But leaders are traumatised.
In recent times, the Russian national team has had to make do with friendly matches against the likes of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Tasks for such games are appropriate: use reserves, evaluate the prospects of players who have been auditioned recently. But in March it turned out to find a more formidable opponent – the Iranian team, which played at the recent World Cup in Qatar and won a victory over Wales, will face the Russians.
There will be no main stars
This goes for both teams. For the first time in a long time, two foreign players made the final roster of the Russian national team – Munich midfielder Alexander Golovin and Torino midfielder Alexei Miranchuk. The coach of the team Valery Karpin explained his decision as follows:
Before we didn’t call them due to logistical difficulties, but now the situation is a bit different. Firstly, this is due to the level of the alleged opponent in the first game. Moreover, in terms of logistics, this time it will be easier for Alexei and Alexander, since the second match of this training camp will also allegedly be held in Russia. Another important point: We haven’t disturbed the legionnaires for a year, but we also don’t want to delay this break for a longer period of time.
However, at the last moment it became known that Miranchuk and Golovin could not see the jerseys of the national team. And it’s not the reluctance of clubs to let players go: representatives of both teams said they would not interfere with the call-up of players. The cause was injuries. The Monegasque midfielder missed the match against Ajaccio with a sore thigh muscle. Miranchuk also has hip problems. Therefore, he did not come out against Napoli in the 27th round of Serie A.
And these are not all defeats: defender Georgiy Jikia and midfielder Artem Makarchuk, goalkeeper Matvey Safonov will also miss the matches in March.
Iran also approaches the fight not in full combat readiness. For family reasons, Serdar Azmun will miss the duel with the Russian national team. According to the latest data, this is due to the fact that the father and sister of the football player from Bayer came to visit him in Germany.
Iran has a new head coach
There are quite a few factors that will prevent an objective assessment of the level of the Russian national team against the background of a strong opponent. We have already mentioned the injured players, there is another reason: the Iranians have a new coach.
Previously, the national team was led by Carlos Queiroz. Along with the Portuguese, Iran qualified world Cup-2022, which can already be considered a success. In addition, the Persian Leopards, until the last round of the group stage, kept their chances for the playoffs and only lost them after losing to United States of America.
At the same time, Queiroz has developed a strained relationship with the fans – which is one of his observations of the fans following the defeat by England:
In 2014 and 2018 we had the full support of fans. You saw what happened today. Because they are [фанаты] come here and not cheer for us? It would be much better if they stayed at home. We don’t need them.
Perhaps this was the reason for Carlos’s resignation. His place at the helm of the national team was taken by Amir Galenoi. The Iranian coach has been given time until the 2024 Asian Cup, after which a decision will be made on further cooperation.
The 59-year-old specialist previously worked for the national team in 2006-2008, but these retirements are the first for him since his return. He did not have time to get acquainted with the possibilities of the players.
The Russian national team has not won for a long time
The pressure around Karpin is building. The previous matches, as well as the upcoming ones, are of a friendly nature, players were called up for them, obviously not from the main clip, so there was no task to defeat the nosebleed, as the coach himself said:
When we were suspended, everyone said we should use this time to watch young people. Now everyone needs a conscious game, a result. It’s not clear why.
But the dissatisfaction is still there: it increased in November, after the draws with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
This time the composition of the Russian national team could be considered almost the main one, but due to the injuries of the leaders, the reserves will have to be used again. Only now, if Safonov, Golovin and Miranchuk still have someone to replace, then there are more problems with replacing Jikia, the national team traditionally has a shortage of top-level players in central defense.
