The Ural 2 Chronicle
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Alexandr Scherbakov was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Artem Kulikov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ural 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Ural 2 against Uralets-TS
0‑1 to Uralets-TS, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market10 Aug 2026
Still no ink between Ural 2 and Ilja Khatuntsev
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ural 2, another week without a signature from Ilja Khatuntsev.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ural 2 are still strangers to each other
13 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Vsevolod Zhirinovsky: “No excuses”
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The plan did not have a place for Yury Maleev
Nobody at Ural 2 is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Alexandr Scherbakov has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Alexandr Scherbakov keeps the shirt for now, at Ural 2's convenience rather than his own.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The room hears from Alexandr Scherbakov
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Ural 2 squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
In brief
- Player ratings The whistle followed Ilja Khatuntsev around
- Looking ahead Looking ahead: Rubin 2 at home