The disappearance of Dziuba, Barinov's confidence and Golovin's expectations: how the Russian national team prepares for the test game with Poland

Minus five footballers

The preparation of the Russian national football team for the European Championship is in full swing.

On Saturday and Sunday, the national team held two more training sessions at the training camp in the Austrian Neustift.

Stanislav Cherchesov's wards have one more lesson left, after which they will fly to Poland and there on June 1 they will play the first test match with the home team.

Over the weekend, Russian fans may have worried about the condition of individual players.

Midfielder Denis Cheryshev joined the defender Mario Fernandez, who was engaged in a separate program.

The absence of two leaders of the national team in the general group was explained by the results of medical monitoring - doctors advised both of them to train individually, but the reasons for this decision were not specified in the national team.

On Sunday, another disturbing news came from the national team's camp.

Zenit players Artyom Dzyuba, Daler Kuzyaev and Vyacheslav Karavaev finished their training ahead of schedule and went to the hotel.

Earlier, Cherchesov warned that he would give his players a pause at the first sign of illness, so that their departure from the field two days before the match with Poland could well be connected with this.  

"I feel a surge of strength"

But Dmitry Barinov has not experienced any problems lately.

The defensive player missed almost the entire last season and even managed to get a slight injury in the end, but now he feels good.

In a conversation with reporters, he noted that sometimes it was difficult for him to train, but it was not always so.

“Those five minutes of hard training that we talked about and after which you feel tired are ten intense seconds.

The work goes in pairs with sprints in both directions.

This is not the hardest training camp, I will celebrate yesterday's training and the first day in Neustift.

After the first one it was very difficult, at yesterday's work it was easier - I felt strength, and a good job went through, "Barinov told the Championship on May 29.

The Lokomotiv player admitted that after he tore his cruciate ligaments of his knee last summer, his greatest dream was to compete at Euro 2020.

Now he is confident that he will make the final squad of the national team.

“I will say for myself - I feel a surge of energy.

The guys are in good shape, but I needed to work a little.

I am adding in physics.

While I am preparing myself for friendly matches, and then we will prepare for the Euro.

It was a dream - after such a serious injury, to return and cope, with God's help, as they say.

I think I'll stay.

As for the friendly match with Poland, we don't have a squad yet.

We have tactics almost every day, but I cannot say about the composition, ”said the 24-year-old footballer.

"I do not envy Smolov, I want to go to Euro"

Daler Kuzyaev also spoke about the benefits of training in Neustift.

On Saturday, he said that he does not feel envy of Fyodor Smolov, who was left without a call to the team and is now spending time on vacation.

“I feel that in terms of physics I have added.

Very intense training, short 3v3 games, running from free kick to free kick - everything will be beneficial.

I do not envy Smolov, who jumps into the sea.

I would like to play Euro.

There is no desire to miss this.

In training and in games, I always try to give my best.

It turned out that this season I managed to play much brighter than last.

We managed to prepare well in the winter, make connections, we have a good team.

All this gave us a good result, ”said Kuzyaev.

The Zenit midfielder noted that the team is setting itself up for the maximum result at Euro 2020 and will not be content with the third place in the group, even if it will allow it to reach the playoffs.

“We set maximum goals for the Euro.

Successful performance at the World Championship is proof of this.

We can take a step forward in this tournament.

I agree that just getting out of the group from third place will not be a success.

We set maximum goals.

There is no fear of Belgium.

Yes, a high-class team, the first place in the ranking.

You can play with every opponent.

It will be difficult from a position of strength, but we play in St. Petersburg, the fans will come to cheer for us.

We will do our best to play with dignity, ”said the footballer.

"The first step is to leave the group"

On May 30, Alexander Golovin celebrated his 25th birthday.

On this occasion, the bronze medalist of the French championship as part of Monaco went to the journalists and told how his first days in the Russian national team went.

“Nobody has given a present yet, there will be a cake in the evening. Not more. Getting ready. Everyone in the team group "Monaco" also congratulated everyone. I didn’t expect any indulgences today, and I don’t want to. We got involved in the work, we feel fine. It was tough since it was two weekends after the last game of the season, but now it's okay. The coaching staff has not yet set out the tasks for the tournament. Everyone understands perfectly well that the first step is to leave the group. We are preparing for this, we are well aware that we must do this. We want to go as far as possible. If you want to win, you should always take the maximum. But the first step is to leave the group, ”the midfielder shared his expectations.

Rubin's midfielder Denis Makarov also spoke about the hard work at the training camp. Unlike some experienced players, he is not guaranteed a place in the national team, but he is still ready to give his best in training.

“I got used to the national team very well, about ten days have passed, the guys received it well. Through training, I joined the team. Probably the hardest work is going on here. More time to prepare for the European Championship than for the youth Euro. We gathered there in five or six days, it didn't even make sense to load up. And here we have almost three to four weeks to get ready. Of course, the club has a similar job. Both in the club and in the national team there is a power load. Barinov said that 100% will be in the application for the Euro? I wish you good luck. As for me, it will be decided by the coaching staff. I do not know yet. I do not think whether they will take me or not, I just work. It all depends on the coach, ”said Makarov.