"Dzyuba was less talented than Bukharov, but he got everything out of himself"

On March 25, Russian national team players will play their second friendly match as part of the March training camp. They will host Zambia in Moscow at the VTB Arena stadium. Earlier, our players defeated Grenada there (5:0). The goalkeeper in that meeting was Evgeny Latyshonok. Alexander Maksimenko will be in the starting line-up against Zambia. In addition to them, two more goalkeepers, Stanislav Agkatsev and Evgeny Staver, were also called up for the current training camp.

In an interview with Izvestia, the goalkeeper coach of the Russian national team, Vitaly Kafanov, explained Staver's first career call-up to the national team, assessed Matvey Safonov's progress after the summer transfer to the French PSG and Daniil Khudyakov's matches for the Austrian Sturm, and also spoke about the career of striker Artem Dzyuba, who scored a record 31st goal in the match against Grenada. for the national team.

— What do goalkeepers get from games like against Grenada and Brunei?

— We ask the guys to take all the balls they can and not spoil the game. It is clear that in such games there are few chances at our gates. But this is also an important test for a goalkeeper — not only to be able to help out when the opponent is attacking a lot, but also to maintain concentration, not to lose it for a second when the game is mostly in the other half of the field. And help out if there is a sudden danger at your gate. I think the guys handled it well. Both in the autumn matches and now against Grenada, the Latvian played well. Maksimenko will play in the match against Zambia from the first minute. Let's see what happens to him. Although the opponent is already stronger.

— You have said more than once that Matvey Safonov remains the first number of the national team, even though he is not always called up to it. Should I expect him to be called up for the June matches against Nigeria and Belarus?

— We have such a desire. We can't say anything definite yet. But there is a preliminary agreement on this.

— Matvey Safonov, how has the goalkeeper changed during his time at PSG?

— All situations are repeated at different levels. After all, we also played in the Champions League with Rubin and Rostov. And our goalkeepers faced the same thing that Safonov faced at PSG. He had acted confidently and correctly in all situations before, which helped his teams out — in Krasnodar and the national team. Everything Matvey does now, he was able to do before. Another thing is that responsibility and stress are stronger at a higher level. And decisions need to be made faster. In France, Safonov learned to read the game faster, make decisions faster, and react faster to changing situations. And the technique, reaction and jumping ability are all that is needed for a goalkeeper - he had it before.

— At the end of last year, Daniil Khudyakov played four matches for Sturm when the main goalkeeper of the team was injured. How did you like Daniel's performance for the Austrian club?

— I think it was a pretty good debut to start with.

— What are his chances of raising his level when he spends the rest of the season on the bench?

— In the training process, the goalkeeper can grow and develop. It has already been proven that even if a goalkeeper does not play, but trains well, goes into training as a game and does everything in training as in the game, he adds. There have been more than one, five, or ten such cases. There are many such cases. How many times has it happened that a goalkeeper, whom no one knew, enters the field and performs well from the first game... It's not just that without playing practice, he immediately clings to his chance in the squad as soon as he gets it. And all because before that, the goalkeeper had been training well, preparing for this moment, when he entered the field, he was waiting for his chance.

— After all, you had a similar story in the national team when Andrei Lunev was called up, who at that time had no practice at Bayer.

— He looked very strong in our training sessions. Because I got stronger in Germany through training, even without playing. Yes, this is the same case. Then Andrey moved from Bayer to Qarabag and immediately pulled the team into the 1/8 finals of the Europa League. He didn't lose money in Germany during those two years — he grew up there. And I've grown up there in those two years. Not playing. But only by training.

— The March training camp was the first in the national team for Evgeny Stavera. What are his impressions of working together?

— A very good impression. Against the background of the other goalkeepers, he looks the same as them. No worse than Maksimenko, Agkatsev and Latyshon. Stavera has a good school. He is mentally very stable. Stress-resistant. The games that Zhenya played for Rubin in his first season were good in his performance. After all, he was taken into the team as the second number, and he became the first. And now this place is basically not giving away. Absolutely deserved it. Zhenya brings the team points. All this shows that he is a good goalkeeper.

— How did he get a good school?

— He has already come a long way in his career after moving from the Far East. I changed several teams before I came to Krasnoyarsk, where I played for Yenisei, and from there I moved to Rubin. Before he reached Krasnoyarsk, he came across various coaches. When he got to Rubin, he began working with a good goalkeeper coach, Seryozha Kozko, who invited him to Kazan and generally noticed him.

— How do you feel about the new eight-second rule (the International Council of Football Associations (IFAB) has amended the rules of the game, according to which now, if the goalkeeper holds the ball for more than eight seconds, the referee appoints a corner kick in favor of the opposing team. — Izvestia)?

— Speed up the game. The goalkeepers will stop stalling. I will be glad if the rule is followed. That's short.

— In terms of the impact on football, is this comparable to prohibiting goalkeepers from picking up the ball when passing back with their foot from their player?

— Yes, that change in the rules also accelerated the game. And the eight-second rule should speed it up too. I repeat, if it is respected. I say this because the previous six-second rule was not followed. Let's see what happens now. But I think there will be some kind of countdown, because the goalkeeper must understand how much time he has left to put the ball into play.

— The match against Grenada will go down in history for the general public thanks to Dzyuba's record goal for the national team. As someone who worked with him at Rostov, can you explain why he made such a career? And how did you work with him then?

— It was easy to work because he stayed after every training session when the team left the field. And we still had goalkeepers. And Artyom came up to us in the penalty area — he hit a lot of goals, especially after passing from the flank. We needed it, and so did Juba. In general, I believe that with all his physical and other data, he was able to squeeze out of himself the maximum that a person can squeeze out. I always compare him to Sasha Bukharov. Sasha's talent was much higher than Artyom's. But Bukharov did not realize himself even by 50%. And Dzyuba was able to squeeze everything out of himself.

— In fact, Bukharov was revealed only in your and Berdyev's game system.

— But again, it was difficult. They were looking for an approach to him, and it only worked for a short period. Artyom always kept the bar high.

— Even considering that those six months at Rostov with Berdyev and you were not the most productive in terms of goals scored in Dzyuba's career.

— Yes, he had a difficult period then, when he moved from Spartak to Zenit and went on loan to us for six months. But the fact is that, not having such a talent as Bukharov, Dzyuba set so many records... I compare them because I worked at the club with Artyom for only six months, and during that period he was next to Sasha. This is what happened before my eyes. Two strong attackers. One is more talented than the other, but the less talented one achieves great success. It happens in sports.