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In the Unity Cup tournament taking place in Moscow, the group stage matches ended on Tuesday. The winner of Group D was the Lithuanian champion FBK "Kaunas," who crushed Aşgabat's "MTTU" team 4-0 and due to a better goal difference, overtook Belgrade's "OFK" to claim the top spot.
"Kaunas" 4 - 0 "MTTU"
41' [1 - 0] Vyacheslav Hleb
42' [2 - 0] Oleg Strakhanovich
44' [3 - 0] Edin Pehlic
89' [4 - 0] Audrius Kšanavičius
"Kaunas" starting lineup: Malinauskas; Mendy; Kančelskis, Bagužis, Kunevičius; Kvaratskhelia, Strakhanovič, Pehlič, Ivaškevičius; Ledesma, V.Hleb
In order for Kaunas to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament, they needed a victory or a favorable result in the other match, where the Lithuanian club defeated "OFK" along with Bolnis "Sioni."
In the first half of the match, "Kaunas" failed to break the two unsuccessful "MTTU" team, but just before the break, they scored three goals in a few minutes - Vyacheslav Hleb, Oleg Strachanovičius, and Edin Pehličius.
Towards the end of the match, Audrius Kšanavičius, who came on as a substitute, added a fourth goal - the Kaunas team crushed their opponents by a score of 4-0.
In the other D group matches, where three red cards were shown, "Sioni" won 2-1 against "OFK." Three teams each collected six points, and everything was decided by the goal difference. Following their victory against "MTTU," Kaunas had a plus of four goals and took the first place, "OFK" remained in second with a plus two, and "Sioni" in third with a plus one.
On Wednesday, in the quarterfinals, "Kaunas" will face the second team from Group C, which was claimed by the Latvian champions "Ventspils," who played a 2-2 draw against Yerevan's "Banants." The C group was won by the footballers of Tashkent "Pakhtakor," who defeated Donetsk's "Shakhtar" reserves 4-0 and earned the opportunity to play against "OFK" in the quarterfinals.
The only team that achieved three victories out of three was the Sheriff club of Tiraspol, who defeated Naryn's "Dordoi-Dinamo" and won Group B. Meanwhile, the battle for the second place was won by "Baku" - the Azerbaijani team narrowly defeated Tallinn's "Levadia."
In the quarterfinals, "Sheriff" will face Borisov's "BATE," who won 2-0 against "Aktobe" in the fight for the second place in Group A, while "Baku" will play against Moscow's "CSKA" reserves, who defeated Tursunzadz's "Regar-Tadaz" in a tough match with a score of 3-2.
Statistics
Group A
"BATE" (Belarus) 2 - 0 "Aktobe" (Kazakhstan)
"CSKA" (Russia) 3 - 2 "Regar-Tadaz" (Tajikistan)
Standings:
1. "CSKA" 3 2 1 0 6-3 72. "BATE" 3 2 0 1 4-2 6
3. "Aktobe" 3 0 2 1 1-3 2
4. "Regar-Tadaz" 3 0 1 2 2-5 1
Group B
"Sheriff" (Moldova) 3 - 0 "Dordoi-Dinamo" (Kyrgyzstan)
"Baku" (Azerbaijan) 1 - 0 "Levadia" (Estonia)
Standings:
1. "Sheriff" 3 3 0 0 10-5 92. "Baku" 3 2 0 1 6-4 6
3. "Levadia" 3 1 0 2 6-4 3
4. "Dordoi-Dinamo" 3 0 0 3 0-9 0
Group C
"Ventspils" (Latvia) 2 - 2 "Banants" (Armenia)
"Pakhtakor" (Uzbekistan) 4 - 0 "Shakhtar" (Ukraine)
Standings:
1. "Pakhtakor" 3 2 0 1 7-2 62. "Ventspils 3 1 2 0 5-3 5
3. "Banants" 3 0 2 1 4-7 2
4. "Shakhtar" 3 0 2 1 3-7 2
Group D
"OFK" (Serbia) 1 - 2 "Sioni" (Georgia)
"Kaunas" (Lithuania) 4 - 0 "MTTU" (Turkmenistan)
Standings:
1. "Kaunas" 3 2 0 1 8-4 62. "OFK" 3 2 0 1 6-4 6
3. "Sioni" 3 2 0 1 5-4 6
4. "MTTU" 3 0 0 3 1-8 0
Quarterfinal matchups:
"CSKA" (Russia) - "Baku" (Azerbaijan)
"Sheriff" (Moldova) - "BATE" (Belarus)
"Kaunas" (Lithuania) - "Ventspils" (Latvia)
"Pakhtakor" (Uzbekistan) - "OFK" (Serbia)"
