The main surprise in recent weeks in relation to the Russian national team was that Valery Karpin called up 49 people for the September training camp. This has definitely never happened in the history of Russian football. At the same time, information about any opponent was not officially confirmed at that time.
Over time, the rumors became true. The Russian team, which cannot find a training partner, will play up to three times in a week: two games with the Egyptian Olympic team and another with Qatar. Furthermore, the last two matches will be played one day apart and Karpin will not be present in the second match in Africa.
This schedule and the choice of the rival clarified the logic of the coaching staff. In fact, two teams were called at once: the first and the “Olympic”. We don’t have one, but since the opponent plays according to Olympic rules (footballers under 23 years old), we should have one too. Therefore, the composition of the main team turned out to be as unusual as possible.
The almost empty stands of the stadium in the Egyptian city of Suez received the first friendly match of the Russian team. There was little hope that the hall would be full, because the guests did not bring any world-famous stars.
Mikhail Shapaev / RFU
As for the composition, attention was drawn to such players as Stanislav Agkatsev, who plays in Krasnodar, but exclusively in the Russian Cup, Alexander Kovalenko, who has almost no experience as a player in Zenit, Daniil Kuznetsov, a winger who does not has especially stood out at the RPL level and who this season only played three games for Rubin in seven rounds, and another Zenit St. Petersburg cup player, Dmitry Vasiliev, who played only 118 minutes in the RPL for the St. Petersburg club .
And among the players we were able to see in the first team, Spartak midfielder Daniil Khlusevich stood out, who was also the captain of such an experimental squad. It was very interesting to watch Viktor Alexandrov and Timur Suleymanov from Paris NN. Both performed very well in the championship, but the selection is on a completely different scale. We can say that this is the Russian Cup team or the Russian Cup team.
Lokomotiv is the base of the team. But Dzyuba still has no place there.
At the beginning of the match, the Egyptians opened the scoring. This is not to say that this was unexpected. Our guys clearly didn’t have enough teamwork. Langovich left the right side zone, leaving an empty space behind him, where the opposing forward broke in. The chaotic nature of our team’s defensive game is evidenced by the fact that midfielder Vasiliev was the closest to the Egyptian. Halfway through the first half had not yet passed and the players were already walking across the perfect grass. What was confusing was that it was the height of football season and, in theory, the teams were supposed to fly across the field. But they had no particular desire to escalate things. Right, in the first half hour of the mutual walk there were two breaks to drink water.
Mikhail Shapaev / RFU
At the end of the first half, the Russians carried out their first significant attack, which immediately led to two corner kicks in a row. Surprisingly, defender Langovich made the situation especially worse. It was the Rostov defender who had the opportunity to score, but he tried to lose concentration and get to the ball in the rival area.
The Egyptian night continued in the second half. The Russians started from the beginning. The Egyptian goalkeeper made a mistake in handling the ball and Nikita Saltykov literally body-slammed the goalkeeper, after which the rebound went straight to the onrushing Oganesyan, who smashed the ball into the net. And in general, the beginning of the second segment was accompanied by Russian attacks. But Karpin’s team decided to speed up the pace.
Mikhail Shapaev / RFU
In the middle of the second half, the game seriously heated up and mutual attacks began. Either our players made dangerous shots, when the home goalkeeper had to show his skill, or the young Egyptian went for quick counterattacks. The most dangerous moment for the Russians came when Ermakov made a beautiful back-heel pass in contact, Shitov advanced a little and shot powerfully from the radius – the goalkeeper jumped towards the ball.
The fifth corner in the local goal caused another agony for the local defenders. El-Sayed misjudged the kick from the corner flag and swung the ball wide. After a mistake by the goalkeeper, Khlusevich headed the shot from the corner, but it hit the near post. The captain’s shot did not result in a goal either, again the goal frame played for the locals. And Melyokhin’s last attempt went well over the target.
The match ended with chaotic but very dangerous attacks from the rival. Akgatsev saved four times in the final minutes of the match. The Russians had every chance of losing, but the result was a boring draw. Our guys still have a chance to take the victory from Egypt, in a couple of days Valery Karpin’s team will have its second match.
