A Match That Promised More
G. Natov, A Match That Promised More — Krasnyi sport (Moscow), 10 September 1939
Two days after the match, Soviet sport's flagship paper Krasnyi sport filed a sour review. The reporter G. Natov saw a tense, uneven contest and a Spartak side bunkered behind nine defenders. Nowhere does he suggest the result was unjust — only that one spectator had muttered the Tbilisi men had committed "suicide."
Original Source: G. Natov, Match, ot kotorogo zhdali bol’shego. Krasnyi sport (Moscow), 10 September 1939
Many were calling this match a "final," given the sporting class and standing of the competitors.
But when the ninety minutes were up, the 80,000 spectators left the stadium disappointed in the play of Muscovites and visitors alike.
Spartak proved once again that the side knows how to marshal its strength in decisive matches — but in this one it failed to show even tolerably good football. Having scored the only goal, the team took to playing with nine men dug in, fending off the Tbilisi side's persistent attacks via corners and throw-ins. In defense, only Vik. Sokolov played well. Complete disarray reigned in the forward line of five, and Semenov drew indignation with his laziness and aimless play. Stepanov proved that it is he, in the hard matches, who is the leader of the Spartak attack.
The defeated side did not shine either, especially up front. Of the defense, Dorokhov, Frolov, and Gagua left a not-bad impression.
One has of course to allow that a Cup semifinal, played in an extremely nervous atmosphere, could not let the teams show a polished game; but in any event this match disappointed the spectators. Spartak kicked off from center, playing into the sun, and within forty seconds Semenov had broken through and squandered a brilliant chance to open the score. Soon afterward Dorokhov punched away the ball from a Protasov cross; in the next moment Zhmel'kov, leaping, flew past the ball, and Tuchkov hooked it out from under Dzhedzhelava's feet. In the 15th minute Stepanov fed Protasov. Dorokhov, coming out in time, parried the ball. Protasov struck again. Dorokhov parried again. Protasov struck once more, this time at an empty net, but Chelidze cleared it out for a corner.
After Spartak's surge the game evened out, and then the Tbilisi side became masters of the field. In the 29th and 30th minutes Zhmel'kov beautifully took two difficult balls from Dzhedzhelava and Paichadze. The Tbilisi side took a series of corners, to no effect.
The teams played the second half far worse, and the game became simply colorless. For 19 minutes the advantage lay with the Tbilisi side. Then Vas. Sokolov took a free kick. Shavgulidze cut sharply into the ball, which, rising into the air, began to descend right over the goalmouth. Running for the ball were Protasov, A. Sokolov, and Shavgulidze himself. Dorokhov pushed the ball away — into Protasov — and on the rebound it flew across the line. Shavgulidze, standing in the goal, kicked the ball back out, but referee Gorelkin had already signaled the goal. As one spectator pointedly put it, the Tbilisi side in this match "did themselves in."
Spartak led 1–0. In place of Gulyaev came Kornilov. The play went on with a clear advantage to the Tbilisi side, and it was only from the 40th minute that Stepanov began to bring the Spartak attack to life.