European soccer hinterland
On the 26th of June I visited the final of Moldavian Super Cup which took place in the Balti town in the North of Moldova between Sheriff Tiraspol and Sfantul George Suruceni. In that moment Sheriff was the favorite because they expected to play in the Champions League but Sfantul George were great too because they won the match against Sheriff in the Moldavian Cup a couple of months ago, so it seemed that something extraordinary would happen. The warm-up started in the relaxing way because Tiraspol was confident about their win, however, Suruceni was motivated because young players wanted to win the trophy so much. In the first half Sheriff was dominating but didn't score, Railean (Sfantul's goalkeeper) had some brilliant saves that left the score constant. The second half started with the goal, Tiraspol finally scored, it was Bizjak who converted the penalty but Sfantul didn't give up and immediately responded! Sagna scored a wonderful goal in the gate and the whole stadium yelled. Balti fans supported the outsiders and felt ecstatic after scoring. Everyone was frightened, by the end of the second half the score didn't change but Belousov scored in the 84th minute of the match for Sheriff. Unfortunately, Sfantul's defenders lost their positions, so the right-back of Tiraspol could easily score. Everything has changed completely in the last added minute when Sfantul scored the final goal and the score became 2:2. Litviakov made fans crying, everyone hugged and shouted that was the salvation for Suruceni. Final whistle, penalties... I was in the tribune and was quite sure that Tiraspol would finally lose because in spite of great results they couldn't score penalties. My prediction wasn't a mistake. The decisive shot...Suvorov...hits it! Sfantul Gheorge are the champions of the Moldavian Super Cup! Players, coaches were crying, the most significant win in their lives happened! I was very happy too because the match was wonderful! Balti was on fire! In that moment I really understood that Moldova is the football country!
