30.08.2005, 16:20:16

Fans of the Russian national team in the stands of the stadium. Photo by IA "Stadium"

"We create problems for ourselves"

The head coach of the Russian national football team spoke about the team's preparation for matches with Liechtenstein and Portugal

On September 3 and 7, the Russian national football team will play matches in the 2006 World Cup qualifying tournament against the teams of Liechtenstein and Portugal. The coach of the Russian team, Yuri Semin, held a traditional press conference at the Bor boarding house, at which he spoke about the changes in the team’s composition compared to the match in Riga, about bonuses for the team’s players and that the team creates all its problems for itself .

The head coach of the national team began his conversation with reporters by talking about changes in the lineup. Once again, as in the game with Latvia, CSKA left midfielder Yuri Zhirkov will not be able to help the team. In the European Super Cup match against Liverpool, the midfielder suffered a very severe bruise to the calf muscle, as a result of which he will not be able to take the field for three weeks.

Instead of Zhirkov, Lokomotiv midfielder Marat Izmailov, who only recently recovered from injury, was brought back into the national team. According to Yuri Semin, this football player gets in shape very quickly, and when healthy, he can benefit any team. “I know Marat very well and constantly follow his play. He took very good advantage of the small amount of time allotted to him in the matches with Rapid and Amkar, he came closer to his optimal condition, that’s why he’s in the team,” said the head trainer.

He also noted the return to action after injury of CSKA defender Vasily Berezutsky and national team captain Alexei Smertin, who had served a disqualification due to too many yellow cards, and after a hint from press attaché Ilya Kazakov, he also remembered Spartak captain Yegor Titov. Semin immediately dotted all the i's, saying that Titov was invited to the national team not as moral support for the year he missed due to doping, but as a real strengthening of the team.

The composition of the Russian national team for the matches with Portugal and Liechtenstein

Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA), Sergei Ovchinnikov (Lokomotiv), Dmitry Borodin (Torpedo)

Defenders: Vadim Evseev, Dmitry Sennikov (both Lokomotiv), Alexey Berezutsky, Vasily Berezutsky, Sergei Ignashevich (all CSKA), Alexander Anyukov (Zenit), Denis Kolodin (Dynamo)

Midfielders: Vladimir Bystrov, Egor Titov (both Spartak), Alexey Smertin (Charlton), Andrey Karyaka (Benfica), Evgeniy Aldonin (CSKA), Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Dmitry Khokhlov, Marat Izmailov (all Lokomotiv "), Igor Semshov (Torpedo), Sergei Semak (PSG)

Forwards: Andrei Arshavin, Alexander Kerzhakov (both Zenit), Dmitry Kirichenko (Moscow), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spartak), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Shinnik).

“He plays a lot and consistently for Spartak, he has been very active in the last matches,” said Yuri Semin. “Egor is playing very well, has gotten into excellent shape. We need him, with his experience and ability to play.”

The coach of the Russian team noted that the composition is almost completely determined, and even in the event of injuries to the players called to the training camp, it is unlikely that anyone else will be involved in playing for the national team. “We are keeping Igor Denisov from Zenit St. Petersburg in the nearest reserve,” Semin said. He also noted that no one can give guarantees against unexpected injuries.

Yuri Semin again drew attention to the fact that the national team players arrived at the national team’s base in different physical and psychological states, so again the main task is to bring the players to a common denominator through individual conversations and measured loads. In particular, Alexander Anyukov, Alexander Kerzhakov, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Andrey Arshavin train on an individual schedule.

The head coach of the Russian national team said that quite enough information had been collected about their closest rival, the Liechtenstein team, and the preparation for this game will differ slightly from that which was before the match with Latvia.

“After that game, we received a sufficient amount of useful information, which will allow us to take a different look at the problems in our game, and will strengthen our sense of responsibility before the match with Liechtenstein. After all, all the problems that the team has are created for us either by our opponents or by ourselves. Before match in Riga, I told the players that if we win, we will 80 percent guarantee the completion of the strategic goal - winning second place in the group. But it didn’t work out. Now the problems that have arisen need to be solved in the remaining meetings," Semin said.

The coach also said that the minimum program for the two upcoming games would be a victory over Liechtenstein and a draw with Portugal, and the maximum program would be a victory in both matches. He said that the players of the Russian national team will definitely watch episodes from the first match with the Portuguese in Lisbon, which ended with a score of 7:1 in favor of the hosts. According to Semin, another full review of the most shameful game in the history of the Russian national team does not make any sense.

Russian national team midfielder Marat Izmailov. Photo by IA "Stadium"

Yuri Semin also announced that players of the Russian national team will now be paid bonuses after each match. The sponsor of this event was the Nafta-Moskva company. However, he did not name the total amount of prize money that team players can earn during the qualifying tournament cycle.

“All other financial incentives will be given to the players if they successfully complete the task assigned to the national team. But I have no right to name the maximum amount that players can earn during the qualifying cycle, because there are certain contracts with certain conditions. In my opinion, it is simply unethical asking a person how much he earns,” the coach said.

He also did not ignore the problem of Russian national team players not being included in the main roster of their clubs due to too many foreigners. In particular, Dynamo Moscow midfielder Denis Kolodin firmly settled on the bench under the new head coach, Brazilian Ivo Wortmann.

“I have no right to comment on the policy of one particular club, since it has owners who give money and demand results. But I can once again draw attention to the fact that in Russia there is a need for a competent limit on foreign players. Currently there is simply none. This "The problem must be resolved primarily in the interests of the national team, so that we do not have the dominance of second-rate foreigners. As far as I know, the President of the RFU Vitaly Mutko is now addressing this issue," Semin said.

Naturally, there was a question about the interview with the captain of the Latvian national team Vitaly Astafiev, in which he accused the Russian side of trying to bribe players of the Latvian national team and representatives of the Latvian Football Federation.

“There’s one thing I don’t like about this whole story. When Astafiev’s interview appeared, almost all newspapers and news releases on central television channels paid the main attention to this event. But then, when he apologized, it was mentioned in passing. Let’s remain objective and not inflate sensations. In my opinion, the incident is over, because Astafiev himself did not fully understand what he said,” noted Yuri Semin.

At the end of the meeting, the head coach addressed the fans, urging them to fill the stands not only at the match with Portugal, but also at the match with Liechtenstein, emphasizing the importance of this support. Both games will take place at the Lokomotiv stadium and start at 19:00 Moscow time.

Andrey Sentsov

"We create problems for ourselves"

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Lenta.ru: Sports: “We create problems for ourselves”