| Wales and Russia will wait three more days for a resolution Having played a 0-0 draw with Wales on Saturday, the Russian national team once again confirmed the unspoken rule that it is not customary to be too happy about the draw. There is no need to analyze our team's game in detail, going over a few dangerous moments in memory. By and large, there is nothing to praise or reproach the Russian team for - they played as best they could, showing some kind of arithmetic average of their own strengths and weaknesses. What will follow after this - an emotional outburst or internal devastation - we will find out only on Wednesday, November 19, when the Russian and Welsh teams meet again in Cardiff, this time in a truly decisive match.
Our team is being seen off to Wales with ambivalent feelings. On the one hand, nothing is lost, and the score 0:0, from a certain point of view, is more beneficial for the Russian national team than for the Welsh: in the end, they need to score and win, and we need to score and not lose. On the other hand, not so long ago the leadership of the national team unanimously told us that the task of reaching the final part of the continental championship should be solved in the first match.
By the second, the disposition of forces had changed somewhat. Having received yellow cards, the second in this qualifying round, the team's main goalkeeper Sergei Ovchinnikov and Alexander Mostovoy will not be able to take part in the return match. The main thing is that these, some of the most experienced players, did not receive cards in game clashes. Both players were punished for a long tongue and simple international three-finger combinations. Considering the nature of the violations, as well as the experience of Ovchinnikov and Mostovoy, if desired, one can even assume that both simply withdrew from participating in the decisive meeting. “I can justify yellow cards if they are received in a fight. But when it’s like this, out of the blue... it’s beyond my understanding,” said Georgy Yartsev after the match.
At the same time, the head coach of the Russian national team is not faced with the question of who to replace Mostovoy. Georgy Yartsev publicly announced on Saturday that Yegor Titov would take the field in Cardiff. We can say that Mostovoy simply helped the coaching staff. Otherwise, they would have been faced with an insoluble dilemma: how to simultaneously fit Titov, Mostovoy, Loskov, and perhaps also Radimov into the field. “Titov must give harmony to our attacks. He will definitely be ready by November 19,” the head coach of the Russian team confessed.
But it will be more difficult to decide on a goalkeeper. Now, in addition to Ovchinnikov, the team has Akinfeev and Malofeev at its disposal. Both are undoubtedly talented goalkeepers, but neither the CSKA goalkeeper nor his colleague from Zenit St. Petersburg has experience of performing at such a high level. Suffice it to remember how nervous Akinfeev was in matches with the Macedonian “Vardar”. But the coaches are not going to invite another goalkeeper to the national team. And, frankly speaking, we no longer have goalkeepers who can immediately come and take the field in such an important match. In the meantime, according to Yartsev, “Malofeev and Akinfeev have the same chances to make it into the main lineup.”
If the national team coaches have yet to decide on the composition, then everything seems to be clear about the tactics for the game. “Naturally, we won’t run madly forward,” said Georgy Yartsev. “But we won’t sit on the defensive either.” In short, we will try to maintain a balance between attack and defense. Moreover, the Welsh team is unlikely to lock itself around its own penalty area, as in the first match. And we will have freedom to maneuver."
We will find out on Wednesday whether Yartsev and his team will be able to implement their plans. In the meantime, the Russian team, according to leading British bookmaker William Hill, remains the favorite. The Welsh themselves have a completely different opinion on this matter, which they will try to express on November 19 in the presence of almost 80 thousand fans at the Millennium Stadium. In the meantime, there was an ominous pause. Soon, escalating the situation, a drum roll will be heard, and we will find out whether the Russian team has mastered the trick called “Pull a ticket to Portugal out of a hat.” Andrey VDOVIN |
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