Grozny: Many top teams that came to the World Cup are experiencing a generational change

Specialist on the start of the World Cup in Qatar and the favorites of the tournament

The famous Ukrainian coach Vyacheslav Grozny in an exclusive interview with Sport Arena made an analysis of the top teams that will play at the World Cup.

– Vyacheslav Viktorovich, the World Championship will already begin. What is the main thing you can say about the World Cup in Qatar?

– For the first time, the World Cup will be held in Qatar and for the first time in the autumn-winter period from November 20 to December 18, 2022. For the first time, there are 26 players on the team’s roster. And this is very good! For the first time at the World Cup, five substitutions can be used. I would like to add that the Adidas Al Rihla will be the official ball of the World Cup. Innovations were quite interesting in the development of the ball. This is Speed ​​Shell technology, that is, there is an increase in the speed of the ball.

– What do you think, who are the favorites of the groups at the World Cup?

Of course, everyone has their own personal vision. And I am sure that 99 percent will be able to name the favorites of the groups that will continue to fight for the trophy in the playoff series. These are the Netherlands and Senegal (Group A), England and probably Wales (Group B), Argentina and Poland (Group C), France and Denmark (Group D), Spain and Germany (Group E), Belgium and Croatia (Group F). ), Brazil (Group G), Portugal and Uruguay (Group H).

But, in my opinion, this is a mechanical-paper forecast without taking into account many components, surprises, luck, the skills of players and coaches, psychological aspects, the microclimate of teams, the role of leaders, refereeing moments and much more. I propose to take a different look at a number of aspects of the draw.

– Who would you like to see at the World Cup from the teams that will not take part in it?

– The absence of the world champion of the Italian national team at the World Cup, in my opinion, is a flaw in international football officials. They should automatically include the winners of the World Cup, Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and so on among the finalists of the tournament. It should be the same in the Champions League. Because the champion does not need to confirm and prove his strength because of the qualification. In my opinion, you need to make adjustments to the format.

Hungary – Italy, photo – Getty Images

– By the way, Ukraine was close to entering the world forum…

– Unfortunately, our team, together with the European champions, the Italians, also misses the World Cup, but for a different reason. Having passed the Scottish national team, our guys were the best in the match with the Welsh and, unfortunately, in this match, Ukraine let down the conversion of chances. Apart from Italy and Ukraine, Norway with Haaland, Egypt with Salah, Austria with Alaba, Scotland with Robertson, Slovakia with Skrinjar and Sweden with many talents did not make it to the World Cup. Also, for various reasons, a number of well-known football players will be absent.

If you return to Italy, you just want to say: “Well, how is it? Neither Donnarumma, nor Bonucci, nor Chiellini, nor Barella, nor Jorginho, nor Verratti, nor Chiesa, nor Di Lorenzo will take part in the World Cup, but will watch it on television.” It is not right!

– Indeed, some of the main stars of the Premier League miss the World Cup …

– Yes, we know that Haaland is one of the best strikers in the world, but, unfortunately, the Norwegians did not make it to the World Cup. I can imagine how emotional Salah from Liverpool is! At the same time, another representative of Liverpool, Firmino, was not included in the application of the Brazilian national team. There, as far as I know, Richarlison was preferred.

And Spain at the World Cup will be without Ramos, Pique, De Gea, Alcantara, Arrizabalaga and a number of players. Kroos, Reus, Hummels, Werner will not play for Germany. Pogba, Kante and Fofana will not play for France. I would also add that after last year’s Euro, both finalists had serious problems. Italy, having lost at home in North Macedonia, did not qualify for the World Cup. And the British from the top division of the League of Nations dropped out in division B.

– What can you say about the current world champions of the French team?

— The French are experiencing a serious gaming crisis. In my opinion, this is due to the fact that after the World Cup in Qatar, Didier Deschamps’ contract expires. The French Football Federation will appoint Zinedine Zidane in his place, who, having won three Champions Leagues in a row with Real Madrid, now wants to achieve great success at national team level. He deliberately did not consider any offers and even turned down PSG.

– What problems would you single out for the French team?

– Having a chic, stellar, large, high-quality personnel potential, the French coaching staff is experimenting. They want to find a balance and the possibility of using a large group of strong attacking players at the same time. These are Benzema, Mbappe, Dembele, Coman, Giroud, Griezmann, Nkunku. But in practice this is unrealistic. To date, this has not been fruitful.

There are also a number of injured players in France. These are Barcelona defender Kunde, Kimpembe from PSG and Manchester United defender Varane, who are in France’s bid for the World Cup. Fofana from Chelsea is also injured, but so seriously that he will miss the World Cup and fly to the UAE for rehabilitation. If we add that Konate has little match practice in Liverpool, then we can see what kind of problems the French have with central defenders. Pogba and Kante miss the World Cup due to injuries, and they are not so easy to replace. Someone will say that there are representatives of Real Tchuameni and Kamaving. Yes, there is, but they do not yet have such experience in games for the national team. True, Saliba from Arsenal and Hernandez from Milan are progressing. They are both in the application and ready to bring maximum benefit.

Griezmann is not currently the leader of the national team and Atlético. But Nkunku from Leipzig, Dembele from Barcelona and Giroud from Milan, on the contrary, confirm their high level. Of course, the skill of the French team players is quite high. You just need to make the most of them in every match. Deschamps knows that Zidane will replace him. And, of course, he will want to win the World Championship again, although it will be quite difficult to do this.

– Everyone is used to the fact that the German team is fighting for “gold” in all forums. What do you think will be on this world championship?

– We are all used to the expression that everyone plays football, but the Germans win. And confirmation of this is four world championships and three victories at the Euro. For ten years since 2006, the Bundestim has played quite well and even successfully in all tournaments. Judge for yourself! At the 2006 World Cup they took third place, at Euro 2008 the Germans became finalists, at the 2010 World Cup they again took third place, at our Euro 2012 they reached the semi-finals, at the 2014 World Cup Germany became the champion, and at Euro 2016 a semi-finalist . And after that they had a real decline in results.

Hans-Dieter Flick, photo – Getty Images

At the World Cup 2018, they did not leave the group, and at Euro 2020 they only reached the 1/8 finals. Also, in all the performances of the League of Nations, the Germans have never won their group and were close to relegation to Division B. Therefore, Thomas Tuchel recently publicly expressed his desire to lead the Bundesteam. We know that Flick wants to work in the German national team, but for this you need to give a serious result. He returned to the national team the author of the “golden goal” at the 2014 World Cup, Mario Gotze. Yes, there is no Kroos in the team, but there is Gundogan from Man City. Without Thomas Müller, it is impossible to imagine the German national team. Strong goalkeeping team, in my opinion. They are Neuer from Bavaria, Ter Stegen from Barcelona and Trapp from Eintracht. Surprisingly, not a single defender from Bavaria is on the list. But the representatives of Munich Goretzka, Kimmich, Musiala are in midfield, and Muller, Gnabry and Sane are in attack. The team is undergoing a generational change. There is an adaptation of talented youth, which takes time. And the coaches never have it, and they work in time trouble.

– Spain hasn’t won anything for a long time. What do you think Fury Roch’s chances of success are?

– The Spaniards have their own problems, because it is almost impossible to replace a pair of central defenders Ramos and Piqué equally. Laporte, Garcia, Pau Torres, with all due respect to them, until they reach their level. That is why there are problems in defense. True, the Spaniards have quite active full-backs. And there are always too many dispatchers-designers in Spain. These are Busquets, Pedri, Rodri, Koke and others. They have good, but not top forwards. There are no such people in Spain as Lewandowski and Holland.

The Spaniards are also undergoing a generational change. Luis Enrique actively trusts young talents, which, as a rule, are very numerous among Spanish footballers. These are Gavi, Pedri, Fati, Ferran Torres from Barça and so on. The Spaniards have played quite successfully in all tournaments since 2008. They became European champions in 2008 and 2012, and also won the 2010 World Cup. Then, for various reasons, they lost their leading positions. At the World Cup 2014, they did not leave the group, at Euro 2016 they reached only the 1/8 finals, and in 2018 they reached only the 1/8 finals of the World Cup. After that, a process of generational change followed, attracting the best young talents and, as a result, at Euro 2020 they reached the semi-finals, where they were better than the Italians and lost only in a penalty shootout. And pretty well Spain looks in the League of Nations. In the 20/21 season, they lost to France in the final. And in the 20/23 season, they have already reached the final quartet. Now the Spaniards are in a renaissance period.

– Summing up what has been said, what can you say in general about the main characters of the World Cup, which will be held in Qatar?

– In my opinion, there is a whole group of high-level teams that have top leaders. Poland has Lewandowski from Barcelona, ​​Portugal has Ronaldo from Manchester United, Denmark has Eriksen from Manchester United, Belgium has De Bruyne from Man City and Courtois from Real Madrid, and Argentina has Messi from PSG. In the Netherlands, I would like to mention a whole group of performers: Depay, Van Dijk and Frankie De Jong. England is Kane and his young partners Saka, Rashford, Foden and Bellingham. Croatia – Modric and the unchanging trio of Kovacic, Brozovic and Perisic. Brazil is a stellar, fantastic squad with Neymar! It will be a very interesting world championship!

Dmitry Kotkov

Source: Sportarena

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