Translated material
The locomotive of permutations
Leonid Slutsky opened a grandiose season of coaching resignations in Russian football
The season has not yet ended, and the coaches of the Russian Football Premier League teams are slowly vacating their chairs. The most unexpected resignation of the final championship was the dismissal of Moscow head coach Leonid Slutsky. The specialist is parting with the team after the most successful season in its entire short history - “Moscow” was in the final of the Russian Cup this year and has already guaranteed itself fourth place in the championship.This is far from the last high-profile personnel decision of the ending season. The last weeks of Anatoly Byshovets' tenure as Lokomotiv's coach are underway; most likely, Rashid Rakhimov is leaving Amkar for a promotion, and in St. Petersburg they are waiting for Dick Advocaat to decide on his future. And all these coaching changes are somehow interconnected.
At the same time, the figure of Leonid Slutsky quite unexpectedly appeared on the labor market of domestic coaches. After the match of the 29th round lost by “Moscow” to “Zenith” (0:1), the “citizens” are already a round before the end of the championship and are sure that they will not reach the “bronze” - CSKA, playing away with the most unreliable team among the bookmakers Premier League - Rubin Kazan - will not miss its goal. “The task for the season was not completed, and we made a joint decision to part ways,” said Moscow general director Yuri Belous, noting that he has candidates for the vacant position.
Slutsky's resignation seems illogical only from the outside. There have been tensions for a long time between the head coach of Moscow and its general director regarding the issues of staffing the team and the playing model. But first of all, the coach was blamed for his inability to win key matches; there were also complaints about the players’ preparation for the season: Slutsky’s teams, having started the season briskly, failed at the end of the championship.
Leonid Slutsky will not be left without offers. For example, the chairman of the board of directors of Lokomotiv, Sergei Lipatov, has long been interested in the 36-year-old coach. Now, however, the position of the current head of Loko is not very strong. But if he retains his post, the appearance of Slutsky on the coaching bench in Cherkizovo will become quite likely.
Lokomotiv is in no hurry to either confirm or deny the possible castling - Anatoly Byshovets is at the helm of the team until the end of the season, whose candidacy was once lobbied by the first vice-president of Russian Railways, Vadim Morozov. Leonid Slutsky, too, before the official parting with “Moscow”, which will take place this coming Sunday, avoids commenting on his future employment. But the position of Lokomotiv coach is now the most tempting for coaches looking for work.
Lokomotiv has almost the best set of players in the Premier League and last season got rid of Vadim Evseev and Dmitry Loskov - two charismatic players who had already lost some of their playing qualities. With such a lineup, Lokomotiv is unlikely to find itself lower in the standings than after this championship with any coach, and the wave of scandals that beset the club has already subsided.
But with all this, Loko has a good chance of qualifying for the spring stage of European competition. On Thursday, November 8, the Railwaymen will have an away match in Scotland with Aberdeen as part of the UEFA Cup group stage, and then two more games with Panathinaikos and Copenhagen. So Anatoly Byshovets still has a chance to leave not the worst memory of himself in Cherkizovo. There are already several options for who will replace him. In addition to Slutsky and a certain mysterious “foreign specialist,” we are specifically talking about Rashid Rakhimov. The Amkar mentor has so far refrained from commenting on the change of job, but is in no hurry to refute rumors about his move to Moscow.
Lokomotiv President Yuri Semin, in turn, would like to see his dacha neighbor Valery Gazzaev in his club as the head coach. But the other day, the head of CSKA, Evgeny Giner, unequivocally stated that he was not going to resign the team coach even after such an unsuccessful season, in which the army team could only win bronze and had already lost their real chance of leaving the group in the Champions League. Giner’s decision, however, may not be final: today CSKA will have another game in the Champions League, and if the army team loses to Inter again and ends up in last place at the end of the group stage, the issue regarding Gazzaev may be reconsidered by the club’s board of directors.
The decisive match is yet to be played by Dick Advocaat. In St. Petersburg there is no doubt that the trip to Ramenskoye to Saturn will be victorious and Zenit will win gold in the national championship for the second time in its history and for the first time since 1984. The plan for the celebrations at the Petrovsky Stadium has already been planned. On its scoreboard, fans will first watch the broadcast from Ramenskoye, and then honor the team itself, which will be delivered to St. Petersburg on a special flight that has already been ordered. And when emotions subside, bargaining will begin with the Dutchman for a new contract. Advocaat, having in hand an offer from the Australian Football Federation and confirming his work at Zenit with results, can count on a significant increase in salary, which now, according to unofficial data, is about 2 million euros.
Coaching reshuffles in other teams are also possible. Dynamo coach Andrei Kobelev has offers from almost all capital clubs. Kurban Berdyev finally intends to move to a managerial position at Rubin, leaving the coaching work to an invited specialist. And judging by the fact that the Kazan team has extensive plans for the next season, Rubin will not skimp on either transfers or a new head coach.
Akinfeev returned to the national team
Head coach of the Russian national team Guus Hiddink named the squad for the final matches of the Euro 2008 qualifying round with Israel (November 17) and Andorra (November 21).
Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA), Vladimir Gabulov (Kuban), Vyacheslav Malafeev (Zenit). Defenders: Alexander Anyukov (Zenit), Denis Kolodin (Dynamo), Alexey Berezutsky, Vasily Berezutsky, Sergei Ignashevich (all CSKA). Midfielders: Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA), Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Lokomotiv), Igor Semshov (Dynamo), Konstantin Zyryanov (Zenit), Dmitry Torbinsky (Spartak, Moscow), Viktor Budyansky (Udinese), Ivan Saenko (Nuremberg), Roman Shirokov (Khimki). Forwards: Andrei Arshavin, Pavel Pogrebnyak (both Zenit), Alexander Kerzhakov (Sevilla), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spartak, Moscow), Dmitry Sychev (Lokomotiv).
Premier League
| 1. Zenit | 29 | 17 | 7 | 5 | 53--32 | 58 |
| 2. Spartak M | 29 | 16 | 8 | 5 | 48--29 | 56 |
| 3. CSKA | 29 | 13 | 11 | 5 | 42--24 | 50 |
| 4. "Moscow" | 29 | 14 | 7 | 8 | 37--31 | 49 |
| 5. "Saturn" | 29 | 11 | 12 | 6 | 34--27 | 45 |
| 6. Dynamo | 29 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 36--33 | 41 |
| 7. "Lokomotiv" | 29 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 37--39 | 41 |
| 8. Amkar | 29 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 30--25 | 41 |
| 9. "Ruby" | 29 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 31--38 | 35 |
| 10. "Tom" | 29 | 7 | 11 | 10 | 37--34 | 35 |
| 11. Khimki | 29 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 28--32 | 34 |
| 12. “Wings of the Soviets” | 29 | 8 | 8 | 13 | 34--42 | 32 |
| 13. “Beam-Energy” | 29 | 8 | 8 | 13 | 25--37 | 32 |
| 14. "Spartak" N | 29 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 28--38 | 30 |
| 15. "Kuban" | 29 | 6 | 11 | 12 | 24--36 | 29 |
| 16. "Rostov" | 29 | 1 | 12 | 16 | 16--44 | 15 |