Ex-goalkeeper of the Russian national football team Alexander Filimonov On MATCH PREMIER’s All About the Main, he spoke about the level at which national team goalkeepers are performing at the moment.
Filimonov is a six-time Russian champion, winner of the Russian Cup with Spartak Moscow. Was in the bid for the 2002 World Cup, but did not enter the field. The best goalkeeper in Russia‑1998.
— The competition was crazy in the national team. I was called there for the first time in 1997 for the match against the Bulgarians, when the referee Vaclav Krondl killed us during the 1998 World Cup qualifiers. I stood in the doorway, it was such a horror. Kharin, Cherchesov, Ovchinnikov were part of the team then. Anyone is a championship decoration.
– What is the situation with goalkeepers in Russia now?
– Not good. Even Matvey Safonov seems hopeful, he has charisma and character, but there are mistakes. There is nothing that Igor Akinfeev had when he started playing. Then it was clear that for a long time everything is solid and confident. Matvey had it all in the beginning, he was psychologically stable, cocky in a good way. But there are internal moments that do not allow him to become the goalkeeper, thanks to whose game the team achieves victories and results. And his mistakes often affect the result. I don’t see such moments where he directly drags the team behind him.
“Apart from Akinfeev, are there no reliable guards?”
“It depends on whom to compare. If we compare the composition of the team that I joined, with Ovchinnikov, Cherchesov and Kharin, with the current one, then no one from the current one stands near, without a chance. If you take that bar, then guys don’t hold.
If you look at it from a different angle, compared to FNL goalkeepers, they can be decent, but again, I don’t want to downplay their dignity in any way. I always treat my colleagues with respect. But if we are talking about level, then I would like that if something goes wrong with Safonov, another goalkeeper does not rise worse. For there to be a third, who would be willing to nudge those two with his elbows, stand at the door for 10 years. I don’t see them,” Filimonov said on MATCH PREMIER.
Source : MatchTV
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