The appointment of Valery Karpin as the head coach of the Russian national team became known back on Friday.

This news was published on the official website of the RFU almost minute by minute with the starting whistle of the first round match of the RPL Rostov - Dynamo.

The decision was made so quickly that they did not even have time to sign a contract with the specialist in advance.

This was done only on Monday, when the mentor of the southerners flew to Moscow and signed all the necessary papers with the general secretary of the federation, Alexander Alaev.

After that, the coach, together with the head of national football, Alexander Dyukov, took part in a special press conference.

On it, the functionary handed Karpin a jersey of the Russian national team with his name on the back, but without a number.

We started the event with an exchange of compliments.

In particular, the president of the RFU called the new coach of the national team “one of the country's leading specialists” and stressed that his “Rostov” plays modern football.

“This is an aggressive game in which athletes do a lot of high speed work.

According to this indicator, the team is among the leaders.

She acts aggressively and compactly, does not press against her goal, seeks to meet an opponent in the middle block, and also knows how to press and counter press.

Finally, she tries to quickly get the ball to a third of the opponent's field.

This was demonstrated by the best teams at Euro 2020, ”the functionary said.

In turn, the coach thanked the RFU for their trust and admitted that, accepting the national team, he even felt uncharacteristic excitement.

“We all hope to cope with this task and reach the World Championship in Qatar.

There are seven official matches from the fire into the fire.

There will be no friendlies.

We don't have much time, and we need to spend it usefully.

Thank you very much to the RFU for its support, ”Karpin thanked.

At the same time, the coach, like many of his predecessors, asked for changes to the RPL calendar in order to get more time to get to know the players ahead of the 2022 World Cup qualifier meeting with Croatia, which will take place on September 1.

At the same time, the matches of the sixth round of the national championship are scheduled for August 28 and 29.

“I am a club coach, and I understand everything perfectly, but this is my personal request - to meet halfway, to help me and the national team get players a little earlier.

This is by no means a requirement.

If our colleagues treat with understanding, we will be very grateful, ”Karpin explained.

Many questions related to combining the posts of coach in Rostov and coach of the national team.

However, both Karpin himself and Dyukov called such a step a necessary measure.

Valery repeated the word "force majeure" more than once.

In turn, the head of the RFU stressed that there was no talk of combining for a long-term period.

According to him, the contract was signed before the end of this year with automatic prolongation until March 2022 in case the national team breaks into the play-offs.

“We went to meet Valery Georgievich, realizing that it would be wrong for him to put the club in a difficult situation, leaving him a few days before the start of the new season.

Therefore, such a decision was made.

In December, we will either agree to continue cooperation, and Karpin will leave Rostov, or we will look for a new coach, ”the functionary explained.

The coach immediately joked that by this time he could well be fired by the southerners.

But Dyukov made it clear several times that he hopes to continue cooperation even in the event of a failure in the selection of the 2022 World Cup.

“If Valery Georgievich’s stay is short, it will still give an additional impetus to the development of the national team.

He will continue work on building a new team, which was started by Stanislav Cherchesov.

She will play daring European football, ”the RFU head expressed hope.

Karpin himself did not begin to explain in detail what tactical changes he intends to carry out, but promised first of all to work on the mentality of the players so that they would not be afraid of anyone and enter the field without undue reverence for their rivals.

“You can play three central defenders or two, press higher or lower, but if you do it with caution, there will be no sense.

Therefore, it is important to change the mentality, or to call those people who already have the right one, ”the specialist explained.

Of course, Karpin was asked a question about the future of Artyom Dziuba.

It is no secret that the striker and the mentor do not have the warmest relations, and it was Valery who twice contributed to the departure of the striker from Spartak on loan to other clubs.

According to the coach, this factor will not affect the choice of the squad in the national team.

“He was and remains an important player in Russian football.

I may like someone or not, but it will be overboard.

If a person shows a game that will help Russia, he will be included in the national team.

This applies to everyone.

The doors to the national team are open, and they are opened primarily by the players themselves, ”the mentor assured.

He did not give the name of the captain beforehand.

The specialist expressed a desire to first get acquainted with the new wards, and then make an appropriate decision, having talked with everyone.

But the composition of the coaching staff is already known.

Karpin will be assisted by Nikolai Pisarev, Victor Onopko, Vitaly Kafanov, Luis Martinez and Jonathan Alba.

The first two will have to attend most of the RPL matches and provide all the necessary information to the head coach.

“After each round there will be a report on all candidates.

Kafanov is responsible for the analysis and selection of goalkeepers, ”Karpin added.

The coach himself intends to regularly communicate with his RPL colleagues.

In particular, he announced his desire to call Leonid Slutsky one of these days, in order to discuss, among other things, work when combining two posts.

“What worries me the most is psychological rather than physical fatigue, whether I have enough emotions for both Rostov and the national team.

After much deliberation, we decided that enough is enough, especially since the selection will end in November, ”the new head of the national team expressed hope.

Not without some unpleasant questions.

So, the coach was reminded of how, after Euro 2020, he announced his unwillingness to lead the national team.

Karpin explained that if Cherchesov was at the head of the team, he simply could not give another answer.

But Karpin refrained from evaluating the team's game under the former leader.

“We took the last place in the group at Euro 2020.

Everyone said it was an unsatisfactory result.

There is nothing more to talk about.

The psychological state of the players?

In 1999, we also did not make it to the Euro.

But this is football, and everything is forgotten.

I am sure that in September the players will not remember what happened at the continental championship, ”the coach said.

Dyukov was asked why he set a tough deadline to find a new head of the national team and whether this affected the course of negotiations with the candidates.

“Everything was done for rational reasons, and not in order to set the bar high on purpose.

We proceeded from the fact that on September 1, Russia will have a match with Croatia, and by this date the headquarters should be ready.

Therefore, the task was set to decide before the start of the season, ”the functionary replied.

According to the head of the RFU, negotiations were conducted with several candidates at once, including both Russians and foreigners, but Karpin was not at all a "backup option", as some media wrote.

In conclusion, both spoke about the limit on legionnaires.

Both Karpin and Dyukov agreed on the need to soften it.

The latter emphasized that negotiations are now underway with the government, including Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, but the restrictions are approved exclusively by the Ministry of Sports.

“The last RPL season was played on the 8 + 17 system. This is already a step forward. Analyzing the results, we can say that young Russians began to receive more playing time, and clubs began to take a more responsible approach to the choice of foreigners. But this scheme has its own ceiling of possibilities. We want to increase the level of competition in order to move to the best European practices and be guided by the recommendations given by UEFA, "the head of the RFU stressed.