Thirst for Dziuba's Heads

Of course, the main intrigue of the match will be the number of goals by Artem Dziuba. The striker does not hide the desire to become the best scorer in the history of the Russian national team, for which he needs to score seven more goals. Of course, it is difficult to expect him to repeat the record of Alexander Kerzhakov in the next meeting, but the captain is able to get as close as possible to the current leader, who scored 31 goals in the national team's T-shirt. The assets of Dziuba are 24. In the previous game with San Marino, we recall that Artyom made poker, and the team won the largest victory in history - 9-0. In response, Russian football players may try to rewrite this achievement as well.

Meanwhile, Dziuba will face a much more real task in this match - to win the qualifying tournament scorers race. Currently, Harry Kane is leading in it, but England has already completed her qualification appearances. Artyom, however, lags behind the Tottenham striker by only three precise hits and is quite capable of leveling this difference.

Bakaev and Zhemaletdinov at the start

Also, in San Marino, certain personnel experiments should be expected from Stanislav Cherchesov, who, in a match with a much inferior opponent in the class, can safely try some reservists.

Most likely, from the first minutes the Spartak midfielder Zelimkhan Bakaev will appear on the field. This is due to damage from Yuri Zhirkov. In the club, Domenico Tedesco uses Bakaev at the “ten” position, and before that, the player regularly appeared on the right flank. But in the match with Belgium Cherchesov released Zelimkhan on the left, and the Spartak man coped with his task and could even score. Now he has a great chance to open a “personal account” in the national team and stake out a place at the start.

And on the opposite edge, the fans may well see the Lokomotiv midfielder Rifat Zhemaletdinov, without whom it is already hard to imagine the railroad this season. Thus, it is likely that the flanks of the national team in San Marino will be closed by two 23-year-old players who have recently played for the youth team.

Chistyakov paired with Jikia

In the center of defense, Cherchesov has an excellent opportunity to check Dmitry Chistyakov in the case. The 25-year-old defender made his debut in the RPL only this season and immediately became one of the leaders of Rostov, and also received a call to the national team.

In the current selection in the center of defense of the national team, Andrei Semenov and George Dzhikiya are practically indispensable. However, a decisive match against San Marino is an excellent occasion to view the reservists.

In the end, Semenov this season is still fighting for survival with Akhmat, while Chistyakov is fighting with Rostov for medals and is successfully acting precisely in the arrangement with two central defenders. Cherchesov just needs to have on hand ready-to-play understudies in case of injuries from the main performers.

And on the right, in defense, Vyacheslav Karavaev may well play again. Mario Fernandez suffered a tremendous load in the club and the national team in the fall, and the national team’s coaching staff just has no reason to load one of the leaders once again, especially in the match with Belgium it was extremely difficult for a naturalized Brazilian.

Guillerme on the bench

It was not easy for Marinato Guillerme, who conceded four goals from the bronze medalists of the World Cup. On the one hand, we can say that he had no chance to help out the team, on the other, the former goalkeeper of the national team Vladimir Gabulov, it was no coincidence after the game that the goalkeeper should save after hitting near corners.

One way or another, the autumn season was not the best for Guillerme. He made productive mistakes in the RPL, missed a curious ball from Juventus, and now he gave out not the best match for the national team. And all this against the background of talk of a possible return to the national team of Igor Akinfeev.

In this situation, Cherchesov may well save the main goalkeeper and provide playing time to the same Soslan Dzhanaev. An experienced goalkeeper returned to the RPL after a short trip to Poland and again made him talk about himself. If not for him, the position of a Sochi Premier League debutant could have been much worse.

Betting on youth in midfield

Also in San Marino, you can expect the debut of the talented young Ufa midfielder Daniil Fomin, who was first called up to the national team. On the other hand, the likelihood of this is extremely small, because Cherchesov repeatedly emphasized that even a minute of playing for the national team must be earned.

It is no coincidence that even the best scorer of the Czech Championship Nikolai Komlichenko was forced to wait almost half a year to wait for the debut in the national team. Nevertheless, it remains to repeat that a meaningless match with an outsider is a suitable field for experimentation. Perhaps Cherchesov will even decide to throw young people into the battle, and 22-year-old Fomin and 21-year-old Ilzat Akhmetov will enter the base zone.