Former Dynamo head coach Andrei Kobelev, in an interview with Match TV, said that the best players should play for the Russian national football team, regardless of sanctions from UEFA and FIFA.

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 Kyrgyzstan (2: 1), Tajikistan (0: 0) and Uzbekistan (0: 0). On March 23, the Russian team will play a friendly game with the Iranian team in Tehran on March 23.

– In what form, in your opinion, should the Russian team exist in the current conditions?

– I would not like to discuss Karpin’s actions, but now we need to decide: either only the young, or only the best.

From my point of view, the national team is a litmus test. Regardless of whether we are suspended or not, the best at the moment should be called. Not for the future, not those whom the coaching staff wants to see, but the best! What difference does it make if we play or not? And tomorrow we will start playing – then what? Youth, go home, now we need old people – so what? Well, don’t make fools of us! This whole story with today’s Russian team is a parody of our football.

We have players in the national team who do not even always play in the starting lineup of their clubs. When was this? I made the most assists in the championship, but they still didn’t call me, because there were others. Today, it happens that a person plays every other time, and he is in the national team. This is similar to the situation in Brazil – there the player is invited to the team for one match, and then they are forced into Europe as a football player of the Brazilian national team.

– That is, agency games?

– Well, whose? We don’t need to fool our brains! They can be powdered on simple football fans, but people who have been in football for 40-50 years understand everything.

We always say that we have a ban, but we must use it! We need to come up with a specific program. For example, while we have a ban, attract guys from 18 to 20, and players who are under 30 – sorry.

We were so happy when we got the right to host the World Cup. They said: “We have eight years, now we will raise football, now this, now that” … So what? Several stadiums and airports have appeared, but football itself? Football itself turned out to be of no use to anyone.

Here we have a ban, but we do not understand where we should move. One thing, then another, then a third. The RFU must develop a specific program and convey it to everyone. And so we talk all the time about what is not clear. It is not clear whether we are going to Asia or not, should we use young people in the national team or veterans? There are leaders who need to clarify.

Watch matches of the Russian national football team live on the Match TV federal channel and the thematic channels of the holding, as well as on matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru websites.