The derby in Kyiv reshaped history, drama unfolded in Lviv, and Brazilian samba took center stage: highlights from the first 1/8 final cup matches.

When the knockout stage consists of two matches, the home teams in the first games aim to leverage the advantage of playing on their own turf to secure a comfortable result ahead of the return leg. In six matches, five victories were recorded for the home teams, but not all of them will have an easy time in the second leg. In fact, this can almost be said only regarding Sukha Balka, who defeated MSK Kharkiv with a classic score of 5:0. The atmosphere will be somewhat more relaxed in Dnipro, where Budivelnyk from Lysychansk is currently based, and Cardinal-Rivne, who played in Rivne, managed to score the same five goals against an amateur team, although they did concede once.

In three pairs of opponents in the 1/8 finals, which can be considered derbies, the nominal hosts managed to secure victories by just a single goal. What connects these matches is that the team that emerged victorious had been trailing for a significant portion of the game. The most heroic comeback was achieved by Aurora Team, which was losing 0:2 to HIT at halftime but remarkably scored five (!), albeit not "clean" goals, in the second half, culminating in an overall victory of 5:4. SkyUp Futsal faced Avalon from Brovary, a team competing in the First League, and had a poor start, losing the first 20 minutes 1:2.

However, towards the end of the game, they managed to turn it around in their favor, scoring two goals for a 3:2 victory. A somewhat similar scenario unfolded in Lviv, where Enerhiya faced in.IT. The Enerhiya players seemed not to have fully recovered from the quarantine they were under until last Thursday. The first half went to the "IT specialists," who converted one of their few chances into a goal. Just when it seemed like a sensation could happen at the Halychyna Sports Palace, in the final minute of the game, Enerhiya scored twice in eleven seconds – 2:1.

Finally, in only one matchup, the hosts and their fans left the sports complex with bitterness. Khmelnytskyi Sokil drew the right conclusions after their defeat in Dnipro against Athletic Futsal during the regular championship and carefully analyzed the recent winning matches of the "athletes" on their home ground.

In the first 20 minutes, Roman Kovalchyk's team secured a three-goal lead. Athletic Futsal, as has been the case with them before, increased their intensity after the break, but the skill of the Dnipro players was only enough to lose 2:4, which still keeps them hopeful for qualification to the "Final Eight." This season, the Ukrainian Cup will be contested in such a format, with eight winners from the 1/8 finals proceeding. We will learn who they are after the second matches, scheduled for February 15.

Central Match

After Aurora Team and HIT recently faced each other in the regular championship, it was logical to pay attention to the conclusions drawn by the teams. In the first half, HIT did better by neutralizing everything that allowed Aurora Team to achieve results. Oleg Lukyanenko's charges avoided mistakes like cuts and inaccurate passes in their half, effectively shutting down any threats from shots by Yuriy Sahaydachny and Rostyslav Semenchenko, as well as nullifying the danger posed by Yuriy Savenko’s overlaps.

This led to Aurora Team creating their first and only genuine goal-scoring opportunity only in the final minute of the first half when, after a long-range shot by Sahaydachny, Alexander Sukhov displayed his skills. Conversely, HIT had two killer moments from Chernyavskyi before Yevheniy Zhuk and Ihor Chernyavskyi scored in quick succession, but the ball evaded the net of the home team.

It is hard to believe that the HIT players thought they had broken their opponent psychologically and that the second half would continue along the same lines. However, after the break, there was no sign of the game discipline that HIT had displayed. It was no surprise that Yevhen Zadorozhny's team returned to the game with Savenko's involvement, which he capped off with a goal. This compensated for the fact that when a week ago the ball ended up in Sukhov's net after his strike, it was recorded as an own goal by HIT's goalkeeper. From then on, everything clicked for Aurora Team, except for Semenchenko, who was less noticeable, and Yevhen Zadorozhny's team was unstoppable. HIT still had opportunities to turn 3:2 into 3:3, and 4:3 into 4:4. However, when Maksym Cheberyak scored the fifth goal for Aurora Team, the game felt closer to 6:4 than a draw. This was especially true considering the missed chances after Smetanenko's dismissal, with the ball rolling almost along the goal line, and Sahaydachny's missed double penalty.

If Aurora Team had capitalized on these moments, achieving their first victory over HIT in history, they would have gone into the return leg with a +2 advantage, making it incredibly intriguing. However, even with a +1, the rematch will certainly be intense.

Crushing Defeat

Among the six matches, only one victory was recorded with a five-goal difference, and if we say that MSK Kharkiv lost with a large score once again this season, it is likely that no one would be surprised. However, this defeat has a special and strange story. The 1/8 final stage consists of two games, and if something goes awry in the first game, the team should aim to finish it in such a way that the return leg does not become a mere formality. But it seems that MSK Kharkiv either forgot that the second game of the week in Dnipro against Sukha Balka was not a championship match, or the "city team" lacks objectives in the cup tournament.

With just five minutes remaining in the game, the Kharkiv players were trailing 0:3 away, which is a manageable score to try to overturn in the return leg. However, MSK Kharkiv's head coach, Vasyl Sukhomlynov, called a timeout, after which Dmytro Kryukov came on as the fifth player, and the score quickly turned from 0:3 to 0:5 after shots from Sukha Balka players Vladyslav Nizhnyk and Oleg Lehenzdevych into the empty net in just 10 seconds. That was it – as they say, "finita la comedia." Of course, various miracles can happen in futsal, but no one would bet even ten hryvnias on MSK Kharkiv making it to the "Final Eight," as they would need to win by six goals or by five and then win on penalties.

Legionnaire Victory

The anticipated game for SkyUp Futsal, in which all six of their legionnaires will play, is still on hold. In the match against Avalon, Taras Shpychka involved four of them, and the game marked a debut for Brazilian Sharopinho on the futsal courts of Ukraine. Meanwhile, the well-known Lucas and Rafinha did not make it onto the roster.

It's not accurate to say that the three Brazilians and one Paraguayan put on a carnival, but mathematically, they did their job, scoring and assisting all three goals of SkyUp Futsal, which found the net against the First League team.

Sharopinho's first goal in Ukraine came in the 16th minute when he scored after a pass from Bob. In the second half, Sharopinho turned into an assistant, rolling the ball to Joao Lucas for a shot at an empty net. In the third goal for SkyUp Futsal, also scored by Joao Lucas, the assist came from Paraguayan Joni.

Legionnaire Card Poker

However, the legionnaire quartet of "aviators" did not only stand out for their goals and assists. Among the six players of SkyUp Futsal who received warnings in the match against Avalon, all four were futsal players with non-Ukrainian passports. In the first half, on the 3rd minute, well before his goal, Sharopinho received a yellow card, shortly followed by Bob receiving one as well. After the break, with a six-minute interval, the referees showed yellow cards first to Joao Lucas and then, to complete the set, they similarly punished Joni for a foul.

Twice into One River

The impressive comeback achieved by Athletic Futsal in the twelfth round of the Extra League has not yet faded from memory. For those who may have forgotten or missed it, the Dnipro team was down 1:3 at halftime against SkyUp Futsal but scored four goals in the second half to win 5:3. This game served as a warning for the Sokil players, and it was precisely about what happened in that