"There was no underestimation of Nigeria due to the absence of Osimhen"

The Russian national football team recently held three friendly matches in the regions of their country. In Kazan, Valery Karpin's team won against Iran (2:0). Then they defeated Namibia in Yekaterinburg (6:0). And they ended the series with a draw in Nizhny Novgorod with Nigeria (3:3), having missed a two-goal advantage (3:1) at the end of the meeting. The defender of Kaliningrad "Baltika" Mingiyan Beveev played all three matches.

He came on as a substitute in the 83rd minute against Iran and in the 78th minute against Nigeria, and also had a full game against Namibia. In an interview with Izvestia, the 30-year-old football player summed up the meetings and told how he spent his time between training sessions with the national team.

— Are you satisfied with the last matches of the national team?

— Of course, I am satisfied. If we had won the last match against Nigeria, I would have been even more pleased. We should have won. The first ten minutes were hard for us. But overall we played well, created chances, scored good goals. And all that remained was not to miss at the end.

— Why didn't it succeed?

— It's hard to assess what exactly prevented us from retaining the victory. Just a little bit was not enough to get a positive result. We played wrong in the end, we tried to insure each other in defense, but it didn't work out. It's a shame, because in general we controlled the game and, with the exception of certain segments, we had the advantage. We will analyze the reasons at the next gathering.

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Russian national team midfielder Matvey Kislyak talks about his chances of returning to official tournaments, the atmosphere in the regions and his path

— Perhaps you underestimated the Nigerian team, considering that six of its leading players, including the main star Viktor Osimhen, did not come to Nizhny Novgorod?

— It seemed to show us that those players of the Nigerian national team who came can also do something. I think you've seen how accurately they give the ball to each other, how they can beat an opponent one-on-one. There are also a lot of guys who play in good European clubs among those who took part in the match against us. Good-quality football players gathered there. Therefore, there was definitely no underestimation.

— This fall, FIFA and UEFA have paused the club season for the national teams longer than usual. Are the players of the Russian national team tired of each other for a long time together?

— Personally, no, I'm not tired. Everything was fine. The fact that we were together for a long time did not interfere in any way. I like the training process in the national team. In addition, there were three matches in different cities, so the situation changed periodically, there was no routine. And there was plenty to do between workouts. Nail Umyarov and I, for example, played chess.

— What was the score in your games?

— It's probably a draw in total (smiles). The main thing is, it's interesting.

— Have you been interested in chess for a long time? Do you think your interest could have been influenced by the fact that your native Kalmykia was considered the chess center of the world under Kirsan Ilyumzhinov?

— Yes, I've been interested in chess since childhood, since high school. So, as you can see, there was something to diversify the time spent in the national team. Therefore, I am happy to join the national team and will continue to come if the head coach calls.