The Russian national team, suspended from participating in international tournaments after the start of a special military operation by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine, has been forced to play only friendly matches since last spring. Since last year, Valery Karpin’s players have participated in seven friendly matches and have never lost (matches with the Egyptian Olympic team are not taken into account because there were players on the field whose age did not exceed 23 years). The most memorable and high-quality of them was the last: on October 12, the Russians, in the presence of 20 thousand fans, defeated the strong Cameroon team in Moscow.
The national teams of Russia and Kenya meet for the first time. The Russians now occupy 39th place in the FIFA rankings, while the Kenyans are out of the top 100, at 109th position. It is important to note that Russia has not lost for seven consecutive matches and the last setback occurred in November 2021, when the Russians were beaten by Croatia (0:1) in Split and missed the qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. It is noteworthy that under Valery Karpin, this failure remains the only one, even though the Rostov coach took over as head of the country’s main team more than two years ago – in July 2021. But the national team Kenya has played five matches in 2023, winning twice and losing three times.
1.Why Kenya?
Interestingly, the Kenyan team is playing their only match during the ongoing international break. Next month, the Kenyans begin qualifying for the 2026 World Cup against Gabon and Seychelles. The current match will therefore be an excellent rehearsal for the most important matches. But why did Russia decide to play this team? All because of the ongoing sanctions due to events in Ukraine and the reluctance of European teams to meet the Russians.
2. Choice of center forward?
During the meeting with the Cameroonians, Fedor Chalov scored the only goal. Today, the CSKA striker will clearly be eager to continue his goal streak. However, there is a high chance that Valery Karpin will organize a strong rotation and allow Alexander Sobolev or Ivan Sergeev, who are waiting in the wings, to enter the field from the first minutes.
3. Selecting the starting lineup
Immediately after the match against Cameroon, Valery Karpin said that there would be a lot of turnover in the squad. The national team coach promised that the Miranchuk brothers should enter the field from the first minutes. In the match against the Cameroonians, Alexey and Anton came on midway through the second half.
4. Who are the goalkeepers?
Another important question is the choice of goalkeeper. Vitaly Kafanov is fully responsible for this position in the national team, who has long stated that the number 1 in the team is Krasnodar goalkeeper Matvey Safonov. However, Ilya Lantratov and his namesake Pomazun both deserved their chance to play.
5. Jikia’s dilemma
Photo source: RFU
Many fans want to see Georgy Dzhikia on the field. The national team captain did not play the match against Cameroon and lost his place in the Spartak starting XI, but still deserves the chance to don the national team jersey again . Note that the pair of central defenders with the Cameroonians were Maxim Osipenko from Rostov and Alexander Soldatenkov from Krylia Sovetov.
I would like to hope that the Russian team will not play carelessly and, having given, if not all, then almost all its strength, will demonstrate brilliant football and give fans a reason to absorb endorphins and cheer them up.
Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
