Update Post: December 9, 2023 8:27 am
The Russian team completed the year 2023 in spectacular fashion. Eight goals against Cuba!
Valery Karpin presented a lineup for the match with Cuba similar to the one he played against Cameroon. Safonov is in goal, Osipenko and Soldatenkov are in the center of defense, Volkov and Silyanov are on the flanks, Glebov and Kuzyaev are in the center of the field, Oblyakov is the right winger and Chalov is the center forward. Only in the position of a holding midfielder, instead of Barinov, who missed the training camp “for medical reasons”, Glebov came in, and on the left edge of the attack Golovin, who did not play against the Cameroonians, replaced Pinyaev . Obviously, these players are the best in Russia currently, according to the coach.
The Cubans criticized the coach and the federation for the choice of the squad
“Can you buy places on the national team?” Cuba is unhappy with the squad for the match with Russia
From the first minutes it was felt that the teams were facing 130 places in the FIFA ranking. The Cuban team defended in a low block in a 5-4-1 formation, while ours controlled the ball and the territory and, through speed interactions, opened the opponent’s dense defense. The central figure of the Russian team was what it should be: captain Golovin. In the first 20 minutes alone, the Monaco midfielder took four shots. However, the ball flew towards the goalkeeper or over the goal.
The Cubans in Sportmaster boots stood firm on the soft pitch, but got bored without the ball, ran to the attack and launched themselves on the counterattack. In the middle of the first half, the scoring attack of the Russian team began with a selection by Soldatenkov from Paradela (the best scorer of the Cuban team was walking around, wanting to show off, losing balls), and ended with a score of three against three. . Oblyakov made a pass to Golovin, who wisely avoided the offside, the former soldier quickly returned the ball to the current soldier and Ivan delighted the packed stands of the Volgograd stadium with an accurate strike.
Video rights belong to National Sports Channel LLC. You can watch the video on the Match Premier Telegram channel.
The Cubans were upset and after half an hour of play they suffered a real failure: Yunielis Castillo’s team lost two more goals in five minutes. The second goal of the Russian team was scored by the same Golovin-Oblyakov duo. Only this time the CSKA midfielder assisted the Monaco midfielder. The newcomer to the Cuban team from Swiss side Baden, Gloor, who was playing against the hosts’ star, did not have time to follow Alexander. This guy definitely won’t have any throats after today’s game; he was unlucky to be under Golovin.
Video rights belong to National Sports Channel LLC. You can watch the video on the Match Premier Telegram channel.
And then goalkeeper Arozarena was “brought” from the American club Tampa Bay Rowdies. Before that, he made such phenomenal saves that he was able to win the Yashin Trophy in a match. He even repelled the point-blank shots of our other “Frenchman” Kuzyaev, who, like Golovin, was heavily substituted and hit the goal several times. But in the episode of the third goal, Arozarena made a mistake in a pass when playing the ball and Chalov gave the assist to Miranchuk. 16 shots, 3-0 on the scoreboard: a great half.
Video rights belong to National Sports Channel LLC. You can watch the video on the Match Premier Telegram channel.
Karpin did not overload the foreign players, he replaced Golovin and Kuzyaev during the break. Another scorer, Miranchuk, also went into the break. The coach of the Russian national team immediately made half of the necessary changes, releasing Prutsev, Krivtsov and Pinyaev. Our team continued to dominate. From the first half, defender Volkov stood out for his hyperactivity on the right flank, trying to show Karpin that he was not as bad as Vladimir Ivich said. But the left back scored the fourth goal! Once again, the home team’s scoring attack began with Soldatenkov (he won a duel against Paradela), and then there were two perfect touches from Chalov and a brilliant shot from Silyanov.
Video rights belong to National Sports Channel LLC. You can watch the video on the Match Premier Telegram channel.
After an hour of the match, three more substitutes from the Russian team appeared on the field: Karpin gave Sobolev, Mostovoy and Chernikov to play for half an hour. By the way, for Chernikov, as for Krivtsov, this was his debut with the national team. The home team finished the match with the attacking trio Mostovoy (right), Pinyaev (left) and Sobolev (center). These three, with their pressure, created the fifth goal for the Russian team. The Arozarena goalkeeper played the ball very badly again: he made a pass to Sobolev. The Spartak player, from the outside looking in, had some clumsy shots, but the ball still went into the net.
Video rights belong to National Sports Channel LLC. You can watch the video on the Match Premier Telegram channel.
The poor Cubans were completely tired and generally stopped keeping up with the Russian team. There was only one intrigue left in this match: whether our team would repeat the result of the USSR team, which defeated the Cubans at the 1980 Olympic Games by 8:0. Prutsev continued the defeat, helped by Mostovoy.
Video rights belong to National Sports Channel LLC. You can watch the video on the Match Premier Telegram channel.
With 20 minutes left, Krivtsov brought the Russian team closer to repeating the historic victory. Today the midfielder scored his first goal for the national team, like Silyanov and Prutsev. A very simple ball between his hands was missed by substitute goalkeeper Morgado.
Video rights belong to National Sports Channel LLC. You can watch the video on the Match Premier Telegram channel.
The Soviet era record and the biggest defeat of the Cuban team in history was repeated, in the 78th minute. Morgado played even worse than Arozarena, receiving the ball at his feet. An attempt to outwit Sobolev ended with Mostovoy scoring.
Video rights belong to National Sports Channel LLC. You can watch the video on the Match Premier Telegram channel.
As a result, the Russian team won in shots 29:2 (on goal – 18:0). If he had scored the ninth goal, he would have repeated his own record. In 2019, our team defeated San Marino 9-0. But in the end Pinyaev missed the penalty. Morgado still had his moment of glory, taking the ball from the bottom right corner.