A friendly match between the national football team of South Ossetia and the Serbian national football team from Kosovo has been held at the Republican stadium named after Guram Tskhovrebov in Tskhinval. The Serbian side was represented by a team- the winner of the mini-football tournament annually held in Serbia in memory of the 17-year-old Serb Dmitry Popovich killed by the Albanian gunmen.
According to the initiator of the sporting event - the Chairman of the Union of Russian and Serbian peoples, honorary member of the Serbian-Russian friendship Vitaly Ilyushkin, the match was held within the frames of the project, developed and being implemented by himself. The project also provides a visit of the Serbian athletes from Kosovo to Russia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
To the great delight of the spectators, the match started offdynamically. From the first minutes of the game both teams attacked the opponent's gate numerously. But thanks to the skillful defense of the goalkeepers no one couldscore the goal. On the fifteenth minute of the first half fortune has smiled upon the South Ossetian team player Soslan Dzhidzhoev, who, thanks to a successful attack, sent the ball into the opponent's gate. Despite the repeated attempts the guests could not equalize the score in the first period of the game.
The second half has also started very actively. Both teams, to the delight of the audience, over and over again were carrying outimpressive attacks, showing good technical skills. In the middle of the second period the captain of the Serbian team Dejan Tanaskovich managed to realize the favorable chance and leveled the score. The game ended in a draw - 1:1.
"I think, that the today's friendly, or rather a fraternal game has historical importance for the fate of the South Ossetian people and Serbs in Kosovo. Today, athletes of both countries - Serbia and South Ossetia-have met in a sports competition, which will serve for years the example and the path to peace and creation,"- said Vitaly Ilyushkin after the match.
According to him, the goal of the project, within the frames of which has been held a friendly match, is the Youth Unity of the Orthodox Peoples, who came through the war.
"We need to strengthen and build fruitful cooperation between the youth of Russia, Serbia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Our people who suffered the war, have to promote the youth and children's movement for peace in the world, - continued the projectsponsor. - It is very important, because when the world is torn by strife, wars, ethnic conflicts, aggression, the youth of the planet must unite for consolidating peace and friendship all over the world."
Ilyushkin reported that the similar friendly match between the Serbian team from Kosovo and the team of the Sergiev Posad will be held August 18, 2012 in Sergiev Posad. According to him, the same friendly match was also planned to organize in Abkhazia, but due to some objective reasons, this year they didn`t manage to play in Sukhum. Ilyushkin has expressed the hope that next year he will be able to organize a football tournament in Moscow with participation of the youth teams of Russia, Serbia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
"For me it’s great honor to arrive in South Ossetia, it is a beautiful country with fine people. We are very pleased that was held a friendly match with the South Ossetian athletes. A team of South Ossetia consists of the young and very talented players - said the Serbian team captain Dejan Tanaskovich after the match. - We are very grateful to the author of the project Vitaly Ilyushkin for organizing the match. We would also like to thank the Director of the Tskhinval boarding school Roland Tedeev, who provided all possible assistance in implementing this project, for the cordial and warm welcome of our team, for consideration shown for us."
It should be noted that the match was scheduled for August 7, 2012 – on the eve of the mourning events timed to the fourth anniversary of the outbreak of the Georgian aggression against South Ossetia, but due to some objective reasons, the match took place on August 14.
