Russian national team / Photo: © Denis Bushkovsky / Match TV
Former Russian national team striker Igor Kolyvanov shared his expectations from the match with Kenya and commented on UEFA’s decision to ultimately not allow Russian youth teams to participate in international competitions.
On Thursday, the Russian team in Moscow beat the Cameroon team in a friendly match – 1:0. On Monday, October 16, in Turkey, Valery Karpin’s team will play with the Kenyans.
— There is a match with Kenya ahead. Can you imagine what kind of team this is?
— I can’t even imagine how fashionable it is to talk now. But our team must approach this game with positive emotions. Perhaps Karpin will start someone new in the lineup, want to look at other connections, give more time and chances to those guys who played little or did not play in the first meeting. Let’s see what comes of this.
— What do you think about the withdrawal of UEFA’s decision on the admission of our youth teams to international matches?
“I didn’t believe until recently that this would happen. Because various vile countries began to immediately abandon the games. Apparently they were under pressure from all sides. Well, what can I say, we will be stronger. Apparently, our time has not yet come.
— You once coached a youth team, you know the psychology of these guys. Will they lose a lot professionally if they don’t play at this age at a serious international level?
— You always lose a lot when you don’t have the opportunity to play. Friendly matches are not comparable to official ones. The mood is different. But Karpin, for example, is a great guy – he has now managed to motivate the guys, the inspiration in the match with Cameroon was enormous, many wanted to prove themselves. Moreover, we played in Moscow, the fans drove us forward.
— Did the wave of negativity after the last matches of the national team force the team to draw conclusions and approach the matter differently?
— When the national team plays, to put it mildly, not the most attractive football with teams that 10 years ago could easily score 6-8 goals, of course, this leads to certain thoughts. Moreover, everyone. I think that in the game with Cameroon, the collections were imbued with the atmosphere, because everyone wanted us to win,” RB Sport quotes Kolyvanov as saying.
Watch the live broadcast of the Russia-Kenya meeting starting at 18:40 (Moscow time) on the Match TV channel, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
