"It's good that the match wasn't a qualifier"

Last week, the Russian national football team completed 2025 with two home matches against South American teams. First, Valery Karpin's team drew with Peru (1-1) in St. Petersburg, and then lost to Chile (0:2) in Sochi. The defeat in the last match was the first for the Russians since their suspension from international competitions — the last time this happened was in November 2021, following the results of the away qualifying match of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia (0:1). The unbeaten streak was 23 matches.

The captain of the Russian national team in the match against Chile was CSKA defender Igor Diveev. In an interview with Izvestia, he shared his opinion on the reasons for the failure, summed up the results of the last training camp for the national team and spoke about expectations on the eve of the upcoming Moscow derby with Spartak in the 16th round of the Russian championship.

— What do you attribute the defeat to Chile?

— Two deliveries — two goals. The first goal was due to my delivery, the second was due to a rebound, as a result of which the ball somehow ended up next to the far post of the Chile player. It happens that way. Overall, it was an interesting game, in which the opponent did not create many chances at our goal.

— What caused your mistake in the first goal episode?

— I wanted to make a penetrating pass to the center, but their support outsmarted me. At first, he ran to the curb, but then he changed lanes, read my transmission and intercepted it.

— Does it matter to you that the match against Chile ended the four-year unbeaten streak of the Russian national team? Have you noticed her before?

— No, I didn't. I don't think it's abnormal at all that we somehow played a separate friendly match unsuccessfully. Yes, the bad thing is that we lost to the Chileans. But you're just drawing conclusions from it. And here it is much more important what conclusions we draw from this defeat. We will watch the game, figure out which of the actions you should not perform in it, how you should not run forward so that the opponent does not give you a pass behind your back. In general, a normal analysis of the game should be done. It's a good thing that this match wasn't a qualifier for the World or European Championships. Just a friendly game. It is clear that everyone wants to win friendly matches, but it is impossible to do without defeats. And there are no victories without defeats, so, again, the main thing is to draw the right conclusions from this result.

— And what conclusions should be drawn from the last two matches of the national team?

— Make fewer mistakes, lose the ball less, and realize your chances better.

— The Russian national team had an eventful autumn — six matches against very tough opponents. How would you rate this period for the national team as a whole?

— The games were interesting. I'm not even paying attention here to whether we won a particular match 1-0 or 4-0. The main thing is how the team played, how we acted in attack and defense — this should be looked at first. We understand that the same national teams of Chile and Peru are completely different teams than those with whom we usually play. And it was good to test yourself against their background. But the main thing is that you need to build on your game. And look at how you act in certain episodes and the game as a whole.

— In October and November, Valery Karpin fielded all CSKA players in the starting lineup for the second matches of both training camps, which gave less time to prepare for the Moscow derbies in October with Lokomotiv and November with Spartak, because their players either played in the first matches for the national team, or played much less in the second than the army representatives. Does this make it more difficult for your club to prepare for such important RPL games?

— No, we don't pay any attention to it at all. On the contrary, when you play for the national team at the same time with several club partners, you understand them much better on the field. I understand the actions of Vanya Oblyakov, Luka, Kislyak and Krug well, because I have been playing with them all year. So I'm calm about it. Moreover, we have seven days between the Russian national team's match with Chile and the CSKA derby with Spartak.

— So you see no reason in the October derby defeat by Lokomotiv (0:3) that all five army men in the national team — you, Lukin, Kislyak, Oblyakov and Krugovoy — were recovering and preparing for four days after the meeting with Bolivia (3:0), and some of the players "Did Loko— Dmitry Vorobyov and Alexey Batrakov, play for the national team four days earlier against Iran (2-1), and played the game against the Bolivians in reserve?

— We don't pay any attention to it at all. Well, we played for the national team three or four days before the match with Lokomotiv, that's okay. Here in November, Alexander Golovin played both matches for the national team with a difference of three days, against both Peru and Chile. And nothing, I took it all well. And it's okay for us — you just recover more, but it doesn't affect your condition in matches for the club.

— What are your expectations from the Spartak derby?

— It will be a very important and difficult match against a good strong opponent. But we will do everything to beat the red-whites again, as we managed to do a month ago.

"I really hope that in 2026 we will be allowed to participate in official tournaments"

Russian national team and CSKA football player Danil Krugovoy talks about his chances of returning to the international stage, defeat by the national team of Chile and the upcoming derby with Spartak

— Were you surprised by the dismissal of Spartak head coach Deyan Stankovich during the break for the national team games?

"I don't give a damn about that. Spartak is not my team. I'm thinking about CSKA and how to win the next match with my club. I prepare for the Spartak derby the same way, regardless of who trains them. If Stankovich were still their head coach, I would be preparing for him the same way I'm going to prepare now that he's fired.

— So you don't even keep in mind the possible effect of changing the head coach of the opponent?

— No, it doesn't have any effect at all. Why should I not tune into the game at all if Stankovich was fired? Should we as a team not strain ourselves on the field at all during this match? We all know what Spartak is, we all know what a derby is.

— Rather, perhaps, we need to strain ourselves even more, because the opponent must have an emotional boost — this usually happens in the first matches after the change of head coach ...

— Well, or so you can also argue. So it's nonsense to focus on changing the coach of an opponent. I don't pay attention to it at all!

— Over the past year, have you gained faith in the imminent dismantling of Russian teams and their admission to international competitions?

— It's hard to say... I've been hearing about this for two years in a row, but I haven't seen any results yet. So I can't talk about it because I don't know, and neither do all of you. It is unclear what will happen next. How can I know if something has moved forward or not, whether we are closer to qualifying for the World and European Championships or not? There is no answer here.