FC Sheriff maintains solid lead; latest win of 11-1

FC Sheriff playing to a packed crowd at its home field in Tiraspol

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - When one team scores 11 goals, and the other just one, is that a football game? Or is it more like a mercy killing? That was the question asked by FC Sheriff Tiraspol, the undisputed leader in the regional cup, going from victory to victory and humiliating their Moldovan opponents along the way.

Trying to upstage FC Sheriff, Tiraspol's second football team - CS Tiligul Tiraspol - did one better: In the latest match, they thrashed their opponents 12 to 0.

Champions FC Sheriff remains the dominant force in the league, which they lead by six points from second-placed CSF Zimbru Chisinau.

The Tiraspol-based outfit have yet to lose this season, have conceded just once in 13 matches and have already scored 31 goals this term thanks to the prolific finishing of strikers Aleksei Kuchuk and Marian Pirsa.

The region's strongest club's has a policy of scouting and developing little-known players from around the world, and this policy is paying off. The club now has four Brazilian soccer players, as well as eight African contract players from three different countries, Benin, Togo and Burkina Faso. The rest of the players are either local or come from nearby countries such as Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Romania and Belarus. Brazilian duo José Fiheira Nadson and Alberto Constancia Tiago are the two latest signings.

Team Suvorov

In this part of Europe, FC Sheriff has earned a new nickname: "Team Suvorov". The name refers to Russian field marshal Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, the father of modern Tiraspol. A.V. Suvorov was one of few great generals in history who never lost a battle. And this year, FC Sheriff can say the same: They just don't know how to lose.

Suvorov was famed for his manual The Science of Victory, and noted for the saying "Train hard, fight easy." Considered the father of Pridnestrovie, in 1792 he founded modern Tiraspol through a decree of the creation of the city by Catherine II, and the plan of a fortress.

Zimbru's second-place status is under threat from FC Dacia Chisinau, the slow-starting FC Nistru Otaci and FC Tiraspol (the capital city's third team) while the remaining clubs in the division lack the consistency to mount a genuine challenge. There are, however, no clear underdogs at this point, so spring is likely to be marked with a hard-fought struggle to stay up.

FC Sheriff and CS Tiligul Tiraspol thrashed their opponents 11-1 and 12-0 respectively but their forthcoming encounters promise to be tighter affairs as cup is viewed by teams in Moldova as a means of qualifying for European competition.

Pridnestrovie - also known as Transnistria or Transdniester - is football mad. Its capital city, Tiraspol, is home to three first division teams: FC Sheriff, FC Tiraspol and CS Tiligul Tirapol. Other first division football teams are found in the country's second largest city, Bender (Dinamo Bender), and in the northern city of Rybnitsa (Iskra-Stali Rybnitsa). None, however, have the international contract players of FC Sheriff and none are able to take on the undisputed champion, the team that - like Suvorov - never loses a battle.(With information from UEFA)

See also:
» More Brazilian players signed to FC Sheriff