It's good that not in Poland

The first match of the butt mini-tournament will play the Russian team at home. The second and decisive can also play at home, but this is a plus of hypothetical

And who said that the draw was supposed to be lucky? On the contrary, the Russian national team is already with Valery Karpin in the final autumn series of qualifying matches and was so taken beyond measure. Better rivals, and then not without slurred segments, she looked twice against Cyprus, and once against Malta. At the same time, five victories were won with one draw and one defeat from the main competitor-however, it became decisive, which sent Russians to the butt Martovsky mini-tournament with the participation of a dozen national teams.

According to the new format, on the model of the “finals of four”, the draw in Zurich divided all applicants into three quarters, which was headed by the so -called seeded teams, including Russia. Of course, the applicants first of all did not want ten to have the last two European champions in their quartet, who had been hit by the joints. And the Portuguese and Italians did not want to clash their foreheads not in the November Qatar, but as the draw decided by the law of meanness, in March. And with a very high degree of probability - in Lisbon, as the lot ordered again. The option is that in home semi -finals Italy will yield to North Macedonia, and Portugal will be Turkey, from the category of very great miracles. But these are their concerns, but we have enough of our own.

And we got Poland as almost the worst of all possible options for the semifinals. Because the Poles lost the direct road to Qatar only to the British.

Because they have a scorer number three world football plays on the tip, and almost not the first candidate for the title of the best football player of the year according to FIFA Robert Lewandowski. Because Poland, albeit not the Grand of world football, but a good sense in the temporal modern football knows what she proved more than once. And the political background for a football confrontation is not the best - however, when has he been with Poland recently for Russia? It would be even worse to meet at the first stage with Ukrainians, but then the teams of the two countries were divided in advance in different quarters for well -known reasons.

I believe that the favorites are in the junction with the Poles, even though the match will take place on the field of Russians - it is Lewandowski and the company.

It's not about whether to be afraid or not - you can play with anyone, but here you need to win blood from the nose.

The second pair of the quartet participants under Litera “B” is Sweden and the Czech Republic. Everything is also tight, any team is not a gift, and it is not known what is better - a Swedish wall, or a Czech thresher. The first can be played by the legendary veteran Zlatan Ibragimovich, the second in any composition and condition - the elite of Eastern European football, and nothing is afraid. That the Russians, that the Poles - depending on who will survive after a full -time battle - will be extremely difficult in the final. The winner can only be predicted by the method of guessing, so we will leave it in the spring.

Quartet “A” was compiled by Scotland - Ukraine and Wales - Austria, and it is approximately as flat as the “Russian” four. Well, about the difficult fate of Italy and Portugal, you should not repeat. Of course, it is difficult to imagine that the existing European champions Italians will be left without the second in a row of the World Cup, but here Roberto Mancini’s wards themselves are to blame - how, however, the Portuguese who kindly gave the right to go directly on the last seconds of the last match in the qualifying group of the brave national team of Serbia.

To console yourself in advance by the fact that European champions may not get into Qatar is not very productive. As it will be, it will be. Valery Karpin managed to return the return, saying that he would continue to work with the Russian team, and that his previous statement was made on emotions after defeat in the match with the Croats. The revelations of the head coach, very disappointed by his players, were violently discussed by the football community for a whole week, until Valery Georgievich reassured one side, and introduced another into the final despondency. At the end of the second week, the top-News became the confession of the anti-hero meeting in the split of the defender Fedor Kudryashov, whose non-working right leg caused the fatal goal. But the questions remained primarily not to the players who play, as they can, but to the coach.