The specificity of the extended lists of the national team is that, noticing new players in the team, you wonder not only why exactly they and what place they can take in the order of entering the field, but also whether they will fly out of the list when it narrows down to the final one.

12 hands in the national team goal

There are 41 players in our March team, which is too much even with two sparrings in the program. In November, 30 football players were preparing for Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and not all of them flew to the matches. And, for example, the goalkeeper team of six people will definitely be reduced: what can they catch there in twelve hands? For the case, it seems, the trio of Safonov-Shunin-Pesyakov will be enough. But there are encouraging signs for the remaining three. Spartak Selikhov, for example, was called up following the results of just one match with Ural, in which he conceded two goals.

Because Maksimenko, the goalkeeper of cup matches against Lokomotiv, has played more often this year for the Red-Whites. But Selikhov was called, and the significance of this call is that the team headquarters knows him well, is confident in him and, perhaps, sees an opportunity for Alexander to press the third, or even the second number in competitive work.

It is more difficult to imagine that the final list of goalkeepers will include Dzhanaev or Pomazun. But through these players, the national team directly controls the pulse of current events in our football. After all, Pomazun not only got out from under the monumental I. V. Akinfeev, who is still unthinkable to beat in the club, but also played really great in the vigorous Ural – along with the whole team. Once upon a time, Vladimir Gabulov became the goalkeeper of the national team in a similar way, defending the national team’s gates, for example, in the great 2007 match against the English in Luzhniki. Pomazun receives an encouraging signal from the main team in time: he is seen and expected in the national team. If not now, then in the near future.

And Dzhanaev? Soslan is now at the center of unmistakable and highly complementary recommendations. Karpin himself and goalkeeping coach Vitaly Kafanov know him very well, and, apparently, excellent reviews about the work of an experienced goalkeeper from the new Sochi head coach Kurban Berdyev are becoming an innovation in 2023. They are old comrades-in-arms with Kafanov, and the appearance of Dzhanaev on the list may even be a chance for him to take the role of an adult substitute of one hundred percent reliability in the team. That is, move Anton Shunin.

Soslan Dzhanaev / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Anton Denisov

Diveev – Beveev – Magkeev

Under Karpin, the national team plays four defenders, and 12 names in defense look like a group easily reduced by at least a third. But for defense, it is important not just to duplicate positions and teamwork, but also to have a strong reserve of universalism. It is given by Khlusevich, who is able to cover both flanks, and Magkeev, who knows how to play not only in defense, but also in the center of the field.

On the edge there is someone to play without Mingyan Beveev. But the fast Ural region is on the list – not only for the sake of rhyming with the all-rounder from Loko and Diveev from the army. He, like Pomazun, is clearly noted by the national team headquarters as potentially useful for the main team elements of that Ural, which in recent months simply could not be ignored, because it was the most progressive team in the league. And this is the effect of the factor that necessarily works in the formation of a healthy national team: it should serve as a “snapshot” of reality and include those who are good right now.

For this reason, there are so many young Spartak faces in the team: a team that is trying to be modern cannot do without Denisov, Prutsev and Litvinov. But without Roman Zobnin, she could. Despite the fact that the second captain of Spartak is in excellent shape, he made it clear that he was not ready to come to the national team for every challenge. And with such players, Karpin has an extremely short conversation. In a sense, there is no conversation: the coach does not persuade anyone. Even Dzyuba after the first Cherkizovsky hat-trick.

Komlichenko without Utkin and the trail of “Wings”

The national team intends to switch from a purely experimental mode of work to a combat one, but last year’s autumn tests were not in vain. It seems that a promising group of players is being established in the team, who made themselves known in 2022, and now continue to hold the club brand, despite changes in personal careers. This group is somehow connected with the Chertanovo-Samara line, which the teacher Igor Osinkin continues to thoughtfully draw.

Young midfielders Kovalenko and Pinyaev, who played together in Krylya Sovetov last year, are no longer teammates. But the talent of the child prodigy Pinyaev continues to develop at Lokomotiv under the supervision of another specialist in youth progress, Mikhail Galaktionov. And Kovalenko and, perhaps, Spartakist Ignatov are representatives of that rare class of field artists who, once found, must be protected and who, in the national team, must be helped to open up.

Finally, forward Sycheva is an example of a player who did not lose his goalscoring skills when he changed teams. Moreover, he did not leave Osinkin, but on the contrary, he came to him. The scoring striker is valued outside of a quantitative context: all five named in the extended list can remain. Although the most difficult thing to resist will be Nikolai Komlichenko. For him, of course, the thorough fame of the head coach and the unique quality of taking penalties will play. But in the national team this time he will not be able to score from Daniil Utkin’s passes.

Nikolay Komlichenko / Photo: © FC Rostov

Golovin and Miranchuk return in a new role

Legionnaires from “Monaco” and “Torino” certainly give the national team the look of no longer a prototype, but a “serial” version. The head coach has already explained that both the simplification of logistics and the status of the opponent help to call them; after all, Iran is a participant in the recent World Cup. And in general, it was time for everyone to remember that Alexander and Alexei are part of our football. Prominent part. Calling them to the team right now, when both have become real leaders of their prominent clubs, is very correct.

But the most important thing is that the question “why call Golovin and Miranchuk in such circumstances” is hopelessly outdated. They no longer need to ask. The new question is: “what should Golovin and Miranchuk give to the national team under these circumstances?”

Our European midfielders have reached such a level of play and gained such experience that they should come to the new Russian national team as leaders and examples. They should not only decorate the composition of our team, but also help new talents to grow in it, who so far, for obvious reasons, have very limited international experience. Golovin and Miranchuk give this team both meaning and a sense of authenticity: seeing them next to them in training and in games, the players of the new draft will be able to clearly understand that the team, its dreams and goals are real.

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