The new head coach of the Russian national team, Valery Karpin, has fully taken up his duties and announced the composition of the national team for the September matches.
He was immediately surprised by the number of players on the list.
31 people immediately received the invitation.
With this move, the coach kills two birds with one stone.
On the one hand, he makes it clear to as many performers as possible that he follows everyone and counts on them.
On the other hand, it provides itself with a choice.
We must not forget that in September the national team will play three important matches with Croatia, Cyprus and Malta in just a week.
Moreover, between the meetings, the players will have only two days of rest.
Thus, Karpin simply cannot do without fresh blood.
Some of the leaders will need to be given rest to avoid injury.
Finally, the specialist will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the players whose capabilities he does not yet know very well, for example, young Konstantin Tyukavin and Arsen Zakharyan from Dynamo.
Compared to the continental championship, the goalie line received the greatest renewal.
In part, it turned out to be forced.
For example, Matvey Safonov, who took up post number one already during the championship, was injured and played the RPL round four match on the bench.
The absence of Anton Shunin in the application did not come as a surprise.
Although Dynamo started the season well, the goalkeeper himself is still not in good shape.
It seems that he never completely recovered from the unsuccessful Euro.
But Marinato Guilherme returned. And his challenge just raises questions, since in the new season the Lokomotiv footballer has never played to zero, and in the battle for the Super Cup he made a gross effective mistake by giving the ball to Artyom Dzyuba. Sergei Pesyakov missed six goals altogether in three RPL matches, but also ended up in the national team.
And only the presence of Yuri Dyupin seems natural, because in six meetings in all tournaments he allowed himself to be upset only three times. Moreover, he is the best goalkeeper in the championship in terms of the number of saves (20) and the percentage of hits reflected - 90.9%. It would be quite logical if the Rubin goalkeeper would get a place at the base, although Guilherme has no less chances, on whose side he has a wealth of experience in participating in international tournaments, both for the national team and for the club. Finally, it cannot be ruled out that Alexander Maksimenko will get his chance, whom the fans were waiting for at the gate even under Cherchesov.
In defense, the presence of Mario Fernandez is noteworthy.
More recently, the media claimed that the naturalized Brazilian was going to refuse to play for the national team.
Karpin, in an interview with Nobel Arustamyan, had to deny this information and assure the fans that the defender is ready to enter the field, and now he backed up his words with deeds, including the defender in the squad.
True, he still did not guarantee himself participation in the next qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup, since in the recent confrontation with Rostov he was injured.
In this case, Fernandez can be replaced by the long-proven Vyacheslav Karavaev.
Stanislav Magkeev, Maxim Osipenko and Sergey Terekhov received their debut call-ups to the national team.
The first is a versatile footballer who can take both a place in the pivot zone and in the center of defense.
The second can also strengthen the center of defense and is perfectly familiar with Karpin's demands for Rostov.
But Maxim fully deserved the challenge with his game.
He was one of the best in his position in the Premier League last season.
For example, in terms of the average number of won horse single combats, I was in eighth place (3.6).
It is no coincidence that Zenit was interested in a pupil of Omsk football, according to media reports.
Finally, Terekhov from Sochi is able to provide a lot of work on the left flank.
True, it is better to use it with a scheme of three CZs, since the winger does not always have time to return to the defense, like Samoshnikov.
But there was no place for Andrey Semyonov from Akhmat. This allows us to assume with a high degree of confidence that the duo in the center of defense will be Igor Diveev and Georgy Dzhikia. At the same time, the presence of an experienced Fedor Kudryashov leaves Karpin the opportunity for a scheme with three central locks. In Rostov, the coach used both, and therefore it is possible that he will vary the formation depending on the opponent and the circumstances.
In the midfield, the absence of Magomed Ozdoev can be considered a problem for the new helmsman - the Zenit footballer suffered a serious knee injury. At the same time, absolutely healthy Yuri Gazinsky from Krasnodar has not been summoned. In this situation, Karpin can either use Daler Kuzyaev, Dmitry Barinov and Roman Zobnin in specialized positions, or try experimenting with less experienced players. In this case, the universal Kuzyaev will be able to close another problem area, for example, on the left flank.
It is also very curious whether Karpin will be able to unite Alexey Miranchuk and Alexander Golovin on the field.
Stanislav Cherchesov did not dare to experiment for a long time, explaining that he would hit the defensive work of the team.
The new coach does not see this as a problem.
In the already mentioned interview to Arustamyan, he stated that the combination is real.
According to the specialist, in the 4-3-3 scheme, which he used in Rostov, both can occupy both places on the flank and in the support zone.
As for the extreme midfielders, I was quite surprised by the challenge of Zelimkhan Bakaev and Alexey Ionov.
Both act on the right flank and are not impressive in the summer.
The first is still very far from itself a sample of the year before last, and the second is already 32 years old, and it is simply not capable of demonstrating such speed as before.
At the same time, Denis Makarov, who has already moved from Rubin to Dynamo, and his new teammate Arsen Zakharyan look much brighter in a similar position.
It is possible that Karpin will use Bakaev on the left edge, where the choice is not so rich.
It was in this position that Cherchesov used him in a couple of meetings.
Of the specialized performers, only Denis Cheryshev is able to close this zone.
And, of course, the main intrigue of the new line-up concerned Artem Dziuba.
The captain of the Russian national team did not score a single goal in the first matches of the season, and in the last game with Lokomotiv he was in reserve at all.
Fans wondered if the striker would receive the challenge.
As a result, the veteran was not included in the application.
On the one hand, this decision looks logical, because the forward is clearly not in the best condition.
On the contrary, a specialist's move can anger him and further motivate him.
On the other hand, Karpin very easily abandoned the man around whom the entire game of the national team was built in the past three years and without whom it was difficult to imagine.
Moreover, he did not include Alexander Sobolev in the application.
The Spartak player was seen as a replacement for Dzyuba, but he, like Artyom, fell out of the base in the club.
Having refused them, at least for the next meetings, the coaching staff demonstrated that they want to build the game in attack not only through the “pillar”, although one player can still try to execute it - this is the overall Anton Zabolotny.
But there is also Fyodor Smolov, whose strong qualities are technique and blow.
Finally, the fans waited for Tyukavin's invitation, who like no one else knows how to break into free zones and has an incredible scoring flair.
At the end of last season, he showed himself brightly at Dynamo and went with the youth team to Euro.
Now the 19-year-old striker has grown to become the main one.
It remains to be hoped that the fans will have the opportunity to enjoy their connection with Zakharyan and in the national team.
Considering that even the expanded squad included only three forwards, Tyukavin is likely to remain in it for all three matches.
In general, the list of forwards demonstrates that Karpin will try to play modern football, which will require a lot of work.
This is probably why Ionov received the challenge.