Alexander agrees to talk to the coach on the phone. Just don’t wait for a call now.
Russian striker “Aris” Alexander Kokorin said that in modern realities he does not want to play for the national team. The top scorer of the fourth team of the Cypriot championship is ready to talk on the phone with the coach, but sees no reason to come for friendly matches.
But the football player was not invited to the main team of the country for more than five years. And after such revelations, the call is certainly not worth waiting for.
“Be realistic”
Ex-forward of the Russian national team Alexander Kokorin, in an interview with European journalists, shared his professional plans. It turned out that the 31-year-old player is not going to return to Russia, he does not want to play for the national team. True, with regard to the latter, a clarification needs to be made: the striker theoretically allows a return to the national team, but only to participate in official matches.
– I will be realistic, because today, in the current conditions, the national team is unlikely to play official matches in the near future, perhaps this will continue at least until 2025. In this context, I don’t want to play for the national team. If they call me, I will, of course, talk to the coach, but I want to know why I was called, ”Foot Mercato quotes Kokorin.
After the words “I will be a realist”, one would probably expect something self-critical from the player. For example, the words that the performance in the fourth team of the championship of Cyprus hardly allows you to count on a call to the national team. But Kokorin is more interested in “current conditions.” I am glad that the attacker, in principle, is ready to talk with Karpin – after all, he could not pick up the phone at all in the event of a potential call. And so, he will listen to the proposal, but Valery Georgievich will have to explain himself, and, apparently, not every option for the Aris scorer will suit him.
Alexander Kokorin / Photo: © FC Aris
– If it’s just to play in a friendly match, I think it’s better for young talents than for me. If we have an official match, of course, I really want to return to the national team. Wearing the jersey of the Russian national team is an incredible feeling, but not in such a situation,” the player added.
Didn’t show success
The lack of a great desire to return to the Russian Premier League can be understood. Things are going well for Alexander in Cyprus. If we discard thoughts about the level of the local championship, then one might even think that the player’s crisis period is behind him. Again, there is a potential opportunity to play in European competition. And in Russia, it will again need to adapt to new realities and, most likely, in a team from the bottom half of the standings. But why such a strange attitude towards the national team?
The coaching staff, by the way, does not even now attract “legionnaires” to participate in friendly matches. But even if Valery Karpin suddenly wanted to test all the strongest, why did the Aris footballer decide that he would be among them?
Just in case, it is worth recalling that the player last appeared in the national team in November 2017. In the last 10 matches, Alexander did not score, although he was even trusted to take penalties in this segment. It was possible to score a goal for the last time on the eve of Euro 2016, and in official matches Kokorin has not differed since the fall of 2015.
Of course, in some way the player had a “good reason” for the long absence. Having recovered from an injury that did not allow him to play at the home world championship, after some time Alexander ended up in prison. But after his release, the footballer still remained not very interesting to the national team. Even in a relatively good period of performance for Sochi.
In words, the head coaches of the national team did not deny the player. In fact, they tried to do without a football player with a dubious reputation. Probably, if Kokorin really showed something outstanding, then he could be called. How to ignore one of the best scorers in Serie A or the most productive player in the Russian Championship? But Alexander did not demonstrate such success, and therefore, with a sufficient number of attackers of a similar level, he ended up outside the team.
It is not known whether Kokorin wanted to please the European public, stating that in the current conditions he refuses to play for the national team, or the words themselves broke free. However, after such statements, the football player should hardly count on returning to the national team. The Aris striker can dream as much as he wants about how he will talk to the coach. But will anyone call him?
