The Russian national football team escaped defeat in the last minutes in a friendly match with the Kenyan team, which took place in Antalya, Turkey.
The game ended with a score of 2:2. Alexander Sobolev (8th minute) and Ivan Oblyakov (89th minute) scored for the Russian national team. Anthony Akumu (16) and Masud Juma (37) scored goals for Kenya.
All inclusive During the period of suspension, the Russian national team played in many exotic places, but still the football field at one of the Turkish hotels, bearing the resounding name «Titanic», is the most unusual location for the national team in a year and a half of sanctions from FIFA and UEFA. To get to the small arena, it was necessary to drive through several fields with greenhouses and a large cotton harvest. Next is an area of active construction, and only then — a small stadium, which, despite its provinciality and distance from the city center, looks quite modern and has everything necessary to host a match of the highest level.
There was no provision for the sale of tickets for the game; access to the stands was possible through a previously submitted application on a special website, as well as upon presentation of a passport right before entering the arena. There were not many spectators (about 1200 people), but they were able to organize decent noise support for both teams. The Russians were supported by employees of the local consulate, ordinary vacationers, as well as students of the St. Petersburg Zenit school, whose branch operates right in Antalya.
Of course, there was no pre-match show, which Russia is so accustomed to, but the caring organizers did everything to ensure that the fans at least did not go hungry. A few tens of meters from the arena, fish and meat were being cooked on a large grill, and the smell that came was more reminiscent of the velvet season and a warm beach than of the approaching match.
Parade of mistakes Valery Karpin, as promised, sent out a lineup for the match with Kenya that was completely different from the one that played against the Cameroon national team (1:0) on October 12. Only midfielder Dmitry Barinov started the match from the first minutes for the second time in a row. Ilya Pomazun made his debut in goal, Georgiy Dzhikia, who has recently received little playing time in Spartak Moscow, appeared in the center of defense with the captain's armband, and the Miranchuk brothers were responsible for creativity in front. Despite their status as favorites, the Russians did not look significantly better than the Africans in the first minutes, but it was Karpin's team that opened the scoring at the very beginning of the game. Alexander Sobolev took advantage of a blunder by the opponent's defense and calmly beat the Kenyan goalkeeper. By the way, at this moment the African goalkeeper received an offensive injury, and he was taken off the field on an ordinary cart.
The Russian players did not slow down their attacking pressure after early success, they tried to combine low without throwing at Sobolev, but the Kenyans, in a tough fight, stopped all the opponent’s combination attempts. Outstanding anthropometry helped them in this — almost every representative of the African team is an order of magnitude taller and stronger than their competitor in position. With the help of such pressure, the Kenyan team took advantage of two stupid mistakes by Barinov and Dzhikia, after which Pomazun was also powerless — 1:2. Adding to all the problems was the injury to midfielder Daniil Fomin, in whose place Daler Kuzyaev appeared on the field.
During the break, Karpin did not make any substitutions, relying on the fact that the original lineup would be able to reverse the unsuccessful course of the match. The Russians actively got involved in the fight in every part of the field, focusing their attack on the full-backs' flank passes and crosses. The Kenyans easily neutralized such threats, often intercepting the ball and launching quick counterattacks. Such raids showed that the problems in the center of the Russian national team’s defense did not evaporate during the 15-minute break — Roman Evgeniev and Dzhikiya often let the opponent’s powerful forwards go behind them and then had difficulty making selections.
In the 66th minute, Karpin decided to make a triple substitution: instead of Sobolev, Barinov and Alexei Miranchuk, Sergei Pinyaev, Danil Glebov and Ivan Sergeev came on. Pinyaev added speed to the left flank of the attack, but, unfortunately, it did not lead to dangerous moments. The ball reached Sergeev very rarely; mostly the fight took place in the center of the field. Moreover, the fight was fierce — the Kenyans played tough and in some places even cruel. It seemed that a few more of these contacts and a fight could break out on the field. However, the Turkish referee team was able to keep the game under control. In desire and dedication, the Russian national team was in no way inferior to its opponent, but it was impossible to bring creativity.
In the 84th minute, Karpin threw Ivan Oblyakov into battle, who, five minutes after entering the field, acted as the savior of the national team, equalizing check. This goal was the debut goal for the CSKA midfielder for the Russian national team.
The result is disappointing: a draw with the 109th team in the FIFA ranking and dismal impressions from the autumn matches. What will happen when we return to international tournaments?
