Dinamo Moscow Preview

By: Matt | July 27th, 2009

Since The Offside does not yet have a Dinamo Moscow page (contact Daryl if you’re interested in the position though!), I tried to search the rest of the internet for a Dinamo Moscow blogs or writers, but could not come up with any. Or least none in English, and my Russian is a little poor. So you’re stuck with my preview of Dinamo Moscow. Dinamo are fifteen games into their domestic season, currently sitting fifth in the Russian Premier League, behind FK Rubin Kazan and their various Moscow rivals, Spartak, FC, and CSKA Moscow. This past weekend Tony Mowbray traveled to Russia’s capital and saw Dinamo draw their other city rivals (is there any other city that has so many top flight teams in the nation’s top league?) Lokamotiv Moscow 1-1. The match was scoreless until the 70th minute when Lokamotiv went ahead. Dinamo were able to respond just eight minutes later when Alexander Kerzhakov leveled the match for them. Alexander Kerzhakov netted the goal for Dinamo, and he is the club’s leading scorer so far this season with 8 goals. He is also tied for the most goals in the Russian Leauge. The next closest scorer on Dinamo only has two goals, so Kerzhakov will be a key man for Celtic to lock down on Wednesday.

Away from home Dinamo have won twice, drawn twice, and lost three times. A positive sign for Celtic, especially considering the storied home field advantage of Celtic Park. Compare that their form in Dinamo Stadium, where Dinamo has 5 wins, 2 losses, and two draws, so it might be imperative that Celtic take the advantage in this first leg. In their last five matches, Dinamo has three wins and two losses.

Celtic will have an advantage in the first leg though, as Dinamo’s captain Dmitri Khokhlov will be suspended for the first leg of the match. The Russian internationalist was sent off in 2005 but has been unable to serve the suspension as he hasn’t played in Europe since then. The Russians also are facing numerous injuries, but Dinamo has been playing it close to the chest on whether or not these players will be healthy on Wednesday or not.

The squad seen on last Friday’s match against Al-Ahly will most likely be the one that takes the field against Dinamo Moscow. Marc Antoine Fortune, Scott McDonald, and Shaun Maloney were all rested in Sunday’s victory over Spurs and should be ready to go up front in the Champions League first leg. Chris Killen seems to be scoring goals for fun, but I don’t think Mowbray will start him after starting the final match of the Wembley Cup. In the back, Stephen McManus is likely not to be fit for Wednesday, so Gary Caldwell will likely take the armband and anchor the back line. Glenn Loovens and Darren O’Dea both had decent preseasons so far and either would be a good partner with Heid, so we’ll have to wait to see who Tony Mowbray chooses. In the midfield, the only sure bet is Aiden McGeady starting for the Hoops. The Republic of Ireland winger stated how he has recovered from the row with Gordon Strachan and feels his best football is ahead of him with Celtic. Who will join McGeady in the middle is still a mystery. Scott Brown is struggling to recover from an ankle surgery. Even if he is healthy for Wednesday, would Mowbray risk stirring up the line up? Landry N’Guemo had a great first game, but wasn’t quite as dominant in the Al-Ahly match and only has two matches with Celtic. Massimo Donati got a goal in the Al-Ahly match and has improved his play, but it’s not hard to improve on his play from last year. Marc Crosas struggled against Spurs in the first half, but saw a better second, but he played against Spurs and it would be a quick turn around playing on Wednesday. Personally I would like to see McGeady-Maloney helping push up and N’Guemo and Crosas in the middle, but I think Donati will be in Crosas’ place.

The importance of this match is clear. Celtic need to leave Celtic Park with a result. With Dinamo struggling away from home and in general, it seems likely that Celtic will be able to, but the effort seen in the first few matches of the pre-season must be matched. This will be the first real test for Tony Mowbray, hopefully he passes with flying colors. Green colors, that is.

What would your starting line up be? What do you think ToMo will go with? How do you feel we’ll do? Let me know if the comments! TAL!