The defeat of Estonia and a gift from Serbia: how the Russian youth team almost secured their way to the final of the European Championship

The Russian youth national football team practically guaranteed itself an exit to the final part of the European Championship, which will be held next summer in Hungary and Slovenia.

Mikhail Galaktionov's wards defeated Estonia with a score of 4: 0, and now it is enough for them to beat Latvia in the last match to take part in the Old World Championship for players under 21 eight years later.

The tournament position of the Russian youth team before the match with the Estonians was very difficult.

She was in the lead in the group, but had only one point advantage over Poland, which had one more game left.

Only one team is guaranteed to reach the final stage, and in order to stay first, it was not enough for the Russians to beat Estonia and Latvia themselves.

They still had to hope that the Poles would lose at least three points before the end of qualification.

Of course, there was still an option in which the Russian team could break into the European Championship from second place in the group.

But only five out of nine teams will have this opportunity.

It is even more difficult to guarantee oneself access to the final tournament in this way, since much would depend on the final position of the other participants in the qualification.  

Although the Russian youth team found itself in a situation where not everything depends on itself, it was obliged to beat Estonia at home and gain three points.

The meeting took place at the Arena Khimki, and for the first time in 11 months the spectators could watch the team's game in the stands.

Galaktionov, due to personnel problems, had to make several reshuffles compared to the September matches.

Nail Umyarov, Nikolay Rasskazov and Maxim Glushenkov could not help the team.

As a result, defender Nair Tiknizyan made his debut in the youth team, and midfielders Vyacheslav Grulev and Artyom Golubev entered the field for the first time from the first minutes.

But Fyodor Chalov was able to return to the main squad, who immediately stood at the forefront of the attacks.

The guests also had enough problems - they did not have a main goalkeeper, and some players could still play for the youth team.

As a result, no one bothered the Russians to attack non-stop, and the first goal was only a matter of time.

Already in the eighth minute Grulev struck his head after a pass by Ivan Oblyakov, and defender Magnus Villota turned the ball into his own net.

Soon Chalov gave a pass with his heel to Konstantin Kuchaev, who doubled the score in one touch.

Not even half a time had passed when the CSKA striker himself hit the other's goal.

The Russians earned a penalty, and Chalov was able to see his name on the scoreboard for the first time since July.

Before the break, the forward scored again, beautifully breaking through after Tiknizyan's cross.

In the second half, the Russian youth team continued to advance, but the score 4: 0 did not change even after a penalty kick, which Ivan Ignatiev tried to execute.

After the end of the match, Galaktionov's wards learned that their efforts could not be wasted.

At this time, the first half of the match between Serbia and Poland ended, in which the main competitors of the Russians unexpectedly found themselves in the role of catch-up.

Although the Serbs have already lost the opportunity to make it to the final stage, they were leading 1-0 thanks to a goal from Velko Nikolic.

Neither before nor after the break, the Poles could not answer with anything.

They shot 16 times on goal and seven times hit the target, but no one shot Djordje Petrovic.

The Polish national team was defeated with a minimum score and lost exactly the very three points on which the fate of the Russian team depended so much.

Now Galaktionov's wards can again independently decide whether they will be among the participants of the European Championship or not.

On October 13 they will play in Riga with the Latvian national team, which has not yet won a single match and is ranked last in the group with four points.

The victory guarantees the Russians the first place in the group.

If the Poles lose points again, this time in a meeting with the Bulgarians, then the Russians will not even need to beat the Balts.

True, the main goalkeeper of the Russian youth team Matvey Safonov will no longer play with Latvia.

Soon after the victory over Estonia, he was called up to the senior national team for the League of Nations match with Turkey.

Instead, Alexander Maksimenko will have to defend the gate in the selection for the European championship.