Mack's failed corner and offensive goal: how Russia lost to Slovakia in the selection of the 2022 World Cup

Expectation of victory from Russia

The qualifying stage of the 2022 World Cup started almost perfectly for the Russian national football team.

In the first two matches, Stanislav Cherchesov's charges scored six points out of six possible.

And if after the meeting with Malta (3: 1) the fans had a lot of questions, then the important victory at home over Slovenia (2: 1) thanks to the double of Artem Dziuba left extremely positive emotions.

Moreover, she allowed the domestic team to break out into the leaders of group H.

In addition, the rivals misfired in unison.

Croatia lost to Slovenia, while Slovakia managed to take only two points in the confrontation with Cyprus and Malta.

Finally, already on Tuesday, the Cypriots sensationally beat the Slovenes.

Thus, the away meeting with Slovakia in many ways turned into a key one for the opponents.

In the event of a victory, Cherchesov's team got the opportunity to break away from their pursuers even more at the very start of qualification.

In addition, the coaching staff for once could count on absolutely all performers.

The damage to Alexander Golovin was not serious, and he again got into the base.

Alexey Ionov, who missed two previous games, also returned to the application.

But it was decided not to change the winning line-up.

From the very first minutes, the same players entered the field as in Sochi on Saturday.

And the scheme remained the same - with three central defenders and a diamond in the middle of the field, on the edge of which Rifat Zhemaletdinov acted.

In front, of course, is Artyom Dziuba, who scored three goals in the last two meetings.

This game became an anniversary game for him, the 50th in the national team.

And the next goal, the 30th, allowed him to catch up with the record holder for this indicator, Alexander Kerzhakov.

Discouraging first half

From the first minutes, it became clear in which key the game would be played.

The hosts with the whole team retreated to the defense and relied on counterattacks.

Actually, one of them almost ended with a quick goal.

Ivan Shrantz miraculously missed the ball at a distance of five meters from the goal, trying to close the cross from the right flank.

In the future, a significant advantage in possession of the ball remained with Russia, but this did not lead to dangerous moments at the gate of Dusan Kuciak.

The opponent reliably blocked all approaches to their own penalty area, and the domestic team faced a long-standing problem - the inability to carry out positional attacks.

If the Slovenes left free zones to Dziube and partners, then the Slovaks did not sin.

As a result, Georgy Dzhikia, Andrei Semyonov and Anton Shunin received the ball more often than others, who, as a rule, had to combine with each other.

The offensive of the Russians took place at such a low speed that the opponents calmly blocked all the addressees.

Only Golovin tried to make unexpected moves, however, he was not only closely guarded enough, but on occasion did not hesitate to hit on the legs.

As for Dziuba, this time his opponents were not Micha Mevlya, who is well known in the RPL, but the central defender of the leading Serie A Inter Milan Shkrinjar.

To the captain's credit, by tradition, he often won horse martial arts, but his partners in the selection did not act in the best way.

And in the 38th minute, the guests missed to complete all the troubles.

It is not surprising that a standard position led to a goal in such an eventful game.

After a corner kick, Shkrinyar, who was not covered by anyone, sent the ball into the far corner with no chance for Shunin.

At the same time, Jikia and Mario Fernandez in this situation, in fact, took care of each other.

Only after conceding, the Russian national team finally got angry and created a couple of good chances at the front gate.

First, Kuzyaev struck higher from outside the penalty area, and then Fernandez, having competently freed himself from custody, sent the ball into Kutsyak's hands about ten meters with his head.

Offensive denouement after the break

Already during the break, Cherchesov decided on the first replacement.

The place of experienced, but not too fast Zhirkov on the left flank was taken by his young Zenit partner Andrei Mostovoy.

It was planned that the speed of the midfielder will help the team to open the right edge of the opponent's defense.

Moreover, Kudryashov regularly moved here, creating a numerical advantage.

However, this move did not help the Russian national team too much, which in front still lacked ideas and the last pass.

Slovaks, in contrast to the first half, began to carry out much more dangerous counterattacks.

So, during one of them, Juraj Kutska almost sent the ball under the crossbar from outside the penalty area.

In another episode, Dziuba, after serving from the set, almost sent a projectile into his own goal, trying to perform a discount on Shunin.

Cherchesov did not abandon his attempts to change the course of the game with substitutions, and I must say that his next castling finally yielded results.

Moreover, changing Mostovoy to Alexander Sobolev, the coach actually admitted his own mistake.

A little earlier, Zhemaletdinov gave way to Alexei Miranchuk on the pitch.

Thus, the fans had the opportunity to see two strong duos in the national team at once: Dzyuba - Sobolev in attack and Golovin - Miranchuk in midfield.

The transition to a two-forwards scheme and the appearance on the field of the Atalanta footballer, capable of giving an unexpected sharp pass, helped the team.

She finally took the ball under her control and pushed the opponent to the goal.

And very soon this pressure led to a goal.

At the 71st minute, the Russian team played a multi-move combination.

Dziuba, after passing from the left flank, made a discount under the blow to Kuzyaev, whose shot, despite the ricochet, was miraculously parried by Kutsyak.

However, the goalkeeper was unable to cope with finishing off Fernandez.

It seemed that, having caught the courage, the domestic team would run to finish off the opponent.

Apparently, the players themselves believed in this, but forgot about defense.

As a result, they were immediately punished for this.

Miranchuk in the center of the field did not dare to foul and gave the Slovaks to start an assists attack.

Ex-Zenit midfielder Robert Mack was allowed to calmly take the ball in the left corner of the penalty area.

Further, neither Semyonov nor Ozdoev, who were afraid to break the rules, could stop him.

Finally, Shunin failed to cope with the blow to the near bottom corner.

What happened was a real cold shower.

The return goal, which was so hard for the Russians, immediately depreciated.

In the time remaining before the final whistle, Cherchesov's wards attacked, but those players who were on the field from the first minutes simply ran out of strength.

The guests missed the only truly one hundred percent chance in the 83rd minute.

Dziuba, after an excellent serve from the right flank, either struck or made a discount on the far post.

As a result, the ball went very close to the goal, and Golovin did not have enough to complete this transfer.

So the Russian national team, having started the qualifying stage perfectly, suffered a largely unexpected defeat from the Slovak national team and allowed itself to catch up in the Croatian standings.

Now these two teams with six points share the lead in the group.