New faces
If the composition of the Russian national team for a friendly match with Kyrgyzstan seemed too experimental to someone, then the starting protocol of the game with Tajikistan could shock some.
Among the players who got into the start, only Anton Miranchuk had more than five meetings for the national team, and for four this confrontation even promised to become a debut.
Alexander Soldatenkov, Sergey Pinyaev and Lechi Sadulaev, as well as Alexander Selikhov got a chance to prove themselves.
The 28-year-old goalkeeper moved to the camp of Spartak back in 2017, but did not play for his country.
In addition to Miranchuk, who got in good shape at Lokomotiv, the star duo of Rostov midfielders had to help their younger and less experienced partners.
This season, Daniil Utkin and Danil Glebov have formed a powerful fist in the center of the yellow-blue field and have already scored 11 (3 + 8) and seven (4 + 3) points according to the “goal + pass” system, respectively.
And that's not counting the winning goal in the same “freight train” with Kyrgyzstan, which could well have ended in a discouraging draw for Valery Karpin's wards.
In defense, against the background of newcomers, Maxim Osipenko looked like a real old-timer, for the fifth time trying on the uniform of the national team.
In addition to Soldatenkov, he was accompanied by Artyom Makarchuk and Danil Khlusevich.
But in their half of the work they had little.
The Tajik team rarely visited the opponent's penalty area and limited themselves to only three shots, none of which hit the target.
And the most dangerous was the “shot” by Ehsoni Panchshanbe, after which the ball ricocheted off the defender for a corner.
Pinyaev's activity
Another thing is that the Russians also could not boast of an abundance of dangerous approaches.
Yes, they delivered one more shot on goal and disturbed Rustam Yatimov three times, but did not create 100 percent chances.
Sadulaev, Miranchuk and Pinyaev hit from outside the penalty area and did not cause problems for the goalkeeper, while Fyodor Chalov's attempt to throw the goalkeeper who went off the target turned out to be inaccurate.
But the most offensive thing is that most of these episodes fit in the first 17 minutes.
After the first half of the half, the impression was that the Russian team would play a match with Tajikistan at a higher level than with Kyrgyzstan.
If at that time the domestic football players practically did not succeed, this time they acted much more harmoniously: they confidently possessed the ball, left their own half exclusively with the help of short passes and actively involved the flanks.
Pinyaev looked especially impressive, he did not hesitate to take on the game and not only perform aggravating passes into the penalty area, but also go to the dribble.
And this is in the status of the youngest debutant in the history of the national team (18 years 15 days), in which he replaced Igor Akinfeev.
But activity subsided rather quickly.
The Russians forgot about the pressure, slowed down and in the second half of the half did not create almost a single bright episode at the gates of Tajikistan.
If the same Pinyaev had not ventured into a long-range strike, then there would have been nothing to brag about at all.
Pesyakov's injury
Due to the fact that the meeting between Russia and Tajikistan was sanctioned by FIFA, the number of substitutions in it was limited to six.
However, this did not stop Karpin from holding three of them at once during the break.
Miranchuk, Chalov and Selikhov went to rest, and instead of them came Arsen Zakharyan, Vladimir Sychevoi and Sergey Pesyakov.
However, the Rostov goalkeeper was not destined to spend even ten minutes on the field.
He unsuccessfully stumbled on the artificial turf of the Central Republican Stadium and was injured.
Thus, Karpin was forced to urgently raise Anton Shunin from the bench.
And unlike his colleagues, the Dynamo goalkeeper had more work to do.
For the remaining time, he made three saves and even though he left the gate intact, he did not always act confidently.
Suffice it to recall how, having gone for the ball to the corner flag, he first waved his foot past it, and then, with an inaccurate pass, almost gave Tajikistan the opportunity to conduct a sharp counterattack.
Fortunately, the opponent failed.
Helplessness in attack
But to win back to zero was clearly not the main task of the Russian team in the confrontation with Tajikistan.
In the match with the 108th team of the FIFA rating, they expected from her, if not a hail of goals, then a more confident victory than over Kyrgyzstan.
But all those hopes were dashed.
In the second half, Karpin's wards could not undermine the enemy's massive, but not the most skillful defense, and were content with only a goalless draw.
Yes, you can blame the ambiguous decision of the chief referee not to count Utkin's goal in the end, but this is more like talking in favor of the poor.
In any case, in Dushanbe, the Russian football players did not demonstrate any bright game in attack, nor the desire to achieve a result at all costs.
Undoubtedly, the first can be explained by the lack of team connections and the presence of a large number of newcomers, and the second by the friendly status of the meeting.
But it is unlikely that in September Karpin advocated the organization of sparring so that his wards give all the best in them by 50%.
And this time it happened just like that.
In the second half, only the same Pinyaev and Zakharyan stood out against the general background, trying to lead partners and act as the organizer of Russian attacks.
Andrei Mostovoy, although he managed to disperse the offensive several times and even became the author of the last blow in the match, did not show anything impressive on the whole.
Daniil Fomin, on the other hand, spent about ten minutes on the field and only touched the ball six times, remembering a couple of inept attempts at processing.
Sychevy's debut also turned out to be a failure, but it is quite difficult to make claims against him.
In the absence of support, the dependent striker was deprived of the opportunity to be useful, but he still shot on goal a couple of times.
A headbutt after Glebov's submission turned out to be especially dangerous, but that's all.
The Russian team failed to beat the visiting team of Tajikistan and disappointed not only with the final result, but also with the content.
On the air of Match TV, the ex-midfielder of Zenit Vladislav Radimov has already subjected domestic athletes to harsh criticism and there is no doubt that many others will follow his example in the coming days.
True, the chance to rehabilitate will present itself already three days later, when Karpin's wards will face off with Uzbekistan.