The news that the Russian national football team will not take part in the draw for the Euro 2024 qualifying tournament coincided with the first open training session of the national team in Novogorsk, where a crowd of journalists from the country's leading media arrived.
Of course, everyone was interested in the opinion of athletes and coaches on this matter, because domestic football was actually cut off from major international tournaments for four years by this UEFA decision.
The next World Cup will be held in the USA, Canada and Mexico in 2026.
And what’s scary in this situation is not even the lack of motivation of the team for friendly matches, which, as the RFU has shown, it will be possible to organize.
The actions of international politicians and functionaries actually deprive a whole generation of players of the opportunity to prove themselves.
Already, the coaching staff of the national team is betting on the youth.
The team mainly invites players under 30 years old, with the exception of goalkeepers Anton Shunin and Mikhail Kerzhakov.
So, we can assume that Fedor Smolov and Artyom Dziuba have been retired.
Forward "Adana Demirspor" and so was in conflict with Valery Karpin.
Now the head coach has an "official" reason not to invite the striker.
“I don’t follow the Turkish championship.
What for?
Dziuba is 30+, and we are now watching the youth, ”the mentor joked when talking to reporters.
However, even in the updated line-up there are those who are now at the ideal age to prove themselves at the international level.
For example, Spartak forward Alexander Sobolev.
He turned 25 in March and, according to experts, this year he finally understood how to behave on the field.
“Stopped bullshitting.
It will continue to act like this, and everything will work out, ”Vladimir Ponomarev, CSKA veteran, explained in a conversation with RT.
Of course, the attacker's statistics did not improve dramatically from this.
Last season in 36 matches he scored 15 goals, and now in 13 meetings he scored five goals.
Nevertheless, the quality of the game has grown, which is confirmed by the call to the national team, where he has not been for a long time.
At Euro 2020, Sobolev was included in the squad of the national team and even went on the field as a substitute in two matches: with Denmark and Finland.
But then Dzyuba was the leader in the team.
Alexander, on the other hand, was rather taken for the future.
In 2026, the forward will turn 29 years old.
Of course, not the end of a career, but not its heyday either.
Although there are enough examples in history when players revealed themselves late, but at the same time they brought tremendous benefits.
At the same age, Georgy Yartsev shone after moving from Spartak Kostroma to Moscow, and Konstantin Zyryanov became a national star, replacing Torpedo with Zenit.
Older Sobolev defenders George Jikia and Vyacheslav Karavaev, midfielder Daler Kuzyaev, forward Nikolai Komlichenko.
Almost half of the current, already updated composition, for the World Cup in America will not be so young and fresh.
And the biggest psychological test now falls on their shoulders.
In such a situation, it is not easy to answer journalists' questions.
Especially when it's hard to comprehend what's going on.
After all, nothing depends on the players in this situation.
It's one thing if they themselves hadn't qualified for the tournaments in Qatar and Germany, then they could have sprinkled ashes on their heads, but here the players, like other Russian athletes, turned out to be hostages of the situation.
Therefore, it is quite logical that Chalov and Sobolev’s communication on the topic of the national team on Tuesday turned out to be not the most incendiary.
The players were ready for dialogue, but they simply did not understand how to answer the questions that were raised.
What they confessed to.
Almost every answer began with phrases like “Nothing depends on us”, “It’s hard to say something”, “We are already upset.”
And does it make sense to repeat once again that European officials spit on a whole generation of athletes.
They still won't hear.
It is not easy now for the coaching staff.
Karpin's contract expires in December.
It was automatically extended for the play-offs for the right to play at the World Cup in Qatar.
But after the hysteria of Polish officials, picked up by other countries, the team did not compete for a ticket to the tournament.
The specialist is not yet talking about a new contract with the RFU, but continues to look at the youth, promises to coach the players tactically and bring the game to a high standard.
The day before, he allowed journalists to spend more than half an hour at the field instead of the prescribed 15 minutes and watch how the team works out the pressure.
There was nothing surprising in the exercise, but the effect of involvement in the process convinced me that in the absence of global motivation, the mentor will not stop asking the wards in full.
At the same time, Karpin tries not to lose his presence of mind.
Speaking about the suspension of the team, he deliberately corrects the media: "Not for two years, but until further notice."
So, the specialist still retains hope for a speedy return to the international arena.
And it doesn't look like he's going anywhere.
Still, his work in the national team has not yet come to an end.