The Russian national football team beat the team in a home friendly match Cameroon with a score of 1:0. The game took place on Thursday in Moscow at the Dynamo stadium.
Forward Fyodor Chalov scored his debut goal for the national team in the 40th minute.
The capital misses the national team For more than a year and a half, Russian football has been living under the yoke of sanctions. In total, after the start of their action, the Russian national team played nine friendly matches, but before the match with the Cameroonians, Valery Karpin’s team appeared to the native public only once — in March of this year in St. Petersburg, the Iraqi national team was beaten in a friendly match (2:0). Moscow really missed big international football, as demonstrated by the number of fans who came to the arena on a rainy Thursday evening — 20,152.
There were many Cameroonians among the spectators. In Moscow there is a fairly large diaspora of embassy employees and students. Long before the start of the match, the Africans created a feeling of carnival in the autumn Moscow atmosphere. Noisy songs, bright dances, sincere hugs and a huge number of joint photos involuntarily brought us back to the times of the 2018 World Cup. And even passers-by were happy to plunge into this nostalgia.
Despite the significant geographical distance, cultural and historical differences between the countries, Russia and Cameroon have a lot in common in football terms. The main person in this relationship is the legendary coach Valery Nepomniachtchi, under whose leadership the Cameroonians reached the quarterfinals of the 1990 World Cup. It was he who struck the symbolic blow before the starting whistle. And the President of the Cameroon Football Federation and former Anzhi Makhachkala forward Samuel Eto'o watched the match from the stands in the company of the head of the Russian Football Union (RFU) Alexander Dyukov.
Almost the main squads The national teams of Russia and Cameroon are in different positions. The Africans will soon be fighting for a place at the 2026 World Cup, while the Russians are in limbo about their future. Neither Karpin nor the head coach of the “indomitable lions” Rigobert Song began to save their best strength — both need to keep the leaders in good shape, check the nearest reserve, although the teams’ tasks for the coming months, unfortunately, are too different. There were losses: Karpin could not count on Monaco leader Alexander Golovin, who was injured, and for the same reason the Africans lost Italian Napoli midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo-Anguissa and German Bayern striker Eric-Maxim Choupo. Motinga. But “the most Russian Cameroonian”, Gael Ondua, appeared at the start. The midfielder, who was born and trained in football in our country, traditionally entered the field wearing boots with the flags of Russia and Cameroon on them.
Both teams, despite the friendly status of the meeting, set a good pace from the first minutes of the match. The Russians created the first dangerous chance, but after a long-range strike from midfielder Ivan Oblyakov, the ball hit the post. It was close, but the hosts were unable to support the attacking impulse. Despite the weather, the guests quickly got used to the turf and time after time successfully brought dangerous counterattacks to dangerous shots. At one point, striker Vincent Abubakar entered into a rendezvous with Matvey Safonov, but was unable to beat him. Later, the Russian goalkeeper had to get involved again when striker Brian Mbemo sent the ball into the goal.
The Russian defense did not look coherent; the guests attacked more and more fiercely. But it was at this moment that the Russian team gave a powerful response. First, midfielder Daler Kuzyaev almost turned a cool flank cross into a goal, and a few minutes later Chalov famously watched for the moment and finally sent the ball into the African net — 1:0. The CSKA forward scored his debut goal for the national team, which should certainly encourage him to achieve goal-scoring feats in his home club.
The beginning of the second half was marked by a 100% performance by the young Russian midfielder Sergei Pinyaev, who shook both the crossbar and the visiting post with a powerful left-handed shot. Finally, Karpin’s team began to successfully find approaches to someone else’s penalty area, and if not for the offside call, striker Alexander Sobolev would have scored a goal. Successes ahead, however, did not save Safonov from work: the goalkeeper once again successfully blocked a one-on-one situation. After a number of substitutions, the plot of the meeting became more ragged, and fatigue made itself felt.
Friendly matches12 October 2023 • start at 19:00Completed
RussiaRussia1 : 0
CameroonCameroon
40' • Fedor Chalov
Nevertheless, the Russian team retained the victory with a minimal score and pleased the capital's fans. The national team has a friendly match against the Kenyans ahead. It will be held in Antalya, Turkey on October 16.