Cut no ice! How the national team of Russia failed the first rehearsal before Euro 2016

Team of CSKA and Zenit

When the concept of foreign manager left the Russian football, the feeling of fairness in the formation of the squad of our team disappeared too. This squad is made of CSKA and Zenit with small inlay of Lokomotiv, Spartak, Krasnodar, Terek and a naturalised couple – Brazilian Guilherme and German Neustädter.

The decision of the Russian Football Premier League to admit the mentor of the national team (and CSKA at the same time) the best coach of the season of the Russian Championship was another unpleasant and hard going factor. Kurban Berdyev, who brought Rostov to silver medals, was Slutsky's only rival. With all due respect towards Leonid Slutsky's coaching art, the choice of another person besides Berdyev is obscure.

Slutsky, undoubtedly, is a good manager, without doubts. But Kurban Berdyev could take the second place having this squad, finance and without back-door murky schemes. And he could have taken the lead if Tkachuk had not kicked the ball exactly into Akinfeyev' hands. And no player of Rostov was not called up to the national team. And we saw the primary circuit of this team on 1 June…

All bets are off, we will have to love this team. Photo: gazeta.ru

Experiments did not work out

Nevertheless, all bets are off, we will have to love this team. A good thing is that the national team of Russia has friendlies before the start of Euro 2016. The first warm-up took place in Innsbruck against the Czech team. To all appearances, our manager Leonid Slutsky decided to use the match to do experiments. Zenit's Lodygin suddenly turned out in goal in particular. Jumping the gun, we will say the Brazilian railroader Guilherme will be responsible for the goal area in the second half.

The appearance of Terek's halfback Ivanov in the first eleven needs to be mentioned too. The player's position on the field is more defensive, compared to his usual role in the club. Midfielder Igor Denisov also went down closer to the defenders. After the elimination of Dynamo from the National Football League, unexpectedly the guy's merits were estimated in the form of the invitation to the national squad. Meanwhile, Zenit's Shatov occupied the position of the attacking central half back.

The decision to play with three nominal forwards Dzyuba, Smolov and Kokorin was the main surprise from the ruler of the Russian team. Indubitably, no one meant a game with three forwards. Smolov and Kokorin performed a role of lateral insides. Finally, Ignashevich and Berezutsky were a usual couple of experienced 'pedestrians' in the centre of the defence. Torbinsky, who got his ticket to the national team only after Dzagoev's injure in a Golden match with Rubin, occupied the left flank against all expectations. And Smolnikov from Zenit played in defence on the right.

Smolov performed a role of a lateral inside. Photo: eurosport.ru

'Pedestrians' fail in defence

This defence almost broke down from the fist minutes of the match when Gebre Selassie won a fight against evil but fragile Torbinsky and jumped to Lodygin's goal. The Czech lacked some centimetres to open the score. In answer to it, the Russians scored a goal. It was Kokorin who did not share the ball with his mates in the 6^th minute and powerfully made a kick out of the penalty area. Celebrated goalkeeper Cech touched the ball but could not save his team – 1-0. We hope his goal will encourage Aleksander who decayed a bit in the company of Petersburg stars where at present he cannot manage to become a constant player of the first team.

Immediately after the goal, it seemed Slutsky's players needed to 'kill' the Czechs. Far from it. In fact, the Russians had only one scoring chance (except an episode with Kokorin), while the Czech players could score and do it many times. But let's move step by step. Almost after the lost ball, Rosický performed a gorgeous pass and found opening Krejčí. However, the latter could not cope with the ball on the border of the penalty area. The defence of the Russian team broke down in the 14^th minute. Gebre Selassie sent the ball to Lafata who inexplicably lost the moment being almost near Lodygin. Two minutes later Lafata had a date with the Russian goalkeeper after the next spearing pass by Rosický but was offside. In general, not speaking about the goal, the Czech team was more interesting and full of energy in the first half. In addition, Slutsky's players had a chance to double the score. Kokorin greatly passed the ball to Smolov who entered the penalty area from the left and tried to score a goal on the fly. The legendary goalkeeper saved his teammates.

'Russian German's debut

In the second half, Mamaev substituted Dzyuba in the second half apart from the above-mentioned change in goal. Smolov was on the offensive, and we had a chance to look at a killing, according to the Russian Football Premier League, Krasnodar combination at international level. We did… Maybe we will have a better look at it with the Serbians. Moreover, Neustädter made his debut in the Russian team in the first half. He substituted Berezutsky. Kombarov (instead of Torbinsky), Golovin (instead of Ivanov) and Samedov (instead of Kokorin) also were given a chance to prove their exclusivity in Leonid Slutsky's eyes.

Let's go back to the pitch? What was to happen in the first half came true at the beginning of the second. Necid (well-known in CSKA) sent a header to a famous veteran of the Czech national team, and Tomáš Rosický levelled the score on the fly – 1-1. Our experienced but slow central defensive line (the German appeared later, in the 64^th) simply did not react to the Czech rapid attack.

How is Ignashevich going to play with Wales and Slovakia at very Euro in terms of strength ? Photo: Mikhail Sinitsyn (rg.ru)

Referees had a pity on Slutsky but the Czechs did not

Meanwhile, a referee had a pity on the Russia team in the 57^th. Ignashevich frankly coped with a swift opponent in his penalty area. To tell the truth, the centre of the Russian team is in a bad state. What will happen in the games with reactive Englishmen and Wales?.. But the Czechs were not disappointed too much and proved they can score without referees.

Finally, the 90^th minute cleared the air. Necid accelerated after a flank shot and laughed at a newly-baked Russian-German Neustädter, scored a winning goal and said hello to his former club.

So, the Czechs confidently defeated the Russians using their No.1. I wonder how Ignashevich is going to play with Wales and Slovakia at very Euro in terms of strength. Will we know it in the second match of our national team against Serbia on 5 June? Let's see.