Without Fernandez and Ionov: in what state the Russian national team is approaching the qualifying match for the 2022 World Cup with Cyprus

On Saturday, September 4, the Russian national team will play another match in the qualifying tournament for the 2022 World Cup in football.

Valery Karpin's wards will play on the road with the national team of Cyprus.

The domestic team arrived in Nicosia in a truncated composition, the reason for which was largely injured.

The fight will already be missed by four players whom Karpin summoned to prepare for the September matches.

The first to go home was the goalkeeper of "Rostov" Sergei Pesyakov, whose appearance on the field in a national team jersey initially seemed unlikely.

And the expectations were confirmed when the goalkeeper was not even included in the application for the game with Croatia.

“At the first stage of the preparatory camp for the choice of the“ first number ”for the match with Croatia, we wanted to see as many goalkeepers as possible in action.

I know Sergei well from his work in the club.

And now, when there are two matches left, and the situation is more or less clear, it was decided to return him to Rostov so that he could continue training there.

The rest of the goalkeepers will remain until the end of this training camp, ”the RFU press service quotes the words of assistant head coach Vitaly Kafanov.

Thus, four goalkeepers remained to prepare for the confrontation with the Cypriots, including Marinato Guilherme, who confidently defended the goal of the national team in the last match.

Also at the disposal of the headquarters are Yuri Dyupin from Rubin, Alexander Maksimenko from Spartak and Andrey Lunev from Bayer.

The remaining losses are associated with various types of damage.

Daniil Fomin will not help the team because of back problems, and Mario Fernandez and Alexei Ionov do not feel the best after the match with Croatia.

Nevertheless, if the Dynamo midfielder was forced to leave the location of the Russian national team, then Fernandez and Ionov will prepare for the game with Malta.

“The coaching and medical staffs decided to give the opportunity for full recovery to Alexei Ionov and Mario Fernandez, who feel a little discomfort after the game with Croatia.

Both players will continue to train in Novogorsk and will be able to participate in preparations for the match with Malta, which will take place on September 7, ”the RFU press service said.

The absence of Fernandez and Ionov can be a serious headache for Karpin.

In the previous meeting, both were among the best on the field, this especially concerns the midfielder of Rostov.

Nevertheless, the head coach has performers who are able to compensate for the loss of both Ionov and Fernandez for a while.

The first on the right edge of the attack can be replaced by Zelimkhan Bakaev, Alexey Sutormin and Rifat Zhemaletdinov, who previously closed this position in Lokomotiv.

Instead of the second on the field, for sure, Vyacheslav Karavaev will appear, which means that Ilya Samoshnikov will come out on the left.

It is not surprising that at the press conference before the confrontation with Cyprus, one of the questions concerned the absence of a number of players.

Karpin admitted that the most sensitive will be the loss of Fernandez and Ionov

“Fomin was not even in the application for the Croats.

But I would not talk about injuries.

If the match had been in a few more days, they could have played.

After such an intense meeting for us, discomfort appears.

It is clear that we cannot risk playing two days later on the third, ”Karpin said.

Speaking about the future opponent, he said that one should not draw conclusions about his strength based on the result of the meeting with Malta (Nikos Kostenoglu's charges remained with ten men in the 40th minute of the meeting, and then conceded three unanswered goals).

“Naturally, Cyprus was dismantled.

The analysis was before the game with Croatia.

It is clear that the last game with Malta could only be dismantled before it was deleted.

We did not adjust to Croatia either, but in that match a strong team played against us, which from a certain moment did not allow us to do this.

We do not want to adapt to Cyprus, but we need to take into account the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent.

I think Cyprus will play with three central defenders, we will take this into account, ”said the specialist.

After the meeting with Croatia, one of the main topics for discussion was the absence on the field of the top scorer of the current RPL season, Fedor Smolov.

Karpin was asked if he plans to provide the striker with playing time in the upcoming match, but he did not share his vision of the squad.

“Will Smolov play tomorrow?

You will see everything tomorrow.

If it were open information, I would answer, "- quotes the words of Karpin" Sport-Express ".

Among other things, the mentor was asked about his possible continuation of work as the head coach of the national team, but he avoided a direct answer, recalling the details of his current agreement.

“My contract (calculated -

RT

) is until December 31st.

If we get into the joints, then it will automatically last until the end of March.

And if we get to the World Championship or don't get anywhere, then the agreement ends, ”the coach concluded.

On the eve of the meeting with Cyprus, one of the main intrigues is which of the Russians will enter the field as captain.

In the previous match, this honor went to Georgy Jikia, who coincidentally also attended the press conference before the game.

This time Dmitry Barinov came to the event.

In this regard, many suspected that the defensive midfielder of Lokomotiv would receive the bandage.

“In our team, everyone can be captains.

You will see everything tomorrow.

If the team entrusts me with the role, I'm ready, ”Barinov admitted.

The midfielder also explained why he often receives yellow cards recently and shared his opinion about his future opponent.

“I may not be in time, but my position suggests to be more aggressive on the field.

From this yellow and red.

But I am working on it and will try not to have them anymore ... We forgot the previous game, we are tuning in to Cyprus.

But we came here to win.

You say that this is not a strong team, but, in my opinion, it is a very good team, "concluded Barinov.

And it's hard to disagree with the footballer of the railway workers, even despite a major defeat from Malta, which threw Cyprus to the last place in Group H. After four rounds, the Kostenoglu team has four points and a home victory over Slovenia, keeping the chances of winning a ticket to the world championship in Qatar.

This only confirms that in their field the islanders may well present a surprise and take away points from Russia.