[FM16] The Russians are coming - to the home World Cup and beyond

After long time lurking the FMCU forum, finally I decided to start my own thread, inspired by several other national team careers posted here (especially Scotland one by forameuss).

June 21, 2008. Basel. Dmitry Torbinskiy scores in extra time of the EURO quarter-final against Netherlands. Few minutes later Andrey Arshavin scores the third goal, making things clear - Russia advances to the semi-final. Euro 2008 became the most successful tournament for Russian team (not including USSR), and it seemed to be just a beginning at that time. Unfortunately, later results were not even close to that. We missed 2010 World Cup after losing to Slovenia in play-offs and stopped at the group stages in 2012 and 2014 (though were allocated in the weakest group both times).

Well, let's start FM then. Like Leonid S.l.u.tskiy (damn auto-censoring ) IRL, I took charge of national team at summer, after 6 matches played from 10. For some reasons there is no option to have real schedule and results, so part of Euro 2016 qualification was randomly simulated:

Despite away losses against Sweden and Austria, the situation is not bad at all (thanks UEFA for expanding the Euros). And what is even better, we play 3 of 4 remaining matches at home (including probably decisive one against Sweden), and the only away game will be against Liechtenstein, so direct qualifying seems quite realistic at that point.

Squad analysis and first matches coming soon

Solid enough start.

Goalkeepers. No surprises, Igor Akinfeev remains our number 1 choice for at least next 5-6 years. Yury Lodygin and Guilherme (who just took Russian citizenship after playing for Lokomotiv since 2007) will provide a decent backup.

Defenders. Brothers Alexey and Vasily Berezutskiy, along with Sergey Ignashevich are still the best Russian center-backs despite their age, which is clearly a problem. Well, I hope they will not decline so fast and will feature at Euro 2016, but certainly for 2018 we need younger players at their positions – and Andrey Semenov probably looks the best of them now. Full-back positions certainly have more depth, with Igor Smolnikov and Yury Zhirkov (or younger Georgy Schennikov) considered as first team players.

Midfielders. Igor Denisov, Denis Glushakov and Roman Shirokov for now look like the starting three central midfielders. But yes, two of them are over 30 already, so younger players like Artur Yusupov, Pavel Mamaev and Alan Dzagoev should also have a chance. Denis Cheryshev (hope he will leave Real to have some match practice) and Dmitry Kombarov (or mentioned earlier Zhirkov) can play on the left wing, with Alexandr Samedov on the right. And of course, I didn’t forget about Oleg Shatov, who seems to be really underrated in FM, but his versatility is really useful for the team.

Forwards. With not so many options to choose, most likely I will play with one striker – either target man like Artem Dzyuba, or quicker player like Alexandr Kokorin (who can also play as a winger). All-time leading scorer of our team Alexandr Kerzhakov is on the list too (despite the fact he didn’t play any competitive game IRL since June and now loaned to Zurich, his FM stats are still good).

And now it’s time to announce the squad for the first time:

Cheryshev, Dzagoev and Dzyuba missed the squad through injuries, Guilherme, Yusupov and Rausch (who was born in Russia and holds double German-Russian citizenship) can make their debuts.

Bad news. Smolnikov, Zhirkov and Guilherme all got injured after announcement, but I can’t replace anyone because they can recover before the matches. Yes, they can… but would they be useful with conditions of 70-80? Really, the most annoying thing in NT management in FM

P.S. Just noticed we play all our home matches at Luzhniki Stadium, which looks like this now (photo taken in August 2015) and will open in the end of 2016 or even in 2017

September 4, 2015

Luzhniki, Moscow





Euro 2016 qualifiers – Group G

Russia vs Montenegro

Montenegro misses their star player Jovetic due to injury, which makes our task a bit easier.

3 min. Kerzhakov has a good chance to score an early goal after Faizulin’s pass, but Petkovic saves his shot, and Savic is first on the rebound.

22 min. Another opportunity for Kerzhakov, but his shot ends somewhere on the stands.

28 min. First chance for Montenegro, Vucinic shoots from the edge of penalty area, but his shot is blocked by Denisov.

33 min. Faizulin finds Shatov on the right wing, Oleg tries to shoot from tight angle, too far from goal.

Second half was not worth any mentioning, a dull and disappointing draw.

In good spirits? Are you serious, FM? Well, maybe those fans just fell asleep during the second half and in their dreams we won

What is even worse, Austria beat Sweden and moved up to 2nd place. That means we need to win all 3 remaining matches to qualify directly.

September 7, 2015

Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz



Euro 2016 qualifiers – Group G

Liechtenstein vs Russia

Completely different starting 11 from the latest game (initially I wanted to give Guilherme the first cap for his new nation, but he is still in poor condition after injury).

61 min. Damn, that took too long. We had the possession and lots of shots, but hour of play gone before Kokorin managed to beat the offside trap and send the ball to Jehle’s goal. 0-1

69 min. Smolnikov makes a low cross from right wing, Kokorin is first to the ball and easily puts in to the net! 0-2

74 min. Another cross by Smolnikov, Kokorin wins the header and that’s his hat-trick! 0-3

That was really a hard game, despite the score and stats.

Sweden loses second match in a row, and that means we move to the second place again. And Montenegro certainly will fight for qualifying as well.

U21:

Euro Qualifiers. Germany 0-0 Russia

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 3-0 Malta (Davydov-3)

U19:

Friendly. Russia 0-1 Ukraine

Friendly. Ireland 0-1 Russia (Melkadze)

Good start for U21 team, no need to say how strong the German team is.

Shatov is out for 3 months, so will be unavailable until next year. Good news that he’s the only injured player from those I wanted to call up.

October 9, 2015

Luzhniki, Moscow





Euro 2016 qualifiers – Group G

Russia vs Sweden

9 min. Ibra receives a ball, surrounded by 3 our players, but still manages to take a shot and hits crossbar!

18 min. Dzyuba beats the offside trap after Dzagoev’s through pass, but his shot is saved by Olsen.

34 min. Larsson crosses from the left wing, and Wendt scores at the far post. Clearly an error from Smolnikov, who didn’t mark his opponent properly. 0-1

53 min. Free kick by Larsson, no one marks Ekdal. 0-2

72 min. Dzyuba finds substitute Samedov in the penalty area, first shot saved by Olsen, but on the rebound our right winger finally scores. 1-2

Unfortunately, that goal was everything we managed to create in the match. Poor performance which most likely will mean play-offs for us.

Austria has a head-to-head advantage against us, while Sweden plays Liechtenstein at home and surely won't drop any points. Luckily we at least have advantage against Montenegro

October 12, 2015

Luzhniki, Moscow



Euro 2016 qualifiers – Group G

Russia vs Moldova

43 min. First real chance in the match. Kombarov crosses from a free-kick, and Semenov heads the ball towards goal from 6-yard line, but Cebanu somehow manages to save!

45+2 min. Corner by Kombarov, and Ignashevich smashes the ball into the net! 1-0

72 min. Corner for Moldova, Kovalchuk heads the ball against the post, Epureanu is first on rebound. 1-1

89 min. Bad cross attempt by Smolnikov… suddenly turns into a fluke goal after Cebanu can’t stop the ball. 2-1

Fully agree with the headline, we didn’t deserve to win this match at all. The team looks awful on the pitch, and I certainly need to do something with that before play-offs.

The funniest thing is that Liechtenstein was very close to give us a ticket to France. But wait… best 3rd team also gets a direct qualifying, maybe we managed to make it?

No, Finland made it. And here are the results of other groups:

No Iceland in the finals, but instead we'll have Cyprus. And play-off draw:

Well, at least we avoided Croatia, who will play their fierce rivals. Of course Estonia seems to be a better option, but still we have a good chance.

The Montenegro home draw cost you.

U21:

Euro Qualifiers. Iceland 0-2 Russia (Sheidaev-2)

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 2-1 Ireland (Koryan, Morozov)

U19:

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 1-2 Slovakia (Melkadze)

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 2-1 Armenia (Kazaryan, Kipiani)

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 5-3 Liechtenstein (Melkadze, Galadjan, Akhmetov, Kipiani, Poluboyarinov)

U21 team is still sharing the lead in their group with Germany, U19 qualified for the next round from 2nd place.

Makeev, Ionov and Ryazantsev got their chances instead of some injured or unfit players.

November 13, 2015

Luzhniki, Moscow



Euro 2016 qualifiers – play-off

Russia vs Slovakia

With first match played at home, a win and a clean sheet would be a perfect result.

11 min. Smolnikov crosses from the right wing, Dzyuba wins a header against Skrtel and slots the ball into the net! 1-0

41 min. Another cross from Smolnikov, which doesn’t reach anybody, but Kozacik misses the ball and it’s 2-0! Second match in a row our right-back scores in the same way, that’s simply amazing.

68 min. Ionov dribbles past opponent and crosses the ball to Dzyuba, but Artem's header from 6-yard line is off target.

80 min. Great opportunity for Duris to score very important away goal, but after great cross from Svento his shot misses the net.

Yes, what I said before the match. That result definitely makes us favourites to qualify, but still we have to defend the lead in Slovakia, so no complacency should be allowed.

Croatia should have no problem after solid away win, while Scotland and surprisingly Estonia managed to draw their away games and will have an advantage before return leg.

November 17, 2015

Pod Dubnom, Zilina



Euro 2016 qualifiers – play-off

Slovakia vs Russia

Rausch, who didn’t feature in original squad, was called up to replace injured Cheryshev.

18 min. Total domination by Slovakia in the beginning leads to the first real chance. Close range shot from Duris is saved by Akinfeev, Mak wins the rebound and shoots towards empty net, but Yusupov manages to clear the ball.

43 min. Nice counter shortly before half-time, Kokorin cuts inside from his right wing and shoots, but Kozacik is able to parry the ball.

66 min. Gregus, who just came into the play as a substitute, shoots from 25 meters and hits a crossbar!

73 min. Kerzhakov dribbles past Hubocan and takes a shot from the edge of area, but too high.

First 30 minutes were really hard for us, but we managed to protect our lead and controlled the game after that. The first goal of my career is finally achieved.

Croatia, Czech Republic and Israel join us in the final stage.

U21:

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 2-1 Georgia (Sheidaev, Tashaev)

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 0-1 Germany

U19:

Friendly. Bulgaria 2-3 Russia (Galadjan-3)

Friendly. Russia 1-1 Israel (Kazaryan)

Unfortunately, Germany won the second match and most likely will top the group and qualify for Euro.

Euro 2016 draw

Well… the derby awaits. And probably its result will decide who will finish 2nd and won’t count their points and goals to qualify, as Portugal seems to be a clear favourite. No actual ‘group of death’ this time (if it's possible at all with this new Euro format), though group E looks the strongest.

Tough group but manageable long as you get something out of the Ukraine game. Good luck in the finals

Premier Division – dominated by Zenit, CSKA got the second place and Terek won quite unexpected bronze medals, breaking the club record.

Russian Cup – CSKA beat Dinamo in the final.

Season awards:

Player of the Year – Hulk (Zenit)

Player’s Select – Axel Witsel (Zenit)

Top Goalscorer – Marco Devic (Rubin), 15 goals

Goalkeeper of the Year – Yury Lodygin (Zenit)

Team of the Year

Russian clubs in Europe:

Zenit – 2nd place in CL group (Valencia, Olympiakos, APOEL), lost to Bayern in quarter-finals.

CSKA – lost to Leverkusen in CL play-off round, 4th place in EL group (Besiktas, West Ham, Bordeaux)

Lokomotiv – 4th place in EL group (Fiorentina, Anderlecht, Asteras)

Krasnodar – lost to Sampdoria in EL 3rd qualifying round

Rubin – lost to AFC Astra in EL 3rd qualifying round

While 4 of 5 clubs would wish to forget their European season, Zenit's run in Champions League was really impressive. They managed to beat the defending trophy winners Barcelona in first knockout round (0-0 at home, 1-1 away) before losing to eventual winners of this season, and again only on goal difference.

U19:

Euro Qualifiers. Portugal 3-3 Russia (Sokolov, Solovjov, Bakatin)

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 4-0 Montenegro (Sokolov, Belyakov, Melkadze, Yudin)

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 1-0 Serbia (own goal)

7 points, 1st place and qualification for the U-19 Euro, well done! And meet the star player of this team, striker Victor Sokolov. This guy surely has the potential to break into the national team very soon.

Alexandr Kokorin misses the tournament through injury, which is surely a blow. Also some new players were called up, including naturalized Brazilian Mauricio (though not sure yet if any of them will make it into final squad).

Unfortunately, in FM you have to make final selection too early, before playing any friendlies, so the choice on some positions was really hard. Anyway, the final squad will look like that:

Yury Gazinskiy can make his debut for national team, and Sergey Parshivlyuk returns to the squad after impressive domestic season. Dzyuba is currently injured, but should recover before the first match.

Impressive second half from the team, which could really end with bigger margin. But defense is still concerning, the only Bulgarian goal came after Alexey Berezutskiy just gave the ball to opponent in our penalty area.

A bit of complacency after early goal could cost us this match, but second half substitutes became the key to victory. Shatov scored the game winning goal, while Zhirkov made two assists.

So, the preparation is over, and we head to France. The first match to play there will be against Ukraine, no need to say how important would be to start with a win against rivals.

Israel beat Scotland.

June 12, 2016

Stade Pierre Mauroy, Villeneuve-d’Ascq



UEFA European Championship – Group C

Russia vs Ukraine

Yarmolenko and Konoplyanka are the main creative force of our opponents, so our full-backs performance will be very important today.

29 min. Samedov tackles the ball from Makarenko and makes a hopefully looking cross to Kerzhakov. Khacheridi clears, but Zhirkov wins the rebound, crosses into penalty area, and unmarked Samedov heads it into empty net! 1-0

35 min. Danilo Silva crosses from right wing, Zozulya manages to receive ball and shoot, but Ignashevich blocks his effort.

52 min. Good chance for Ukraine to score from a free kick, but Rakitskyi shoots slightly above the bar.

64 min. Long range effort by Rybalka, Akinfeev parries the ball and then manages to save again after Konoplyanka wins the rebound!

73 min. Mamaev loses ball near opponents’ penalty box, Ukrainians go in a counter which ends with really dangerous close-range shot by Yarmolenko, but Akinfeev turns the ball to a corner.

81 min. Faizulin finds Kombarov on his left wing, Dmitry cuts inside and shoots into wrong side of the net.

86 min. Another chance for Kombarov, this time after Dzyuba’s through pass, and this time he scores! 2-0, that should be enough to win.

90+2 min. Last chance for Ukraine to score at least a consolation goal, but Seleznyov misses a header after Konoplyanka’s cross.

Akinfeev gets a fully deserved MoM, his saves in second half were crucial for our win.

Portugal got 3 points, as expected, though Cypriots even managed to score first. Certainly there won't be an easy game against them.

Day 1 - Review

Group A

Switzerland easily won in the opening match after early red card for Erkin, while the hosts sensationally dropped 2 points against Finland despite having a huge advantage in shots (32-3).

Group B

Quite unexpected margins here, even the fact that Petr Cech misses the tournament through injury didn’t make 0-4 loss against Romania more predictable. Tudorie takes the lead in a race for golden boot.

Group D

Group E



Group F

No sensations there, Spain makes a huge step towards the 1st place in their group, while other big teams still have to play each other later.

Good start

June 16, 2016

Stade de France, Saint-Denis



UEFA European Championship – Group C

Cyprus vs Russia

No complacency, but some rotation was certainly needed.

1 min. Cross from Faizulin, Avraam wins a header from Shatov, but the ball falls to Cheryshev, and he scores his first ever goal for the nation! 1-0, perfect start with just 20 seconds played.

11 min. Charalabidis makes a long pass to Rousias, who dribbles between Berezutskiy brothers and shoots at top corner, but Akinfeev manages to save.

33 min. Charalabidis hits the bar from a free kick! Despite first 20 seconds, our first half was really poor, we just couldn’t take the possession.

43 min. Cross from a free-kick, Vasily Berezutskiy heads the ball just to Rousias, who easily equalizes. 1-1

72 min. It seemed like Cyprus wanted to win more, but the only good counter from us in second half leads to a goal. Giorgalidis manages to parry the ball after Cheryshev’s shot, and Shatov is first in the rebound! 2-1

76 min. Cheryshev was close to set up another goal, but Georgalidis saved the shot from Kerzhakov.

Well, you see the stats. Awful performance despite the result, and certainly that wouldn’t be enough against some stronger opposition.

Can’t say I’m too surprised, Ukraine played really good against us. A draw in the final match will be enough now to finish on the 1st place, but loss can drop us down to 3rd (with 6 points we won’t worry about qualification, but that would mean some top nation in knockout round). Another important note about that game - Ronaldo played through injury and is now doubtful for a match against us.

Day 2 – Review

Group A

Angry France hammered Turkey, but Switzerland is still on top, and Seferovic leads the goalscorers table with 4 goals.

Group B

4 red cards in 2 matches – that group is certainly the toughest so far.

Group D

Germany will top the group regardless of next results, Austria and Poland will play for the 2nd place.

Group E

Unlike ‘Nordic victory’ in 2004, that group is a total ‘Nordic loss’. The winner of their match can still qualify, but with such goal difference it seems very unlikely.

Group F

Spain and Italy didn’t have any problems in their matches, but still none of them qualified officially.

June 21, 2016

Stade Velodrome, Marseille



UEFA European Championship – Group C

Russia vs Portugal

Glushakov missed the squad due to illness, and Ronaldo was selected in the starting 11 despite still being slightly injured.

2 min. Nani dribbles past Smolnikov and crosses the ball to Ronaldo, but Akinfeev easily saves.

8 min. Great long shot from Carvalho, and Akinfeev manages to turn the ball above bar!

15 min. Cheryshev finds Mamaev in the penalty area, but his shot is saved by Patricio.

35 min. Cross from Nani, Ronaldo escapes our both center-backs and heads the ball into net. 0-1, even injured this guy is a nightmare for any defense

43 min. Nani receives a ball near corner of our penalty area, cuts slightly inside, shoots and it’s 0-2! Akinfeev was beaten at near post, surely could play better...

We were slightly better in second half, but couldn’t create anything at least close to goal. Portugal overtakes us in the group, but what about Ukraine?

No, they remained below us. Actually they were some minutes from losing and finishing bottom of the group, but Kovalenko saved the 3rd place for his team.

Day 3 – Review

Group A

Benzema sends his team to the top of group and joins Seferovic as the top goalscorer so far. Turkey takes 3rd place, but with 3 points and -6 goal difference they would need lots of results to go in their favour.

Group B

Belgium met the expectations, reaching the top position, while Romania beat Croatia by goal difference.

Group D

German team probably was already in knockout stages in their minds and lost to Bulgaria, despite playing with man advantage. Poland defended the 2nd place with a goalless draw.

Group E

England topped the group while Sweden took the 3rd position, but with three teams already having 4 points they overtook only Turkey and now need Greece to lose heavily in the last group.

Group F

And Greece even managed to beat the defending champions, making themselves the best 3rd team!

And we are drawn with Switzerland. Not the worst option, as we could get any of 2nd-placed teams, including Spain and Netherlands. But the bad thing is that our opponents will have 2 more days for rest.

June 25, 2016

Stade Felix Bollaert-Delelis, Lens



UEFA European Championship – Second Round

Switzerland vs Russia

Their full-backs are both very dangerous in attack, but also can give us a chance to exploit their zones.

7 min. Kombarov crosses from left wing, but Kerzhakov’s header is off target.

22 min. Shatov runs past Rodriguez and makes a low cross, Kerzhakov is first on the ball but his shot hits the post!

37 min. Lichtsteiner crosses from right wing, Ignashevich tries to clear but the ball hits Shaqiri and falls to unmarked Embolo… 0-1

49 min. Inler gets the ball unmarked at the penalty area line and shoots with power, Akinfeev manages to save.

50 min. Giveaway in the own half, Shaqiri passes through to Embolo, who beats offside trap and scores. 0-2, seems like it’s over.

78 min. Kerzhakov gets the ball in a penalty area and shoots from 10 meters… it hits the bar again!

80 min. Cheryshev crosses low to the area, Mamaev runs from the deep and scores! 1-2, can we save this?

90 min. Mehmedi almost catches us on the counter, his shot is just off the post.

At the beginning our plan to exploit the wings worked well, but we couldn’t convert it into goals. Then we conceded first goal (really unlucky one), and Switzerland didn’t give us any free space anymore Well, at least we met FA expectations with this result and will get a chance to improve later.

Second Round

Ukraine scored first against Belgium, but immediate red card for Stepanenko didn’t give them any chances to defend the lead.

All favourites advanced, but with only a 1 goal margin.

The most anticipated match of this stage went to the extra-time. And England played… so English

Quarter-finals

Loic Remy eliminated the defending champions, and his team retained the chance to win the home tournament again.

Wow, at least we lost to the team who beat the reigning world champions, despite playing with 10 men for almost an hour.

Young Belgian stars won against old Dutch ones. Don’t think it was too unexpected.

Not your time again, Cristiano.

Semi-finals

Poland played really good for 75 minutes, but in the end France was better and advanced to the final.

Swiss fairytale continues! Will they make the final step (and certainly the hardest one)?

Final

France wins again at home, like in 1998. This time they were a clear favourites before the final and fully met the fans' expectations. Switzerland stopped one step from trophy, but it's surely the huge achievement for them.

Very strange selection, as all awarded players reached only quarter-finals.

Dream Team:

And some good news for us:

We moved up to 18th, which is the highest rank after I took charge.

U19:

European Championship. Russia 1-2 Spain (Bakatin)

European Championship. Russia 0-1 England

European Championship. Russia 0-2 France

Well… in such a group it was hard to think about some good results. Anyway, found it strange that mentioned earlier Sokolov even wasn’t selected for tournament (and he wasn’t injured).

Friendlies – September 2016

Dropped all players over 30 years, except Ignashevich who is just one cap short of all-time Russian record, so decided to give him a chance to beat it in his probably farewell game. Kritsyuk and Djakov can make their debuts, and Smolov had some caps IRL, but I never selected him before. Don't know why the coach reports say 'good Russia U19 player', must be some bug

Akinfeev – Makeev, Novoseltsev, Djakov, Smolnikov (Parshivlyuk ’55) – Gazinskiy (Yusupov ’55), Mamaev, Mauricio (Shatov ’66), Cheryshev (Kombarov ’66), Ionov – Kokorin (Dzyuba ’66)

Superb match for Ionov, who scored his first goal for the national team and added two assists as well. Uzbeks had an advantage in shots, but actually none of them were really dangerous. Anyway, they managed to score from a direct cross, that old disease of all keepers in FM

Lodygin – Schennikov (Makeev ’70), Ignashevich (Novoseltsev ’46), Semenov, Parshivlyuk (Smolnikov ’70) – Yusupov (Kokorin ’70), Glushakov, Shatov (Mauricio ’38), Kombarov, Smolov (Ionov ’46) – Dzyuba

Luckily, that was only a friendly. 0 shots on target and 35% possession against Morocco. Not Spain or Germany, but Morocco (though they have Ziyech from Real Madrid and Benatia from Bayern, that’s not the top team even among African nations).

U21:

Euro Qualifiers. Malta 0-1 Russia (Zobnin)

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 1-1 Iceland (Sokolov)

Draw against Iceland means our U21 team lost all the chances to catch leading Germany. At least Sokolov scored his first goal at the new level.

U19:

Friendly. Russia 2-2 Ireland (Yudin, Zaitsev)

Friendly. Latvia 0-2 Russia (Terentjev-2)

Crazy Switzerland getting to the final Hope the Euro qualifiers goes well

Hope the Euro qualifiers goes well

Before this I need to survive Confederations Cup and World Cup (the first one seems not so important, but I saw managers sacked even after it )

Tsallagov, Vasin, Kanunnikov and Gorobsov all feature in my selection for the first time. And just before the first match Akinfeev got injured and was replaced by Gabulov.

Kritsyuk – Makeev (Parshivlyuk ’70), Vasin, Djakov, Tsallagov – Gazinskiy (Gorobsov ’70), Mamaev, Mauricio (Dzagoev ’63), Rausch, Shatov – Kanunnikov (Kokorin ’70)

That certainly wasn’t the best game for spectators, but we managed to convert our few chances into two goals. Clean sheet for Kritsyuk in his debut game is also a nice bonus.

Rausch is out for 3 weeks and replaced by Cheryshev. Our potentially best winger moved from Real Madrid to Roma, but still doesn’t get any first-team matches there

Shatov and Semenov are also out with injuries, Smolov and Rykov added to the squad instead.

And finally Schennikov got injured just before friendly against Greece with no time to replace him.

Lodygin – Makeev (Tsallagov ’64), Novoseltsev, Rykov, Parshivlyuk – Gorobsov, Glushakov (Gazinskiy ’74), Dzagoev (Mauricio ’46), Kombarov (Cheryshev ’57), Ionov (Kanunnikov ’34) – Kokorin (Smolov ’17)

You thought 5 injuries in that squad was already a lot? Then we’ll give you another two before half-time! Anyway, I’m pleased with that result, especially with defensive performance by players, who are not so experienced at international level.

U21:

Euro Qualifiers. Georgia 1-3 Russia (Yefremov, Nabiullin, Lystsov)

Euro Qualifiers. Ireland 2-2 Russia (Yefremov, Nabiullin)

Two points dropped in the last group game knocked our U21 team off top 4 second-placed teams which qualify for the play-offs

U19:

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 2-0 Norway (Terentjev, Antonov)

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 3-3 Denmark (Lomovitskiy, Terentjev, Kalugin)

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 5-0 Andorra (Sidorov-2, Lomovitskiy-2, Terentjev)

No problems in reaching second round, where our juniors will face England, Wales and Israel.

Friendlies – November 2016

Brazilian forward Ari gained Russian citizenship and was called up for the first time, along with young defender Lystsov.

And as usual, we have to deal with injuries. Glushakov was replaced by Faizulin, and Cheryshev couldn’t be removed from the squad, but injury for 9-12 days means he probably won’t play in any of two games.

Akinfeev – Kombarov, Djakov, Rykov, Smolnikov – Gazinskiy (Gorobsov ’78), Mamaev, Faizulin, Rausch (Makeev ’58), Ionov (Kokorin ’66) – Ari (Dzyuba ’62)

Good first half for us, but after half-time Algeria dominated the game and luckily most of their shots were off target. Solid debut for Ari, who set up Mamaev's goal with a nice through pass.

Rausch is injured again and replaced by Kanunnikov.

Lodygin – Makeev, Vasin (Rykov ’46), Lystsov, Tsallagov (Smolnikov ’46) – Gorobsov (Gazinskiy ’46), Mauricio (Mamaev ’46), Dzagoev (Ionov ’46), Kanunnikov, Kokorin – Dzyuba (Ari ’69)

The game was over after 6 minutes, team was absolutely demoralized by two early goals and could easily lose with a bigger margin.

U21:

Friendly. Russia 2-0 Luxembourg (Sokolov, Zobnin)

Friendly. Israel 1-1 Russia (Bakatin)

U19:

Friendly. Russia 1-1 Malta (Terentjev)

Friendly. Russia 0-0 South Korea

Confederations Cup draw

Unlucky, I hoped for New Zealand in our group And FA expects us to reach semi-finals.

Leo Messi got another Golden Ball despite not winning any trophy, FM is quite realistic

Denis Cheryshev moved to Zenit during winter transfer window. Well, I hope at least there he will play, not sit on a bench. This transfer also means (along with Kritsyuk moving to Krasnodar) that all our current squad is now playing in Russian league. Nothing strange though, with a strict foreigner limit and lack of really talented players it was expected.

Premier League – CSKA overtook Zenit this time, Anji is not so powerful financially as a few years ago, but managed to return into top 3.

Russian Cup – sensational run by relegated Tom! Some team in Europe will have to travel to Siberia

Season awards:

Player of the Year – Axel Witsel (Zenit)

Players’ Select – Axel Witsel (Zenit)

Top Goalscorer – Andrei Ivan (CSKA). Unfortunately, this Ivan is Romanian

Goalkeeper of the Year – Igor Akinfeev (CSKA)

Young Player of the Year – Vitaly Lystsov (Rubin)

Manager of the Year - Andriy Parkhomenko (Tom). Funny thing is that he was a caretaker manager for the only match - the cup final

Russian clubs in Europe:

Zenit – 3rd place in CL group (Leverkusen, Monaco, Dinamo Zagreb), lost to Benfica in EL semi-final.

CSKA – lost to Lyon in CL 3rd qualifying round, 3rd place in EL group (Benfica, West Ham, Molde)

Spartak – 3rd place in EL group (Olympiakos, Besiktas, Toulouse)

Terek – 4th place in EL group (Athletic, Koln, PAOK) with 0 points

Lokomotiv – lost to Basaksehir in EL 3rd qualifying round

Another bad season for all clubs except Zenit…

U19:

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 3-1 Wales (Terentjev-2, Zaitsev)

Euro Qualifiers. England 0-3 Russia (Vavilchenkov, Zaitsev, own goal)

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 3-1 Israel (Andreev, Bakatin, own goal)

Impressive performance from our U19 side, qualifying for the Euros second time in a row. Spartak Moscow left winger Sergey Zaitsev was the best player of the tournament with 2 goals and 5 assists.

It says that squad is selected for friendlies only, but under the news Confederations Cup fixtures were listed as well, so I decided to pick the best available squad without any experiments, including currently injured Cheryshev and Dzyuba. But we will have to play without our best keeper Akinfeev, who is out for 2 months

And another Brazilian in our squad, Joaozinho from Krasnodar. I hope that in future we’ll have enough good home-grown players and won’t end in the similar situation with our futsal team IRL, but right now there are not many alternatives.

Kritsyuk – Schennikov (Kombarov ’82), Djakov, Lystsov, Smolnikov – Gazinskiy (Denisov ’66), Mamaev (Mauricio ’82), Faizulin (Dzagoev ’66), Joaozinho, Kokorin – Ari (Shatov ’66)

That was really bad. We couldn’t beat Haiti at home, creating absolutely nothing.

A day after that match I was requested to submit Confederations Cup squad, left it unchanged of course.

Lodygin – Kombarov (Schennikov ’46), Semenov, Rykov (Lystsov ’60), Parshivlyuk (Smolnikov ’60) – Denisov, Mauricio (Mamaev ’60), Dzagoev, Shatov, Kokorin (Joaozinho ’60) – Ari (Dzyuba ’60)

At least that was not Haiti, but if we play like that in next matches, my career will not last long

June 18, 2017

Zenit Arena, St. Petersburg



FIFA Confederations Cup – Group A

United States vs Russia

2 min. Good start from our team, as Joaozinho crosses low, and Shatov shoots from a tight angle, but his shot is charged down by Johnson.

10 min. Semenov starts a counter, Joaozinho runs down the left wing, finds Ari rushing into the area, he stops the ball and fires it past Guzan! 1-0

16 min. Injury to Smolnikov, he’s replaced by Parshivlyuk.

21 min. Another counter after American corner ends with Shatov’s close range shot, but it’s again blocked by defender.

23 min. Quick free kick combination from USA, Shea is on the ball unmarked, but misses the net.

30 min. Zusi delivers a corner, Dempsey wins the ball from three our players and heads it to the net. 1-1

47 min. Another corner, and Diskerud scores the second goal. 1-2

50 min. Schennikov crosses from the left wing, Shatov redirects the ball to unmarked Ari at the 6-yard line, and he equalizes! Probably there was an offside, but doesn’t matter. 2-2

A draw in opening match is not the worst result, but to qualify we still will need a win against France (anybody believes in that?) or Ivory Coast, which is certainly not a worse team than United States.

Smolnikov is out for 3 weeks, so Parshivlyuk remains our only right-back for the tournament.

France expectedly won the first game, absolutely no idea how we can stop them.

No surprises in Group B as well.

June 21, 2017

Kazan Arena, Kazan



FIFA Confederations Cup – Group A

Russia vs France

Lots of changes in our squad and very few for France, hope fresher players will help us.

11 min. Pogba takes the free kick, Lodygin saves and Gazinskiy clears the ball to a corner.

13 min. Our free kick is unsuccessful, but Kombarov takes the rebound, crosses, and Shatov heads the ball into the net from far post! 1-0

16 min. Cross from Lacazette, and Rykov scores an unfortunate own goal trying to win the ball from Pogba. 1-1

21 min. Umtiti gets a straight red card for a foul on Dzyuba! We got a man advantage, will it help?

22 min. Dzagoev delivers a free kick, and Rykov has a chance to score into the right net this time, but Lloris turns it to a corner.

25 min. Griezmann hits the post from a powerful free kick!

45 min. Varane goes forward for a throw-in and scores. 1-2, with 10 men they are still much better.

47 min. Djakov wins a header after a corner by Dzagoev, but his shot hits crossbar...

76 min. Cross from Joaozinho, and Ari’s shot is just a bit over the bar.

80 min. Joaozinho crosses from a corner, and Djakov finally scores from a near post! 2-2

Thanks Umtiti, I’m sure France would have smashed us playing in full strength. And it’s third game in a row we finish 2-2

Mauricio is out for a week, at this very short tournament that probably means he wouldn't play till final.

Good result for us too, we now need only a win against Ivory Coast, and even a draw would be enough if France wins against United States.

Uruguay qualified for semi-final, while Germany still needs a point in the last game.

June 24, 2017

Zenit Arena, St. Petersburg



FIFA Confederations Cup – Group A

Russia vs Ivory Coast

Quite ironic, both their forwards successfully played in Russian league.

9 min. Ari finds Joaozinho in the penalty area, but his shot is saved by Sayouba.

12 min. Lacina Traore wins a header after Gervinho’s cross, but the ball goes off target.

36 min. Throw-in by Schennikov, Joaozinho immediately passes to Mamaev, who turns with a ball and scores! 1-0

68 min. Ari plays one-two with Mamaev, runs into the penalty area and shoots from tight angle, Sayouba turns the ball to a corner.

74 min. Karaboue delivers a corner, Ismael Traore is unmarked and heads the ball in. 1-1

81 min. Through ball from Faizulin to Kokorin, shot from tight angle, and Sayouba saves again.

88 min. Cheryshev accelerates on the left wing, cuts inside, receives a ball from Kokorin and scores! 2-1, will that be enough to win?

90+1 min. Semenov loses Lacina Traore in the box, but his shot is far from being dangerous.

Our first win in 2017, and it came in probably the most important match. We qualified for semi-final, matching FA expectations and certainly saving me from sacking Unfortunately, our captain Denisov picked his second yellow card and will have to miss next match.

France topped the group, not surprising at all.

Germany beat Uruguay for a 1st place in their group, so we face the defending world champions in semi-final.

June 29, 2017

Zenit Arena, St. Petersburg



FIFA Confederations Cup – Semi-Final

Germany vs Russia

Parshivlyuk was too tired and actually didn’t impress in previous matches, so Semenov starts as right-back today.

16 min. Nice long shot from Kroos, and Lodygin turns the ball above the bar.

30 min. Ozil crosses into the box, Muller tries a volley and hits the side netting.

37 min. Free kick by Reus, Boateng wins the header… slightly off target!

54 min. Schennikov joins our attack, receives the ball from Dzagoev inside the box and shoots off target.

73 min. Mustafi crosses from right wing, Muller wins a header but misses the net.

77 min. Shatov cuts inside after Dzyuba’s pass, but his shot is blocked by Hector.

79 min. Schurrle runs past Schennikov, crosses low to Draxler, who hits a post!

80 min. Another cross from Schurrle, and this time Muller finds the net. 0-1

83 min. Kroos takes a corner, Draxler heads the ball to Ginter, and he easily scores. 0-2

Deserved win for Germany, but I can’t say that we played too bad. That’s just the difference in current levels of the teams.

Second semi-final was a lot more interesting for spectators and went to penalties. The only miss by Diego Godin made the final all-European, while we will play Uruguay in the bronze match.

July 2, 2017

Otkritie Arena, Moscow



FIFA Confederations Cup – 3rd Place Playoff

Uruguay vs Russia

18 min. Suarez turns with the ball past Lystsov and shoots, but off target.

20 min. Parshivlyuk’s cross is blocked by defenders, but the ball falls back to Sergey, he crosses again and Cheryshev heads it into the net! 1-0

36 min. Kombarov takes a free kick, Cheryshev wins a header again, this time his shot is off target.

62 min. Powerful long shot from Mayada, and the ball flies inches past the post!

63 min. Immediate response from our Brazilians – Ari passes to Mauricio inside the box, but Muslera manages to save.

72 min. Low cross by Parshivlyuk to Ari, who shoots low, but Muslera saves with his leg!

88 min. Another amazing save from Muslera, this time after Faizulin’s close range shot.

90+1 min. Corner for Uruguay ends with a header by Suarez, too far from goal.

We won the bronze medals, the result which I didn't expect actually. Suarez and Cavani seemed to be unstoppable for our defence, but we managed to cope with them. Of course it's our best ever result in this tournament (just because we never took part in it before )

Final

When everyone already expected the extra-time, Ozil struck a shot from 25 meters and won the first ever Confederations Cup for Germany.

Golden Ball

1. Luis Suarez

2. Thomas Muller

3. Julian Draxler

Golden Shoe

1. Thomas Muller – 4

2. Luis Suarez – 4

3. Julian Draxler – 3

Golden Glove – Manuel Neuer

U19:

European Championship. Russia 2-3 Georgia (Bakatin, Sokolov)

European Championship. Russia 0-1 Scotland

European Championship. Russia 1-1 Portugal (Bakatin)

Despite a much better draw than last year, our U19 team failed to qualify for semi-finals with only one point. Still, being in top 8 European teams for 2 years in a row is quite good.

Friendlies – September 2017

Burlak, Logashov, Skopintsev and Sokolov were called up into my squad for the first time. Also I decided to select more forwards than usual, switching the tactics to 4-1-3-2 formation (there are some promising newgen strikers in youth teams, so probably 4-5-1 would not suit us in future).

Akinfeev – Skopintsev, Djakov (Semenov ’82), Lystsov, Smolnikov – Yusupov (Gazinskiy ’64), Cheryshev (Joaozinho ’82), Mamaev (Mauricio ’69), Shatov (Ionov ’64) – Sokolov, Dzyuba (Kokorin ’69)

No problem in securing the result against much weaker opponents, but our finishing needs working on it. Only 3 shots on target from 17, that hardly will be enough against other teams.

Lodygin – Schennikov, Semenov, Lystsov (Burlak ’58), Logashov (Skopintsev ’46) – Gazinskiy, Joaozinho (Cheryshev ’46), Mamaev (Mauricio ’46), Ionov (Shatov ’46) – Ari, Dzyuba (Sokolov ’58)

I would like to replace all our awful defence with some better players, the problem is that we don’t have any The only positive side is that Dzyuba scores second match in a row, 2 strikers formation seems to suit him much better.

U21:

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 0-1 Italy

Euro Qualifiers. Wales 1-0 Russia

Actually our U21 team lost all chances to qualify after just two matches

U19:

Friendly. Russia 0-2 Czech Republic

Friendly. Russia 2-1 Italy (Ignatovich-2)

Friendlies – October 2017

Nikita Chernov, who was surprisingly called up by Capello in 2015 before playing any match in Russian league, returns to the national team.

Akinfeev – Makeev, Djakov, Rykov, Tsallagov – Gorobsov (Gazinskiy ’63), Cheryshev, Mauricio (Dzagoev ’63), Shatov (Ionov ’80) – Sokolov, Dzyuba (Smolov ’46)

Huge amount of long shots from Australians can make you think they really were in control of this match, but that’s not true. We had an advantage in shots on target (3-2) and clear cut chances (3-0), so actually our win was not so surprising. Smolov made a great substitute, scoring from outside the box and assisting Sokolov with his first national team goal.

Lodygin (Kritsyuk ’46) – Schennikov, Semenov (Rykov ’46), Chernov, Smolnikov – Gazinskiy (Gorobsov ’76), Joaozinho (Cheryshev ’46), Mauricio (Dzagoev ’67), Ionov – Sokolov, Smolov (Ari ’46)

So far it’s the best game I saw from the team (well yes, it’s only a friendly against UAE, but earlier we couldn’t play like this even against weaker oppositions).

U21:

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 1-0 Cyprus (Sheidaev)

Euro Qualifiers. Kazakhstan 1-0 Russia

U19:

Euro Qualifiers. Israel 4-0 Russia

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 3-1 Wales (Sorokin-2, Sergeev)

Euro Qualifiers. Russia 4-0 Malta (Karpov, Nikishin-2, Pecheritsa)

Shocking beginning of the tournament, but two wins still gave our team a place in the next round.

Friendlies – November 2017

Burlak was injured shortly after announcement and replaced by Rykov.

Akinfeev – Makeev (Schennikov ’73), Rykov, Lystsov, Parshivlyuk (Smolnikov ’62) – Gorobsov (Gazinskiy ’46), Cheryshev (Joaozinho ’62), Mauricio (Dzagoev ’46), Shatov – Sokolov, Kokorin (Ari ’46)

Goal scored in the first attack allowed us to play more careful, relying on counters. Aubameyang played as left winger and wasn’t able to create anything during the match.

Sokolov picked up a head injury in the end of the match and was replaced by Smolov.

Lodygin – Schennikov, Rykov, Semenov (Lystsov ’46), Smolnikov – Gazinskiy (Shatov ’73), Joaozinho (Cheryshev ’46), Mauricio (Gorobsov ’46), Ionov – Kokorin (Ari ’73), Dzyuba (Smolov ’46)

As I can see, it was actually the last match before the World Cup squad announcement (dates in March are unavailable for some reason), and it was a very hard test against much stronger team. Unfortunately, we couldn’t keep our advantage after Semenov’s early goal, but in overall played better than in Turkey two months ago.

While we played friendlies, the qualifying campaign for the World Cup has ended, and some very reputable teams will have to miss our home tournament. Netherlands lost to France and Sweden in their group, finishing third, and Spain lost in play-offs to… again Sweden. Sudan, China, Iraq, Guatemala and Panama qualified among the others from their zones, leaving Nigeria, South Korea, Iran and Costa Rica watching TV next summer.

U21:

Euro Qualifiers. Estonia 0-2 Russia (Terentjev, Bakatin)

Euro Qualifiers. Italy 1-2 Russia (Galadjan, Karpov)

Nice away win against Italy, but I’m afraid too many points were dropped before this.

U19:

Friendly. Russia 2-0 South Korea (Borodin, Vasiljev)

Friendly. Spain 1-1 Russia (Nikishin)

2018 FIFA World Cup draw

Oh my god. Probably the toughest draw we could get. Really, why not Guatemala, Sudan and Scotland? At least FA expects us only to be competitive (though I have no idea what they actually mean).

P.S. Was wrong saying that Iraq qualified in previous post, actually they lost to Guatemala in play-offs.

Interesting group indeed. Hopefully Mexico can get out of it.

I see the minnows of Panama, Sudan and Scotland all qualified.

I see the minnows of Panama, Sudan and Scotland all qualified.

And Denmark.

And Denmark.

Hey hey hey.

We are not THAT small