Team practice: what to expect from the upcoming game against Bolivia
The players of the Russian national team will play the second October friendly match, after which they will leave for their clubs until the next training camp, which will be held in November. On the evening of October 14, Valery Karpin's team will host Bolivia in Moscow. This will be the first meeting with the South American national team since 2018. For more information about the opponent and the state of the Russian team, see the Izvestia article.
The opponent
Paradoxically, if you scroll through the lists of all the matches of the Russian national team over the past 10 years, it turns out that it did not play with rivals from overseas long before February 2022 and the subsequent ban. The last time we met with representatives of South America was before the start of Covid — in the summer of 2018, against Uruguay (0:3) in the group stage of the home World Cup.
For the next seven years, we only played against opponents from Europe, Asia and Africa. The Russian Football Union (RFU) had an agreement with Paraguay on a face-to-face meeting in March 2024. This team even managed to come to our country. But the game had to be canceled due to the terrorist attack at the Crocus.
Now the Russians will face Bolivia at the same VTB Arena stadium in Moscow, where they were supposed to play Paraguay. Bolivia is ranked 77th in the FIFA rankings. Russia is currently 33rd, and Iran, with whom we played 2-1 in Volgograd last week, ranks 21st.
Of all the ten teams in the CONMEBOL zone (the Confederation of South American Football), Bolivia has historically had some of the most modest achievements. The only countries worse off are Ecuador and Venezuela. Bolivia won the Copa America in 1963, and reached the final 34 years later.
She participated in the World Championships only three times. At first, it was the first world championship draw in Uruguay in 1930, where there was no selection. Then the Bolivians qualified for the 1950 World Cup in Brazil and the 1994 World Cup in the USA. But they can get to the next World Cup, which will be held next summer in the USA, Canada and Mexico. After finishing seventh in the South American selection, Bolivia qualified for the intercontinental play-off matches to be held in March.
Six teams will compete for the last two tickets to the World Cup finals. One team from CONMEBOL, AFC (Asian Football Confederation), CAF (Confederation of African Football) will participate. OFC (Oceanic Football Confederation) and two from CONCACAF (Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Football). So far, only two participants in these junctions are known — in addition to Bolivia, New Caledonia has passed there from the OFC.
Most of the players in the team's application are from clubs from Bolivia and other South American countries. Two football players, midfielder Roberto Fernandez and defender Yomar Rocha, play in Russia for Tolyatti Akron. Diego Arroyo from Shakhtar Donetsk and Enzo Monteiro from Auda Riga are also in the squad. The captain of the national team is Luis Akin from the Saudi club Al-Tai.
— This is a strong opponent for our team, against which it will be useful for our team to test their strength, — Boris Ignatiev, the former head coach of the Russian national team, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — Yes, the team is not at the same level as Iran, Qatar and even Jordan, as can be seen from the FIFA ratings. But in South America, even weak national teams have several players with good technique. And Bolivia, accustomed to living in the highlands, is probably well prepared physically. Therefore, it will not be easy for Russia in any case.
Our
After defeating Iran on Friday, the Russian national team could not fly from Volgograd to Moscow for a long time, as flights were postponed or canceled due to the danger of drone attacks. But the next morning, our guys still managed to fly out and reach the capital safely.
There were no personnel losses following the match with Iran. There are no injuries. Even defender Viktor Melekhin, whose ear was torn off at the end of the game after a collision with an opponent, is in the ranks. It is also expected that another defensive player, Igor Diveev, who was injured before the match with Iran, will be able to play against Bolivia.
The meeting with the national team from South America will begin at 20:00 Moscow time and will be held at VTB Arena, the home stadium of Dynamo Moscow. It is expected that 22-24 thousand spectators will attend the match.
— Russia showed good football in the match with Iran and withstood the resistance of a very difficult and viscous opponent, — Vyacheslav Koloskov, honorary president of the Russian Football Federation, told Izvestia. — Maybe Karpin's team created a few chances offensively, but Iran didn't really let them play either, reducing the meeting to a constant power struggle and defensive play. It was not easy to open such redoubts, but our guys did it well — first Anton Miranchuk gave a great pass, which brought one-on-one with goalkeeper Dmitry Vorobyov, who scored the first goal. And then, at 1-1, the individual skill of Alexei Batrakov affected again, scoring the ball with an excellent long-range shot. In general, the result is such that you can look at the last game positively. And I hope that our team will play even better against Bolivia. They have a high enough level to beat such an opponent, although this South American team is certainly not easy and needs to be taken very seriously.
Recall that the Russian national team will play two more matches this year. On November 12, she will host the Peruvian team in St. Petersburg. And in three days he will play against Chile in Sochi.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
