Return of legionnaires: Karpin called Golovin and Miranchuk to the Russian national team, Dziuba is absent again

The coaching staff of the Russian national football team has announced the extended squad for friendly matches to be held at the end of March.

It is planned that on the 23rd in Tehran the national team will meet with Iran, and on the 27th in Sochi it will play with Iraq.

The RFU does not officially confirm this information, since negotiations are still ongoing with both countries.

However, it seems that they are already close to completion.

So far there are 41 people on the list.

Valery Karpin plans to announce the final line-up on March 16 following the results of the first meetings of the resumed season.

The main change compared to the last three training camps is the appearance of two foreign players: Alexei Miranchuk and Alexander Golovin.

“Previously, we did not call them because of logistical difficulties, but now the situation is a little different.

Firstly, this is due to the level of the alleged opponent in the first match.

Plus, in terms of logistics, this time it will be easier for Alexei and Alexander, since the second game at this training camp will also presumably be held in Russia.

Another important point: we didn’t disturb the legionnaires for a year, but I also don’t want to delay this pause for a longer period of time, ”the press service of the RFU quotes Karpin.

At the same time, there are no guarantees that both players will be in the final squad.

According to the former head coach of the national team Valery Gazzaev, there will be a serious dialogue with Torino and Monaco.

“Since the national team has been suspended and the clubs are in isolation, there will be a discussion.

Of course, I would like to play in full force against Iran.

Still, the team took part in the World Cup in Qatar.

This is a high quality team.

In Asian football, it’s definitely one of the best,” said Gazzaev.

At the same time, according to the honored coach of Russia Gadzhi Gadzhiev, Miranchuk and Golovin should come to the national team, regardless of what the team's opponents are.

“Football has been played everywhere, some are better, some are worse.

Therefore, it is necessary to come and play for your country, regardless of the level of the opponent.

And no matter what situation the team is in now, the challenge is a great honor for the athlete.

Therefore, when you are invited, the prestige of your own country should come first, ”said the interlocutor of RT.

As expected, Artyom Dzyuba did not get into the team, although the forward had an excellent first match for Lokomotiv, scoring a hat-trick against Rostov, which is also headed by Karpin, in the 18th round.

In the coaching staff, the absence of an attacker is explained by age.

The athlete is 34 years old, and now it is necessary to play young football players.

According to the ex-midfielder of Spartak Evgeny Lovchev, this is an absolutely correct decision. 

“Why call?

Artyom has been for many years - do you have to call him so that he puts a tick for himself?

Karpin looks to the future, the decision on Dziuba is logical.

If you look at it this way, let's bring back the Berezutsky brothers, Ignashevich, and we will say that it's better anyway.

Someday they will return us anyway, and let the young in such a situation, when the result is not particularly pressing, play enough.

We fought with average Asian teams, and now Iran is a participant in the World Cup.

There will not be this excuse in the form of a misconfiguration, ”Lovchev wrote in his Telegram channel.

By the way, Dynamo player Fedor Smolov, who is a year younger than Dziuba and, unlike his colleague, consistently scores for blue and white throughout the season, is also not in the squad.

Like Alexander Kokorin, churning out goals in Cyprus.

But no one speaks on this issue.

True, without the team's veterans, the Russian team's attack line looks very modest even in an expanded form: Fedor Chalov, Nikolai Komlichenko, Alexander Sobolev, Konstantin Tyukavin and Vladimir Pisarsky.

Moreover, the latter is worried about the injury, which is why he did not go to the base in the last match of the team with Dynamo.

Finishing the topic of age, in the current squad, like last time, only goalkeepers are over 30 years old: Soslan Dzhanaev, Sergei Pesyakov and Anton Shunin.

However, there are new faces among the gate guards.

For the first time, Ural goalkeeper Ilya Pomazun may be at the training camp of the national team.

This season he has played 23 games for Yekaterinburg and conceded 35 goals.

At the same time, former CSKA coach Sergey Ovchinnikov speaks very warmly about the 26-year-old goalkeeper.

In the defensive line, the name of Igor Diveev attracts attention.

The CSKA defender has not played since mid-September, when in the meeting of the 10th round of the RPL with Torpedo (0: 1) he received a fracture of the tibia.

However, the representative of the football player Oleg Eremin does not exclude that the athlete will have time to recover in the remaining time.

“While he is injured and trains individually,” said Eremin.

There are practically no sensations from the coaching staff in midfield.

With the exception of Mikhail Ignatov, who also has a chance for the first time in his career to get to the training camp of the national team.

Moreover, it is precisely the representatives of Spartak that this time in the expanded list, the majority - ten people.

Karpin called five players from Lokomotiv, four from Zenit, Rostov and Dynamo, and three from CSKA.

According to Zarema Salikhova, the wife of the former owner of the red-and-whites, Leonid Fedun, this is primarily the merit of the ex-sports director of the club, Luca Cattani.

“There was a period when no one was called up to the national team, except for Jikia.

Therefore, for the Italian, I set the task of completing the team so that the adult and youth teams of Russia consisted of a significant number of Spartak players.

He completed this task in six months, ”Metaratings quotes Salikhova as saying.

It is difficult to say how true this information is.

But in the first match of the 1/4 finals of the Russian Cup with Lokomotiv, for the first time in a long time, there was not a single legionnaire in the main squad of Spartak.