"I will never regret that I decided to play for Russia": Fernandez announced his retirement in the national team

Difficult choice

The news of the end of Mario Fernandez's career in the national team did not come as a big surprise.

Back in August, the media reported that the naturalized Brazilian was thinking about such a step, but he came to the first training camp of the national team under Valeria Karpin and even played with Croatia.

As a result, he became the last for the defender.

The footballer explained his decision by the increased frequency of injuries and the desire to have more time to recover.

“I would like to focus on playing for the club that has become my home and give the youth the opportunity to develop in the national team.

So I decided to leave right now.

It was a great honor for me to wear this T-shirt, to protect its colors, I will never forget that, ”the RFU official website quotes the athlete as saying.

A little later, he spoke in more detail about what happened in an interview with the press service of CSKA.

According to Fernandez, he really thought about leaving the national team even after the end of Euro 2020 and even spoke on this topic with the general director of the army team Roman Babaev, but after Stanislav Cherchesov left, he wanted to help the new headquarters.

“Of course, I discussed the end of my career with Karpin.

I would never have left if I had not coordinated this move with the coach.

I explained my position to him.

And I would like to thank the specialist for the support he gave me.

The RFU is also aware of my intention, ”explained Mario.

The defender also addressed an open letter to the domestic fans, in which he thanked them for their excellent support and stressed that he would forever remember each of the matches played for Russia.

“Sincerely - I will never regret that I decided to play for Russia, not Brazil.

I gave my all in the national team, in every match, starting with a friendly game with Dynamo and ending with a meeting with Croatia in Luzhniki, which was the last for me.

I want everyone to know: I played for partners and for you, dear fans.

Who have always supported us - both on TV and at the stadium, ”the naturalized Brazilian assured.

In turn, the president of the RFU, Alexander Dyukov, admitted that the leadership of domestic football reacted with understanding to the step of the 31-year-old football player, although his departure would be a serious loss for the team.

Karpin also agreed with his immediate supervisor.

At the same time, he fully confirmed that Mario really thought about saying goodbye to the national team back in August, but agreed to come to the September training camp in order to make a final decision upon its completion.

“Closer to the end of the training camp, we talked again, Mario explained that it was already difficult for him to fully surrender himself to both the club and the national team, and therefore decided to focus on CSKA.

Of course, the coaching staff is very sorry that he ended his career, but we were sympathetic to this.

I would like to thank him for his professionalism, attitude to work, for everything that he gave to the national team.

And, of course, I wish him a successful club career ", - quotes the RBC specialist.

The former mentor of the national team Stanislav Cherchesov, under whose leadership Mario made his debut in the national team and spent most of the meetings, spoke about Fernandez's step.

“Our headquarters have been working with Mario for four years.

He independently made the decision to play for the Russian national team, and for us from the personnel point of view, this was, of course, strengthening.

All the time, he absolutely deservedly was in the national team as the main performer and brought great benefits ... When making a decision, a football player is always based on his feelings.

For our part, we can only thank Fernandez for the dedication and professionalism that he demonstrated on the field wearing a Russian national team jersey, and wish you good health and a successful performance for CSKA ", - quotes the Sport24 coach.

More frequent injuries

Unfortunately, in recent years, an experienced football player has actually been plagued by various injuries.

Until 2020, if a defender was out of action, then, as a rule, not for long.

The exception was a rupture of knee ligaments, received in the spring of 2013, due to which the naturalized Brazilian missed six months.

And from November 2018 to October 2020, he did not miss a day at all.

But after health problems began to literally pursue Mario.

The coronavirus started.

Before the footballer had time to recover, he injured his thigh and missed six CSKA meetings, as well as the League of Nations.

This year, the defender spent almost two months on sick leave, healing his thigh, face, back, knee and groin.

Because of the latter, the army player almost missed Euro 2020, but still managed to recover.

The last straw was knee problems.

Despite this, the veteran played 78 minutes in the confrontation with Croatia, but did not even get into the application for the meetings with Cyprus and Malta.

Moreover, according to media reports, the lateral risks missing for about a couple of months.

An irreplaceable defender

Although Fernandez defended the colors of the Russian national team for only four years, his name will forever remain in the history of Russian football.

He not only became one of the first naturalized foreigners, but also, perhaps, the only one who, by his game, fully justified obtaining a passport.

It is curious that the defender managed to play one match for his native Brazil, but since he wore the status of a friendly, he had the right to change his sports citizenship.

And in July 2016, President Vladimir Putin satisfied the athlete's application for admission to Russian citizenship.

The debut had to wait for over a year.

Only in September 2017, the army player entered the field in a control meeting with Dynamo and even scored.

But the lateral was not included in the application for the Confederations Cup due to a broken nose.

However, Fernandez quickly became indispensable in Cherchesov's team and missed matches only in case of health problems, which at that time were not of such a serious nature.

Of course, the home World Cup was the highlight of Mario's career with the national team.

At the World Cup, the defender spent all the fights from the first to the last minute, with the exception of the game with Uruguay.

And the fans loved him forever for the goal against Croatia in extra time in the quarterfinals of the tournament. Then the footballer, after the filing of teammate Alan Dzagoev with a free kick, equalized the score and gave the country hope for a miracle. Unfortunately, in the penalty shootout the hosts lost, and Mario himself did not realize his attempt. But this did not affect the attitude of the fans, who finally accepted him, despite the poor knowledge of the language. In him, they saw a real fighter who fights to the end in every episode of the game, not sparing himself.

Fernandez tirelessly plowed the right flank, having time to both work out in defense and help the attack.

It is no coincidence that he often scored points for performance.

In Euro 2020 qualifying, the defender hit the gates of Kazakhstan in the last minutes and gave assists in matches with San Marino and Scotland.

In the last UEFA Nations League, he scored the winning goal for Hungary.

Finally, the naturalized legionnaire successfully started the qualifying round for the 2022 World Cup.

In March, he managed to upset both Malta and Slovakia.

In total, the footballer has 33 matches for the national team, in which he scored five times.

Karpin's headache

On the one hand, the departure of an experienced athlete will be a serious blow to the national team.

After all, as already mentioned, entering the field in a national team jersey, he always became one of the best.

So, in the last match for himself with Croatia, Mario did not allow anything on the right edge to be done by such stars as Ivan Perisic and Niko Kovacic.

In total, he made six positive defensive actions: one tackle, one interception and one carry-out, and three blocked strikes.

He also gave 43 assists (third place in the team) with a high accuracy of 88.4%.

For comparison: Vyacheslav Karavaev on the opposite side did ten less.

Yes, and at Euro 2020, Fernandez stood out as part of Cherchesov's team, although in the victorious meeting with Finland he was replaced in the first half due to back injury.

Despite the painful injury and suspicion of a fracture, the defender entered the field from the first minutes and in a decisive confrontation with Denmark, which only emphasizes his indispensability.

On the other hand, the CSKA footballer is no longer young.

At 31 years old, given the abnormal number of injuries in recent years, it is difficult to expect progress from him.

Probably, he himself understands this, and therefore declared his desire to "give way to the young."

With a high degree of probability, in the near future he will be replaced by the universal Karavaev, who is no stranger to playing for the national team on the right flank of the defense.

Ilya Samoshnikov will play on the opposite side, rapidly adding to Rubin.

It was this pair that Karpin released in a meeting with Cyprus.

True, in the game with Malta on the right edge, the nominal midfielder Daler Kuzyaev unexpectedly settled down, but this can be called a one-time action for a specific opponent.