Maltese press: the Russian national team started with a difficult victory in the selection for the 2022 World Cup

Opponent lower class

The new qualifying round of the Russian national football team was to open with an away match with the weakest team of Group H - Malta.

Suffice it to say that in the latest FIFA rating, the Russian squad takes 39th place, while the rival is 176th.

However, the modest insular team spent 2020 at a fairly good level.

In eight meetings, he suffered only one defeat with four wins and three draws and almost achieved a promotion in the League of Nations.

Even Stanislav Cherchesov admitted before the game that his opponent had made progress under the new head coach Davis Manjia last year.

For Russia, this meeting with Malta was only the second in history.

In 1996, the paths of the rivals crossed in a friendly game and Oleg Romantsev's wards won a landslide victory on the road - 2: 0.

The current coach of the Russian national team also took part in that match, who spent all 90 minutes on the field.

This time, Cherchesov's squad was determined to score three points without any extra effort.

Moreover, the team for once approached the confrontation with almost perfect composition.

Due to injuries, only two key defenders Roman Zobnin and Magomed Ozdoev could not take part in the game.

In the starting roster, they were replaced by Daniil Fomin from Dynamo and Ilzat Akhmetov from CSKA.

The rest of the coaching staff did not have any surprises.

And even the appearance of Vyacheslav Karavaev on the left flank of the defense turned out to be quite logical, because after the resumption of the season, Yuri Zhirkov does not receive playing practice.

Returning to the national team, Alexander Golovin took the top ten position.

And Alexei Ionov was preferred to another legionnaire Alexei Miranchuk.

At the pre-match press conference, both Cherchesov and Artyom Dzyuba were asked questions about a possible transition to a scheme with two strikers, but the mentor did without experiments and from the first minutes released one Zenit striker on the edge.

Dziuba's goal attitude

The Russian national team began the match with an inferior opponent in a class at a rather unhurried pace.

Although the team possessed the ball, but without much progress forward.

Dziuba, on the other hand, seemed to be cut off from his partners.

And the hosts in the first third of the half not only defended themselves reliably, but also carried out counterattacks.

For example, Joseph Mbong managed to strike the first shot on target from outside the penalty area.

Anton Shunin calmly took the ball.

But as soon as Cherchesov's charges slightly increase the pace, the owners wavered.

At the 23rd minute, the guests spent a simple three-move near the left corner of the penalty area and brought Dziuba to strike.

Fomin made an effective pass.

The defenders of the Maltese were late with an artificial offside position, and the striker calmly shot into the far corner.

This goal became the 27th for the captain and in the list of the best scorers in the history of the Russian national team, he came out on a clean second place.

Only Alexander Kerzhakov is ahead with 30 balls.

After 12 minutes, the Russians doubled the lead, and again Dziuba became one of the main characters in the episode.

Having received a pass near someone else's penalty area, the forward did not start hitting himself, although there was such a temptation, but rolled the ball to the right to absolutely free Mario Fernandez.

The naturalized Brazilian sent a projectile into the near corner, scoring the fourth goal for the national team.

In the time remaining before the break, the Russians continued to possess the ball, but were in no hurry to go anywhere, although it was felt that some players were especially aimed at the opponent's goal.

For example, this concerned Golovin, who regularly stroked and tried to exacerbate the situation.

Also, the midfielder, as in Monaco, performed all standard positions, but more often they turned out to be unaddressed.

Unexpected Mbonga Ball

For this first half, it seemed that in the second half of the meeting, the Russian national team would not have any problems, and Cherchesov would have an excellent opportunity to try out newcomers.

However, after the break, the domestic team slowed down and seemed to doze off.

The Maltese immediately felt the opponent's weakness and carried out several attacks, especially since Mangia threw two fresh attackers Alexander Satariano and Paul Mbong into the battle.

The defenders of the guests did not hear these bells, and in the 56th minute a real bell sounded.

Ionov, near his own penalty area, inaccurately threw the ball to Joseph Mbonga, who beat Karavaev with one touch and powerfully shot under the crossbar.

Shunin was not ready for this and raised his hands too late.

Cherchesov immediately reacted to the incident with substitutions.

In the episode with a goal, Ionov pulled a muscle and gave way to Miranchuk on the field, and debutant Rifat Zhemaletdinov entered the game instead of Fomin.

At the same time, Golovin sat in the support zone, while the midfielders of Atalanta and Lokomotiv were positioned higher.

With fresh strength, the Russians managed to push the game away from their gates, but ahead of them they still had little success.

Dziuba was noticeably tired and practically disappeared on the field, but Cherchesov was in no hurry to change him.

And there were practically no feeds from the flanks.

Only distant, harmless strikes remained.

In this course of the match, the guests risked losing points, but the Maltese simply lacked class to seize the initiative.

However, during one of the counterattacks, Teddy Theuma almost sent the ball on target from outside the penalty area.

Shunin, it seemed, did not keep up with him.

In the end, Cherchesov made two substitutions: instead of Dzyuba and Kuzyaev, Andrei Mostovoy and Alexander Sobolev entered the game.

And one of them was successful.

The Maltese goalkeeper unsuccessfully cleared the ball away from his goal, and Miranchuk brought the Spartak forward to strike.

The attacker's shot was not very good, but the ball from the hand of Henri Bonello still flew into the net.

So the Russian national team still put the squeeze on a modest opponent and began the qualifying round with an extremely controversial victory.

An indicative moment: in terms of the number of shots on target, the Maltese surpassed the guests that evening - five against four, and in the number of shots they were slightly inferior - nine against ten.