“It’s better not to go on the field at all” – Shavlo about the Russian national team’s match with Cuba

Former Spartak Moscow player Sergei Shavlo believes that the Russian national team players should give their all in the friendly match with Cuba.

The meeting of the Russian national team with the Cuban team will take place on October 20 in Volgograd and will begin at 19:30.

— Of course, Cuban football now is not the same as it used to be, when we beat the Cuban team at the Moscow Olympics with a score of 8:0. And I think it won’t be difficult for our guys to cope with their opponents in a friendly match. But only if they don’t think: “Why such a game? Some kind of Cuba…”

— If they think so, it’s their problem, not their opponent’s?

– Certainly. Russian football players must go out and play to the fullest – for their name, for their country, professionally. And don’t think about why the match is and what the opponent is. In such a mood, carelessly, it is better not to go onto the field at all. You are professionals, you are paid money for your work, you must go out and do your job well. Especially if you want to progress and increase your value.

– Why don’t ours always succeed?

– There is such a concept – character. An athlete, he will fight until he bleeds for victory even in the yard. And there are those: they go, they don’t care what the score of the match is. Such people, as a rule, do not last long in sports. You need to try hard to win every match, to prove that you are an athlete. I hope we will see this performed by our guys,” RB Sport quotes Shavlo as saying.