The refusal of the Cameroon national team to play at Luzhniki on June 15 led to the cancellation of the nearest training camp of our national team. It was not possible to find another opponent, and there was no point in gathering just for the sake of training on account of an already short summer vacation.

The only gaming alternative was the notorious Cup of the Football Associations of Central Asia, but you need to go to such a tournament only in order to win it confidently. Because we have already had occasion to butt heads on equal terms with our football partners from the southern republics, we clearly did not have enough naked class last autumn.

And in order to turn on the reserves of will and win in “plus forty” on plastic fields, you need to either kindle with sincere interest, or come to terms with the fact that such matches are now the main work for our players. And we have not yet arrived at either one or the other.

Between “need” and “want”

Matches with Asian teams would become a mandatory program if we nevertheless made the transition that was loudly talked about last year. Then, like it or not, ours would have to tune in to the teams of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan as uncontested rivals, victories over which could bring us to the big international stage. For the World Cup first. But the time for these conversations has passed. The sharpness of our suspension has also blunted, when we wanted to play at all costs with any teams ready for this.

But to win, guided only by interest (we remember about our lack of class), it turns out, it’s hard for football professionals. Their real interest wakes up only when the opponents are familiar, understandable and recognized people and teams. It may seem paradoxical: you expect that it will be most interesting to play with those with whom you have not played yet.

But it’s really interesting to play against people you know well. Our (and any in the world) football players are well aware of the heroes who never leave the screens. They know Mbappe and Holland, and if they happen to play against such players, ours will be able to naturally turn on all the reserves of their skill without tension. But it’s difficult to turn on the “interesting” mode mechanically, by flipping a toggle switch. Probably, for this you need to love and appreciate football too much as a business, an occupation. To be devoted to him without monetary interest, to be his fanatic.

And the girls win 26:0

This is what the youth can do. That is why 17-year-old boys win with a score of 7:0 at the BRICS Cup in Brazil. By the way, there you also have to play in the heat on artificial fields. Therefore, 16-year-old boys score 14 goals against their peers from Kyrgyzstan, and 16-year-old girls complete their tournament with a total goal difference of 26:0. The fact that all this is happening in Volgograd at the so-called “UEFA Development Tournament” causes only a bewildered smile: that is, under the auspices of UEFA, with whose teams we are not allowed to play, we are developing our Asian friends? For what is the use of such “development” to us?

But it’s good that the boys and girls of the Russian national teams don’t think about such things. They still sincerely love and know how to play it with all their might. Whoever is put up against them is played against. And our adult team, in which many young people have made their debuts in recent months, clearly relied on their sincerity. Moreover, it cannot be said that it did not work at all: remember Pinyaev’s goal against Iraq.

How will we live with our suspended football in the future? It seems that the features of the near future are clearing up. At the level of international contacts, our first team should only have enthusiastic rivals. A person is weak, we cannot force ourselves, so let it be less often, but more interesting. As for the rest, we will have years of self-deepening. Years of invention of formats for internal tournaments, their improvement. Years of exercises in the “package” of our competitions, time to sculpt your heroes.