the so-called Battle of the Buffet in which, according to media reports, United manager Alex Ferguson was pelted with food in the Old Trafford tunnel after the game.
The FA said there would be “no formal disciplinary action on any other matters related to the match”.
Wenger had also been investigated by the FA about his comments on the game’s referee, Mike Riley, who gave United a hotly disputed penalty.
Van Nistelrooy, who scored from the penalty spot to put United 1-0 up, has already been banned for three games for a bad tackle on Arsenal fullback Ashley Cole.
The fall-out from the match on Oct. 24 has dominated the British media and the form of both clubs appears to have been affected by the game. Arsenal have not won since.Last year’s game between the fierce rivals at Old Trafford ended in a fracas with Arsenal players hounding Van Nistelrooy after he missed a late penalty in a 0-0 draw. The teams are due to meet again at Highbury on Feb. 1.
