Alexey Kashtanov / Photo: © FC Ural
The striker brought his team a major victory. But until recently he played in the championship of the Crimea!
For Ural, the meeting with Khimki in the 12th round of the RPL was of particular importance. Yekaterinburg hosted direct competitors: both teams are now fighting for survival, trying to cling to the saving 12th line. The team of Viktor Gancharenko, in fairness, is a little better, but the Urals should not underestimate the opponent in any case.
Acting in accordance with this plan, the hosts seized the game initiative at the very beginning of the meeting and managed to open an account in the first minutes. A magnificent goal against Khimki was scored by a 26-year-old striker, who had recently played as an amateur.
He handled the ball with his chest, circled two and accurately loaded it into the near one!
fabulous boost
The name of Alexei Kashtanov is not well known even to big fans of Russian football. The graduate of the Bryansk Dynamo began his adult football career in 2015, when he got into the Kaluga squad, which had only recently received professional status. But in the championship of Russia, albeit in its lowest division, the player did not last long. Already at the end of the season, the striker had to leave the club and start playing in amateur teams. A few years later, Kashtanov even turned out to be a participant in the open championship of Crimea as part of Kyzyltash – it seemed that this football player was unlikely to go on promotion …
However, in 2021, Kashtanov’s story took an unexpected turn. The striker signed a contract with Rodina, with which he returned to the ranks of professionals again. The young club sent Alexei on loan to Volga, and then the player finally showed himself for real. In Ulyanovsk, the striker scored 13 goals in 20 matches, playing a key role in the success of the Volga players in the Second League. Thanks to Kashtanov, Volga took first place in the standings, having won a crushing victory over the second team of Ural in the last round – in this match the player scored a double.
Then, apparently, in Yekaterinburg, they took Kashtanov on a pencil. After all, next summer, when he was supposed to return from loan to Rodina, the agreement with him was already signed by … the main team of Ural! Thus, Kashtanov, having passed the level of MELBET-First League, formerly known as the FNL, immediately received a promotion to the elite of Russian football. Just a fabulous story!
Quick Ball Master
For the first time as part of the new team, Alexei scored in the third round, scoring against Krasnodar (1: 3), after which he “shut up” for a month and a half. Kashtanov woke up only at the end of September: first, his goal brought Ural a victory over Torpedo in the Russian Cup (1: 0), and in the next match, it marked the beginning of the defeat of Lokomotiv in the championship (4: 2).
Once in the team’s starting lineup for the game with Khimki, Kashtanov immediately continued the scoring streak, scoring in the third match in a row. This time, in order to open an account, the forward took only 4 minutes. It is curious that in the two previous cases, Alexey also scored quick goals: in the game with Loko, he scored in the 7th minute, and with Torpedo – in general, in the 1st.
Open video
Responding to Goglichidze’s throw from his half of the field, Kashtanov clearly handled the ball with his chest, but by this time the defenders had already returned to their places. True, they did not become an obstacle for the 26-year-old striker. Aleksey dealt with his opponents with two movements and climbed deep into the penalty area to hit the goalkeeper with an unexpected blow. The striker cunningly struck from behind the defenders, hiding the moment from the goalkeeper – so that the ball flew into the near corner, catching Ilya Lantratov by surprise.
Open video
The player didn’t stop there. In the second half, the striker built on Ural’s success by making an assist to Lazar Randzhelovich. The Serb launched a counterattack, exchanging a couple of passes with the Russian, after which Alexey moved to the half-flank and already brought his partner one on one with the goalkeeper – and the captain decided the episode. This ball helped the team win (2:1), providing it with an intermediate 12th place, and Kashtanov himself set a personal performance record with two points in one match of the WORLD RPL. And if the player continues in the same spirit, he definitely won’t have to return to the third division.
