We are all subscribed to Vasily Utkin’s Telegram channel. Not these? Correct this misunderstanding. There, one of the most prominent Russian sports journalists shares his observations about football and other events. He publishes his mythical “Football Club”. But with so much content, it’s hard to shake the feeling that something is missing. And we all miss Vasily’s old columns in “Soviet Sport”! And we are correcting this mess.
The column with the iconic title “Of course, Vasya!” It is the legendary return of the beloved author of millions of sports fans in every sense. It will be interesting for everyone: fans of football, tennis and even biathlon. The legend of Russian sports journalism reappears on the pages of the oldest newspaper. Subscribe or simply open the sovsport.ru website every second Monday and immerse yourself in the bright atmosphere of the stories of Vasily, who missed you no less. And we will start with the sensational meeting of the national team, in which we saw 49 footballers at once. Great topic to come back to.
Mikhail Shapaev / RFU
“And what do you think of the team, Vasily?”
I guess I’m not the only one wondering why Russian national team matches are necessary now. Very different, including the “Olympic” youth format, in which the recent match against their teammates from Egypt took place. Because a separate work with this age (U23), outside the Olympic Games, which Russia will not attend, even if the international ban is lifted as I write this text, lacks even speculative meaning.
Not seriously. I am still a fairly recognizable person (do not consider it pride, this sin manifests itself in many ways, but in a different way). So, when the Russian national team plays, it doesn’t matter whether it is good or bad, it simply cannot be that three days later not a living soul, not a passer-by in a restaurant, not a passer-by in a store. , neither a waiter, nor a taxi driver, so that at least someone, in general, would not ask me: “And what do you think of the team, Vasily?”
And now these three days have passed in silence. Not mortal: over Georgia, defeated by Spain, I simply consoled the taxi driver. In a stranger who briefly said something temperamental about the Turkey-Armenia game, neither an Armenian nor a Turk could be guessed. There were actually two approaches to the Ukraine-England match. But here I had nothing to say. Since the European team moved from Okko, I think we won’t see Ukraine.
By the way, I know perfectly well that in Ukraine no one shows sports now if a Russian athlete plays. I know this from watching tennis. But, you know, if they start beating me terribly, with all four hands, even then I won’t say what bad could happen from this, whether here or on Ukrainian soil.
I won’t tell you because I don’t understand. Anyway.
Comment on the selection or be with your “Egrisi”?
Returning to the topic: there is less and less time left for the Russian national team to play against the main team, including with Alexander Golovin, with Qatar, but I do not see such interest either.
Mikhail Shapaev / RFU
I’ll even tell you a personal secret. I was even offered to commentate on the second match of the Russian national team against Egypt in Kinopoisk. They asked. And although this is interesting to me, when I have to choose: comment on the national team or (and this coincides!) be with my “Egrisi” at the MFL-4 match, I, of course, chose “Egrisi”. ”. Because there I understand why they need me and what could go wrong without me. And so many national team matches have already been played and commented on without me…
However, I understand why it is necessary for the team to continue to exist in this capacity, to find rivals even in Lesotho and play.
It’s not easy to get over being ignored
You see, not being a fan of Vladimir Lenin either personally or as a publicist, I really appreciated a couple of memes of what he wrote. In particular, the words that it is impossible to live in society and be free from it.
Sooner or later, our society, of which I am a small and replaceable part, and the football team will remain, although not a giant, but a larger and irreplaceable part, and therefore, sooner or later, we will have to think and feel what our identity really contains.
The equipment is being tested. It is not easy to ignore public history. But… it would be great if we chose for ourselves the trials of life, this is the easiest way to make God laugh, as you know. Let those who can and want go to the neighboring teams. Now Orenburg’s Stepan Oganesyan scored against the Egyptian Olympians; He is handsome, but yes, this can bring him closer to both the Russian and Armenian teams.
Mikhail Shapaev / RFU
I don’t see anything wrong with this. This is freedom. And before the guys who grew up and played in Russia decided to play for Armenia, this usually happened with age, when the chances of getting into the Russian team became purely theoretical.
RPL on the treadmill
So in this sense, nothing has changed now. A boy arrives at a section, at an academy, at a youth team; He thinks, he dreams about how he will play in the Champions League, in European competitions, how he will play in the national team, first in the qualifiers and then, if he is lucky, in the World Cup.
That’s exactly how things are now. But it turned out that the Russian Premier League and the RFU do not offer that option indefinitely. Well, let’s be glad someone has another option.
And in the end we will keep what we have left. Nobody knows with what exactly. But this path is already trembling underfoot, like a treadmill.
You will say: Vasya, the simulator does not lead anywhere, you also need to drag the development of the calf muscles of the squirrels that are on the wheel.
So she does not lead. Now. Bye bye.
I will cheer on Nair Tiknizyan in Armenia and Saba Sazonov in Georgia. But I will certainly wait until the Russian team, whether to whistles or applause, goes out to an official match again. I will become older and even more sentimental than my current self. Maybe I’ll cry.
FC Dynamo
To see this, two conditions are necessary. One thing does not depend on anything: I need to live to see this. I’m not very old yet, but you never know. It is not for me to decide.
And the team must survive. But this is another matter. It’s manageable. To do this you must play. This does not depend on any particular person. This is a team effort.
So she plays. And she does the right thing.
