Lodygin's challenge, rumors about Djokovic's visit and the presentation of a new uniform: how the Russian national team is preparing for friendly matches

“It’s interesting to look at yourself at the level of these groups”

The upcoming matches with Serbia and Paraguay promise to be one of the most interesting since the Russian national team was suspended from international tournaments.

Firstly, it will be possible to fight with strong opponents, including from Europe, with an interval of just a few days.

Secondly, the meetings will be held at home - at the VTB Arena.

The postponement of the RPL round due to the presidential elections also played into Valery Karpin’s hands.

He now had enough time to calmly prepare his charges.

Most of them arrived at UTB “Novogorsk” on March 15 after the cup matches.

All that remains is to wait for the legionnaires.

It is important that this time we managed to call all the strongest, including Alexey Miranchuk, Arsen Zakharyan and Alexander Golovin.

In total, 28 people were included in the list.

“The final lineup of football players called up for the training camp was compiled based on the two RPL rounds played.

If there are changes in it, they will be minimal.

We hope everyone will be healthy and arrive in Novogorsk in a good mood,” Karpin explained.

A little later, one change was made to the application, and it was unforced.

The invitation was received by Yuri Lodygin, who plays for Panathinaikos.

Goalkeeper coach Vitaly Kafanov explained this by the fact that the athlete made it into the Athenians team this season, and by the desire to get to know him personally.

The 33-year-old goalkeeper himself became the oldest in the current national team roster and did not hide his joy from his first visit to the national team since 2016.

“The emotions are wonderful.

It’s very nice, because I haven’t even flown to Russia for two years now, since I’m playing in Greece.

The time after I left Russia was difficult.

But I gained even more experience and am glad to return to the national team after so long.

This is very important for me, because this is what I strived for,” Lodygin said in an interview with the RFU press service.

A little earlier, Karpin, assessing the level of his opponents, expressed confidence that fans would fill the stands to capacity.

“It’s interesting to look at yourself at the level of these teams.

Is rotation minimal?

More likely yes than no, but I can’t say right now; it will be necessary to study the physical condition of the wards.

I'm sure you'll have to give 200%.

Whether everyone will have time to recover for the second match is a question, but there will be rotation.

We will make changes, but not so global,” the specialist promised.

By the way, it is curious that the rivals’ application also included many representatives of the RPL.

Only the Serbs called up three: Sasa Zdelar and Milan Gajic from CSKA and Strahinja Erakovic from Zenit.

They could have been accompanied by Spartak defender Srdjan Babic, but he was not included in the final roster.

“I’m sure it will be a great show.

I am convinced that a friendly atmosphere will reign in the arena, because we know: Serbs and Russians are brothers, and a wonderful atmosphere will definitely be ensured,” Erakovic expressed hope.

Meanwhile, RFU President Alexander Dyukov is already working on organizing the next matches.

According to him, the national team will hold two training camps this summer.

One of them with Belarus is in Minsk.

The manager explained the decision to play away from home with a desire to support his neighbors and provide domestic fans with the opportunity to visit the beautiful city.

The second one may take place in Russia.

Gagarina's speech and Pelageya's invitation

Meanwhile, preparations for the upcoming control games are in full swing in the capital.

They came up with a particularly interesting program for the confrontation with Paraguay.

It will be dedicated to the upcoming Cosmonautics Day and the recent 90th anniversary of the birth of Yuri Gagarin.

The list of performing musicians has been compiled accordingly.

Thus, the famous namesake of the first cosmonaut in history, Polina Gagarina, will perform the hit “A Million Voices,” which she sang at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015.

Also on stage will be the group NLO with the composition “Dancing”, MIA Boyka - “Gagarin” and the group “Zemlyane” - “Grass at the House”.

As for the national anthem, it will be sung by People’s Artist of the Russian Federation Vasily Gerello.

And before the game with Serbia, Pelageya will receive this fate.

It is possible that another guest of honor will appear in the stands.

According to Match TV, Novak Djokovic may attend the meeting with Serbia.

Allegedly, he received an appropriate invitation from the RFU.

Moreover, the first racket of the planet withdrew from the Masters in Miami, which will be held from March 20 to 31, and accordingly, was released on the specified date.

However, the President of the Russian Tennis Federation (RFT), Shamil Tarpishchev, said that so far he has no information about the star’s possible visit.

A source close to the athlete assured that he has no such plans at all.

But there was good news for those football fans who do not have the opportunity to get to the stadium in person.

Until the last moment, it remained unclear where the meetings would be broadcast.

As a result, Match TV will show both.

“The negotiations really turned out to be difficult, but we are glad that we will show the games of the national team and give the whole country the opportunity to cheer for them live,” said the general producer of the TV channel, Alexander Tashchin, on the Telegram channel.

“Karpin’s comments helped us finalize the details”

At the same time, the Russians will play the upcoming games in a new uniform.

It was presented on March 10 at the exhibition-forum “Russia”.

The ammunition was made by the domestic manufacturer Jogel.

The company turned to the theme of folk tales.

For example, the home kit is made in traditional red colors and is dedicated to the Firebird.

In particular, a pattern in the form of her shining feathers is imprinted on it.

The away shirt, white, plays up the frosty patterns and beauty of the ice.

Karpin was completely satisfied with the equipment.

“For a football player, it is important that it is attractive, evokes good emotions and is of comfortable quality.

I think the producers fully coped with all the tasks,” the coach noted.

And the head of the marketing and commerce service of the RFU, Ilya Fimushkin, emphasized that together with Jogel they carried out large-scale work, and the manufacturer really satisfied all the wishes.

“We were in dialogue with 15 brands, then this pool narrowed.

Some were not ready to do the design, some were not up to par in technology, for completely different reasons.

Jogel brought a bag of basic equipment, water was poured, crushed, burned.

What was striking was that it also had working technologies for moisture removal and ventilation, and even the quality of the fittings turned out to be expensive.

We realized that if the basic equipment is of this level, then everything will work out,” the functionary noted.

Finally, according to the founder of the company, Arthur Movsesyan, during the manufacturing process he consulted with Karpin, and he gave several competent tips.

“Short, productive and effective.

Valery Georgievich, with his rich experience of playing both for the national team and for clubs, helped with his introductions.

This comprehensive look at equipment was very important.

His comments helped us finalize the details,” Movsesyan added.