The strained relationship between Alexander Sobolev and Artyom Dzyuba should no longer be a problem for the Russian national football team. The footballers managed to resolve the conflict, which cost the Spartak striker a call to the national team.
TV commentator Nobel Arustamyan wrote about this in his Telegram channel. He noted that Sobolev was the first to take a step towards reconciliation and Dziuba supported him.
“According to my information, today Alexander Sobolev, as promised, phoned Artyom Dzyuba. The players settled their differences, the conflict was settled. Both were pleased with the conversation. The head coach of the national team Stanislav Cherchesov was also informed about this, ”Arustamyan said.
Soon the head coach of the national team confirmed this information. Cherchesov noted that now Sobolev is again in the field of vision of the coaching staff, however, the composition of the team for the next matches has already been formed.
“Today Alexander Sobolev called me and said that he had a conversation with Artyom Dzyuba. As far as I understood from Alexander's words, the issue between them is settled. The coaching staff took this information as fact. He knows his situation in relation to the national team and still remains among the candidates for the national team. Now we have formed a list of 25 players to prepare for the matches with Serbia and Hungary, ”the press service of the national team quotes Cherchesov as saying.
Sobolev's absence from the Russian national team became the main topic of discussion after the announcement of the squad for the September UEFA Nations League matches. Even Cherchesov did not hide the fact that the tense relationship with Dzyuba prevented the call of the football player. He stated this directly, commenting on his decision.
“We don't want to have players on the team who don't get along well enough. What Sobolev allowed himself is evidently some kind of hostility between them. I think that he needs to somehow close this topic. Artyom will come - we will also talk to him. As a senior, he may himself make some attempts to remove this topic from the agenda. Agree that you cannot assemble a team knowing that there is a misunderstanding of such a plan. There was a moment Jikia - Ozdoev. But these are momentary moments. And here the situation is deeper. We must neutralize it in a calm mode, ”said Cherchesov.
Sobolev and Dzyuba openly quarreled during the Russian Cup semifinals between Zenit and Spartak. A skirmish ensued between the attackers after a foul by a red-and-white player on Yaroslav Rakitskiy. Other players had to separate the attackers so that the dispute did not develop into a fight. After that, the captain of the Russian national team spoke very sharply about his colleague.
“Sobolev is a young guy. He's still stupid and doesn't quite know what friendship is. Doesn't understand the situation. He hears a ringing, but does not know where he is. Over and over again he behaves ugly on the football field. He allows himself a lot - to constantly shout, appeal. There is a judge. If the situation is difficult, there is VAR. No need to rant, open your mouth. In the match against Spartak, I told the referee to pay attention to this: "Stop organizing a circus here - let's play football." He tried to say something in response. Word for word - and away we go. All heroes are on the football field. But if it were hockey, I'm sure: such characters as Sobolev would be silent, "- quoted Dzyuba" Championship ".
This story was preceded by Sobolev's comments about Dzyuba. In an interview with the YouTube channel Krasava, the Spartak striker reacted coldly to comparisons with the captain of the national team and made it clear that he did not want to be like him in terms of play.
“I have nothing to do with Dziuba. Neutral. I don't like being called Siberian Dzyuba. I am Alexander Sobolev, and Dziuba is Dziuba. Don't compare me to him. It seems to me that we are different footballers from him, ”Sobolev said.
In addition, the striker shamed Dziuba for the lack of response to the criminal prosecution of their mutual friend Alexander Kokorin.
“Nobody said that it was necessary to say some words,“ you are innocent ”or something like that. In fact, he just had to say something there, and he didn't say it. If they are such friends, I think that a good friend would support, ”added Sobolev.
Up to this point, there was not even a hint of a smoldering conflict between the attackers. On the contrary, last year, after Sobolev's first call to the national team, Dziuba congratulated him on this achievement and made it clear that he would be glad to meet in the national team.
“Can't you see from me that I'm not afraid of anyone? We are glad to Alexander in the national team - he will need some time to adapt to the team. He is on the right path, I wish him to do without injuries, a great future awaits him, ”said Dziuba about a possible competition with Sobolev.
Despite the fact that now the conflict between the two forwards has been settled, Sobolev will not be in the national team yet. Even after Yevgeny Lutsenko was injured, Cherchesov did not replace him, leaving Dzyuba, Fedor Smolov and Nikolai Komlichenko in the attack line.
At the same time, it should be noted that the last two rounds of the Russian championship confirmed that Sobolev deserved a chance to prove himself in the national team. It was he who scored the winning goal for Lokomotiv last Sunday and earned a penalty kick in Volgograd, thanks to which Spartak defeated Rotor. The striker is one way or another involved in all the victories of the red and white in the new season and has become a defining player.
At the same time, Dziuba in the last two matches did not differ in effective actions at all, and did not score at all since August 11. Considering that Artyom missed one game due to back problems, this is a wake-up call for the national team, which is used to building attacks through him.