The Russian national team players have successfully started the qualifying round for the 2022 World Cup. Having scored two difficult victories over Malta (3: 1) and Slovenia, our players took the lead in their group, taking advantage of the failures of their main competitors – Croatia and Slovakia. In case of a successful trip to the latter, Stanislav Cherchesov’s charges will be fully satisfied with the March camp. Especially against the backdrop of criticism that has befallen the team and its coaching staff in recent months.
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Controversial candidates
Back in the fall, when the Russians were unable to win several games in a row in the UEFA Nations League and test matches, head coach Stanislav Cherchesov and captain of the national team Artyom Dzyuba especially got in social networks and the media. The first was not forgiven for the November away devastating defeat from Serbia (0: 5), as well as the controversial candidacies of players called up to the national team.
Dziuba has long been under fire from a wide range of fans, especially Spartak ones, who still have not forgiven their pupil for a scandalous departure in 2015 to the ranks of the sworn enemy of the red-and-white St. Petersburg Zenit. Almost any unsuccessful match for a club or national team is accompanied by calls to replace Artyom with a similar in texture to the forward of Spartak Alexander Sobolev, who this season is extremely productive in the Russian championship.
And the November scandal with the hit on social networks of a personal video with Dzyuba’s participation, it seemed, could completely bury his career – especially since after him Cherchesov decided not to call the captain for the last games of 2020.
But in March, the 32-year-old striker returned to the national team. Sobolev was also summoned there. At the same time, once again, questions arose to Cherchesov regarding the challenge of some football players who do not have playing practice in clubs, as in the case of Dynamo player Roman Neustädter, or who play below their level. Both the coach and the key player of the national team could avoid another wave of hate only in case of victories.
But already in the away game with Malta, problems arose. With a noteworthy outsider of the group, Russia in the first half took the lead 2: 0. Dziuba scored himself and gave an assist pass to Mario Fernandez, but after the break, the national team conceded a goal and during a considerable segment of the match allowed the opponent to spend too much time in their half of the field. Towards the end of the meeting, the ardor of the islanders was extinguished, but the hassle continued – any unexpected moment could turn into a goal.
Only at the last minute of regular time the situation was defused by Sobolev, who had recently entered the field instead of Dziuba. He scored the third goal into the Maltese’s goal and gave a new reason for some of the fans to demand Alexander’s start at the start. The victory itself was so difficult that it again provoked criticism of Cherchesov and fears about the result of the game with Slovenia, which conceded only one goal in the previous seven matches, as well as possessing the star goalkeeper of Atletico Madrid, Jan Oblak, and attacking midfielder Josip Ilicic, the leader of the Italian “.
In addition, the Slovenes managed to beat the favorite of our group, the vice-world champion of 2018 Croatia, with a score of 1: 0 at home. Another competitor of the Russians in the fight for a ticket to the World Cup in Qatar – the Slovak national team – also had an unsuccessful start in this cycle. She was unable to win away Cyprus (0: 0). Moreover, in the second round the Slovaks managed to lose points at home with Malta (2: 2), losing 0: 2 during the meeting.
“The result was in the foreground for our team, especially against the background of the chance to take the lead given by the failures of Croatia and Slovakia,” Anatoly Byshovets, former head coach of the USSR, CIS and Russian national teams, shared with Izvestia. – In this regard, the quality of the game was in the background, but we must pay tribute: in the first half, Russia played quite confidently ahead, created chances and deservedly took the lead 2: 0. Unfortunately, it was not possible to keep the score – the individual skill of Ilicic allowed the Slovenes to quickly play one goal. And then ours began to play the second number, but they did it efficiently, albeit not without some shortcomings. And the coaching staff made timely replacements that did not allow the opponent to outplay us in speed. And the original plan for the game with a change in the scheme turned out to be very effective, here Cherchesov managed to surprise Slovenia, which did not immediately guess the plan, and Russia had scored two goals by that time.
Unexpected leadership
Misfires of competitors unexpectedly gave the Russians a chance for a non-negotiable intermediate leadership. And the home match against extremely uncompromising Slovenia was important here. Cherchesov made a lot of changes in the line-up, changing the game scheme to three central defenders, and building the middle line according to the diamond principle. At the same time, in the attack, the stake was again made on Dziuba. Sobolev remained on the bench – even at the end of the match, when the captain had to be changed, another forward-grenadier Anton Zabolotny took the place of Artyom.
Dziuba, on the other hand, justified the confidence by scoring two goals in the first half – in fact, independently organizing them in the Slovenes’ penalty area. The only thing that spoiled the mood of the visitors to the Fisht stadium in Sochi was Ilicic’s goal, scored a minute after Russia’s second goal. Because of this, I had to very nervously hold the advantage until the end of the game. At the same time, in terms of scoring chances, our opponents outplayed, but poor implementation led to the need to keep a slippery score until the last minutes in order to win a second victory.
– I already said before the game that Russia is the favorite of the match. And so it turned out, – said in a conversation with Izvestia the former midfielder of the Slovenian national team, Yaroslavl Shinnik and Tom, Alexander Radosavlevich. – Your team created some good chances, scored two goals, then began to defend more, giving Slovenia the opportunity to attack. But we managed to score only one goal. We must pay tribute to the individual qualities of Dziuba, who was able to perfectly understand the penalty area, surrounded by Slovenian defenders. This is a very big success considering how little Slovenia misses. In general, Russia can be happy with the fact that it does not lose points, while its competitors are misfiring. But the group is pretty flat. And I am sure that all teams will lose and draw. Therefore, everyone has a chance of success, including Slovenia and Slovakia. But I still consider Croatia and Russia to be the favorites of the group.
On Tuesday, Russia will play on the road with Slovakia, which failed the start of the selection. The match in Bratislava starts at 21:45 Moscow time. Now our team has six points and first place. Slovenia and Croatia are next with four points, with their minimum home win over Cyprus on Saturday (1: 0). The Slovaks scored two points, the Cypriots and the Maltese one each.