The Russian team should try to play with Iran motivated, said Novikov

The Russian national football team needs to play with the Iranian team in a friendly match with motivation, former CSKA goalkeeper Valery Novikov told RB Sport.

On Sunday, it was announced that Valery Karpin’s team would play a friendly match against the Iranians on March 23 in Tehran.

– If control matches are planned, then they need to be played, because this is the work of football players, there is no escape from this. Where to get motivation? It is difficult to say, but it is necessary to look to the future and hope for the best. Therefore, it is necessary, of course, to try to play motivated.

– Is it worth using a strong rotation in the match with Iran?

– We need to wait for the application for the game, and then it will be possible to speculate about possible lineups. Right now, these are just theoretical considerations. Let’s see who Valery Karpin will call.

At the end of February 2022, FIFA and UEFA suspended Russian teams and clubs from participating in international tournaments due to the situation in Ukraine. After these decisions, Valery Karpin’s team played three guest friendly matches in the fall: with the national teams of Kyrgyzstan (2:1), Tajikistan (0:0) and Uzbekistan (0:0).