Dziuba’s return, Shchennikov’s challenge and flight to Stockholm: what happens in the Russian national team before the match with Sweden

“Dziuba himself will determine whether he will play”

On the eve of the decisive match of the League of Nations with Sweden, problems are haunting the Russian national team. One by one, the players of the national team are eliminated due to injuries.

Roman Zobnin did not have time to leave the location of the national team on Saturday, when on Sunday Stanislav Cherchesov was left without two defenders - Konstantin Raush and Fyodor Kudryashov. On the eve of both were engaged in an individual program, and it seemed that they could still help the team in Stockholm.

However, the final forecast of the doctors was disappointing: neither Rausch nor Kudryashov would take part in the match. Instead of them, CSKA defender Georgy Shchennikov, whom Cherchesov had not invited to the national team, was urgently called to the national team.

“Most of the training camp at Kudryashov had certain problems with the muscles of the adductor group of the thigh. All this time, he had a clear positive trend, however, tests conducted today showed that participation in the upcoming match could aggravate the situation, ”the team’s Twitter page reported.

Rausch was never able to recover from a neck injury and on the eve of a forced departure from the national team he called on Russian football fans to support the team.

“Dear fans, because of the injury, unfortunately, I have to go home, I need to recover. I wish the Russian national team the best and success. The team needs your support to achieve the desired result in Sweden. We will do it all together, ”the RAF press service quotes Rausch as saying.

But the main news was the return of Artem Dziuba. Forward “Zenith” in recent days worked on an individual schedule in Moscow and managed to complete the rehabilitation program. Already in Stockholm, the striker joined the national team. Meanwhile, the state of the football player told the president of “Zenith” Sergey Fursenko.

“In the location of the national team the doctor of the national team is following Dzuba. We are in constant contact with him. Naturally, the health of our footballer is the number one priority. I think Dziuba can independently determine whether he will play. Because, on the one hand, he is a patriot of the national team, on the other - his health is very important both for him and for the club. Together with the doctors, Artyom will decide whether he can enter the field on Tuesday, ”the club’s official website quoted Fursenko as saying.

“We will take into account the experience of defeat from Germany and will not repeat this”

Even without Dziuba, the team held the last training session in Leipzig with a light frost, and then flew to Stockholm.

By the way, in the national team reacted with humor to the epidemic of injuries. On Twitter, the national team published a photo with the application of the national team under the plantain leaf.

National team, don't hurt pic.twitter.com/68yWYEF5N3

Footballers themselves are not joking. All of them are waiting for the decisive match with the Swedes. Daler Kuzyaev and Dmitry Poloz talked to journalists on Sunday. The first noted that the team has already left in the past an unsuccessful game with Germany.

“The Russian national football team has completely retreated from defeat in a friendly match with Germany. This match is already in the past. We took apart the mistakes, watched the video, I hope that in the upcoming game with the Swedes we will take into account the bad experience and will not repeat this, ”Kuzyaeva TASS quoted as saying.

The Zenit midfielder also told who can be identified in the Swedish national team.

“We are waiting for a very interesting match, the Swedes, like us, reached the quarterfinals at the last World Cup, so just in any case will not. I would like to emphasize that the opponent has a good organization of the game and high discipline. Of the players would have noted Andreas Grankvist and Victor Klasson. We had a good training camp. Well trained. There were many lessons on tactics and physics. Everything is good, ”added Kuzyaev.

Poloz admitted that everyone in the national team is waiting for Dziuba to come.

“Artyom is the captain of the team. We look forward to his return. This is a very good boost. In general, we had an excellent training camp, today we worked more on tactics. Friendly match with Germany, despite the crushing defeat, gave us invaluable experience. Ahead of the game with the Swedes, the opponent, in principle, in every match acts in the same vein, but has a good organization. It is clear that we all perfectly represent the tournament alignment, but we are not under pressure about this. We will definitely not play for a draw, ”the striker said.

Finally, Roman Neustedter in an exclusive interview with the press service of the national team told about the situation in which the national squad works.

“The atmosphere in the team is very good, especially after the World Cup. Each of us showed a good level. We grow as a team. It is very important at this stage to show that we are not just “bummed out” once, that the team and the players are developing. If we continue to work well, we will continue to perform very successfully, ”said Neustedter.