New team
The first thing that catches your eye when looking at the composition of the Russian youth team for the first qualifying matches of EURO 2023 is serious changes compared even with the spring of this year.
Usually, after the end of the next cycle, several athletes from the previous convocation remain in the team.
But this time, the coach of the national team Mikhail Galaktionov retained only one person who took part in the final stage of Euro 2021 in March - Naila Umyarova.
He also received the captain's armband.
Dynamo players Arsen Zakharyan and Konstantin Tyukavin made it to the youth team by age, but they were called to the first team by Valery Karpin.
The backbone of the new team is made up of performers aged 19-21.
It is curious that most of them have little or no experience of performing at this level.
Many made their debut for the team in the June friendly matches with Bulgaria and Serbia.
And nine people never took to the field as part of the national team (Edgar Sevikyan, Alexander Chernikov, Maxim Borisko, Konstantin Maradishvili, Hamid Agalarov, Timur Suleimanov, Nikita Iosifov, Alexander Kutitsky and Kirill Bolshakov).
Dim generation
With regret, we have to admit that the current composition of the national team is significantly inferior in name to the previous one. Previously, Galaktionov had Fyodor Chalov, Igor Diveev, Ivan Oblyakov, Matvey Safonov, Magomed-Shapi Suleimanov, Daniil Utkin, Ivan Ignatiev, Alexander Maksimenko, Nikolai Rasskazov and the same Umyarov in the cage, who regularly played for domestic top clubs.
Now practically no one can boast of this, with the exception of just Nail. Also, unexpectedly, defensive midfielder Chernikov made his way to the main team of Krasnodar, who entered the field from the first minutes in all four games of the new RPL season. In fact, he managed to win the competition from the experienced Yuri Gazinsky. Also, Alexander Silyanov falls under the rotation in Lokomotiv. With the departure of Vladislav Ignatiev, he began to appear more often on the right flank of the railroad defense.
The rest are content with occasional appearances on the field.
Until recently, Konstantin Maradishvili was indispensable in CSKA, but under Alexei Berezutsky he does not enjoy much confidence, although he scored a goal against Rostov.
Spartak Mikhail Ignatov also has no place at the base, but he may well become the leader of the new youth team.
It is possible that the team will be built around him and Umyarov.
Goalkeeper Stanislav Agkatsev at the start of the season had one meeting for Krasnodar in the RPL, conceding twice from Arsenal.
Kirill Kravtsov from Zenit played 84 minutes in the Premier League and came on as a substitute in the Super Cup match.
Dynamo player Alexander Kutitsky got 15 minutes in the national championship, and Spartak player Ruslan Litvinov just got into the application.
Most of the players, even if they enter the field, are in the middle teams or outsiders of the Russian championship.
But some have problems with practice there as well.
Danil Stepanov, who made his youth team debut back in 2019, lost the competition at Arsenal.
Kirill Bozhenov is only training at Khimki.
Danil Prutsev's affairs in Wings of the Soviets are also not going well.
On the other hand, right midfielder Daniil Khlusevich (Arsenal), who is also able to close the defensive edge, is constantly playing in their teams, winger Vladislav Karapuzov (Akhmat), who has gone on loan from Dynamo, and striker Timur Suleimanov (Nizhny Novgorod).
But the other striker, Hamid Agalarov, pleases most of all.
A native of Makhachkala, he started his career at Anji, but moved to Ufa in 2020.
It was not possible to start playing right away, but this season the young footballer finally took the chance.
In the current RPL draw, he scored three goals and earned a penalty.
It is possible that it is Agalarov who will become the main striking force of the "youth team".
Finally, central defender Danila Prokhin benefited from a new loan at Sochi.
In the same place, the Zenit pupil plays regularly and even scored a goal in the confrontation with the Azerbaijani Keshley in the League of Conferences.
Minor league footballers
Confirms the thesis that the new convocation of the national team is significantly inferior to the previous one by the presence in it of several people performing in the FNL and even FNL-2.
Moreover, all representatives of the sub-elite division are pupils of Krasnodar.
Thus, Maxim Borisko from Baltika may well take a place at the goal.
In Kaliningrad, he competed with other goalkeepers for a long time and did not always appear on the field.
But when it came out, it was invaluable.
So, in the last season of the FNL, he did not concede a single goal in seven out of ten matches.
And in August 2020, there were even rumors about Lokomotiv's interest in him.
Two players in the national team represent Kuban, while both are on loan from RPL clubs. The name of the talented striker Kirill Klimov has long been heard. The son of a former domestic football player Valery Klimov, in 2019, decided to go to the Belgian Cercle Brugge. Then came the transfer to Monaco B. But conquering France with Alexander Golovin did not work, and Klimov Jr. signed a contract with Rubin. It was not possible to win the competition there either, and Cyril went on loan. However, in a new place, goals have not yet come to him - zero goals in seven matches in all tournaments.
Central defender Nikita Karmaev is on loan from Akhmat.
In the last three meetings of the FNL, he got into the base and even scored against Tekstilshchik.
Another representative of this role, Kirill Bolshakov, stands for Olymp-Dolgoprudny and is also not deprived of practice there, and once even received a captain's armband - and this is at the age of 21.
Finally, there are two performers on the roster from the third-strongest Russian league.
It's about Dynamo Ivan Budachev and Alexander Kutitsky.
The latter played at least one match in the RPL, but the 20-year-old goalkeeper was content with playing for the farm club in FNL-2.
Pupils of Lokomotiv from Europe
At the same time, there are two legionnaires in the youth team - Nikita Iosifov and Edgar Sevikyan.
Both are performing in Spain.
Sevikyan, a graduate of Lokomotiv, was not afraid to leave for Levant back in 2017.
“At first I didn't talk to anyone, I kept aloof.
Now I understand how strong the contrast was between me and the joyful, cheerful Spaniards.
They are on their own wave, and I seem to be from another world.
It was hard.
Also because at first I didn’t succeed in the game, ”the Match TV midfielder quotes.
However, Sevikyan gradually adapted and last year he finally made his debut in Example - he got seven minutes in the match against Getafe.
Edgar also had one match in the National Cup.
This season, the Russian, who is able to play on both attacking flanks and under the attacker, so far only gets time in Atletico Levante UD in the third division.
But he is quite capable of helping the national team and bringing his European experience to it.
20-year-old left winger Iosifov, unlike his compatriot, moved to Villarreal only this summer.
He is also a graduate of Lokomotiv, but the railroad workers did not manage to agree with the player on the extension of the agreement, after which he decided to try his hand at abroad.
Iosifov has already made his debut for the main team in a friendly match, but so far one cannot count on regular performances as a base.
Midfielder from Simferopol
There is also a native of Crimea in the national team.
Daniil Khlusevich was born in Simferopol and made his first steps in football on the territory of the peninsula, only at the age of 18 he moved to Arsenal.
This move actually saved his career, because the midfielder admitted that he thought to hang up his boots due to the lack of prospects.
“To be honest, it's pretty bad.
It is extremely difficult to break through from there to some strong championship.
Everything stands still, there is no development either in terms of infrastructure or in terms of training new players.
For many footballers, moving to the Russian league is akin to a miracle.
I am glad that I had a chance to prove myself at Arsenal, - said Khlusevich in 2018.
Nevertheless, Daniel always speaks out with love about his native land and specially plays in T-shirt number 82 (license plate of the peninsula).
“I’m not going to guess, but I want to live in Sevastopol.
The peninsula is developing under Russia.
I hope this will continue in the coming years.
Several times I traveled across the Crimean bridge, it is 19 km.
Impressive, ”the athlete admitted.
Over the past couple of years, he has made significant progress. Not only did he become Arsenal's main footballer, he also piqued the interest of Porto. At the beginning of 2020, a native of Simferopol went to this team for a viewing, although he did not sign a contract with the club.