On the eve of the final match of the group stage of the European Youth Football Championship, the Russian national team was in a difficult situation.
To guarantee themselves a place in the playoffs, Mikhail Galaktionov's wards had to beat the Danes with a difference of two or more goals.
And this could hardly be called an easy task.
At least for the reason that until now the Scandinavians have never conceded and, along with the Portuguese, remained the only participants in the tournament who did not lose a single point.
The team of Albert Capellas not only confidently prevailed over the Icelanders, but also created a sensation, beating the French stars - 1: 0.
In the event of a victory over Denmark with a minimum score or a draw, the Russian national team also had a chance to win a ticket to the quarter-finals.
But then they had to hope that Iceland would either take points away from France, or even win over the recognized favorites.
But given the current form of the rivals, the likelihood of this was extremely small.
The situation of Galaktionov's wards was complicated by the loss of the main defender.
In each of the first two rounds of the group stage, Pavel Maslov received a yellow card and deprived himself of the opportunity to enter the field of the Hungarian stadium "Haladash", in connection with which he left ahead of schedule to the location of "Spartak".
His place could be taken by both Nikita Kalugin and Artyom Golubev, who took this position during the qualifying tournament, but in the end the mentor opted for Ufa's defensive midfielder.
In addition, the head coach of the national team cost only one change in the composition.
Daniil Lesovoy's place on the left flank of the midfield was taken by his Dynamo partner Vyacheslav Grulev.
Moreover, this decision could be explained both by the not the most successful performance of the midfielder, and by the desire of the specialist to make the game more diverse and be able to shift the focus towards the attack without making additional replacements.
It's no secret that Grulev is capable of playing both a winger and a center forward, which allowed Galaktionov to use a hybrid formation.
Without the ball, the team could play according to the 4-2-3-1 scheme, in which Vyacheslav was located on the edge, and when in possession, the striker could either remain in his position or climb in a pair with Fedor Chalov.
Thus, the national team was able to switch to a 3-2-3-2 formation - with Nair Tiknizyan and Denis Makarov on the sidelines.
In the opening of the match, Russian footballers actively pressed their opponents and looked pretty good.
However, this was followed by a two-minute failure, which practically canceled out all the chances of reaching the playoffs.
The gross mistakes in defense first led to Jacob Bruun Larsen's release to a rendezvous with Alexander Maksimenko, and then Anders Dreyer's breakthrough to the strike position.
In the first case, the goalkeeper could not do anything, and in the second he was unlucky with a rebound.
The ball from his leg soared into the air and dropped exactly behind the line.
After two goals, the Russians could not come to their senses until 30 minutes.
The updated line of defense did not look well-coordinated and made a lot of both positional and technical mistakes.
And, surprisingly, even Igor Diveev and Roman Evgeniev sinned, who spent almost the entire qualifying cycle in a pair.
There were also enough shortcomings in the actions of the attacking players.
Grulev failed to process the pass and go one-on-one with the Danish goalkeeper Oliver Christensen, and Fedor Chalov almost organized an attack on Maksimenko's goal himself.
With a "plus" sign, only Makarov managed to score, hitting under the crossbar from outside the penalty area.
It was possible to regain control over the game of the Russian national team only closer to the 35th minute, but there were serious difficulties with the creation of dangerous moments.
The sudden excitement and a huge percentage of rejects interfered.
By and large, only Makarov and Grulev managed to make the Danes worry.
The first succeeded in counterpressing and burst into the penalty area, but was covered by a defender, and the second struck a powerful blow from the air into the near corner.
True, Christensen took him so confidently that it would be illogical to rank him among the obvious scoring episodes.
Closer to the break, it became clear that the Russians can only rely on themselves.
The French secured a comfortable advantage over the Icelanders, as a result of which at least four unanswered goals could save Galaktionov's wards from relegation.
Galaktionov understood this, and therefore made two substitutions at once during the break.
Instead of army men Fedor Chalov and Ivan Oblyakov, Konstantin Tyukavin and Nail Umyarov from Dynamo and Spartak appeared on the field, respectively.
It is noteworthy that Capellas also made changes in the lineup: instead of Gustav Isaksen, Mohammed Darami came out.
However, if the Dane almost in the first attack had the opportunity to hit the gate of Maksimenko, then the Russians who entered the field were not so productive.
This stems from problems with the last pass.
Galaktionov's wards developed their attacks well, created pressure on the enemy's defense, but made mistakes in the final stage.
It was these flaws that prevented Tiknizyan from breaking through from the 11-meter mark, and Makarov from taking Umyarov one on one.
About half an hour before the end of regular time, Capellas finally believed in the success of his charges and decided to give practice to the reservists.
With a difference of four minutes, three substitutes of the Danes appeared on the field at once.
Galaktionov responded by entering Lesovoy's field instead of Zakharyan, but it was not possible to achieve a positive effect.
Over time, the sharpness at the gates of Christensen became very little, but Maksimenko had to demonstrate his skill.
All the same Larsen made a dangerous free-kick, but the Spartak goalkeeper did not allow the score to be made large.
The appearance of Alexander Lomovitsky on the field did not change the course of the game.
Galaktionov's wards continued to make unorganized raids on the opponent's penalty area, but without specifics.
At the end of the meeting, they two and a half times surpassed their rivals in the total number of shots (14: 6), and also took ten times more corners (10: 1), but did not succeed in the final stage.
The goal of Carlo Hols drew a line under the most unsuccessful match of domestic players in the tournament.
The Russians lost to the Scandinavians and finished their performance at the European Championship.