The Russian team defeated Iraq (2-0) today in their first home game since the start of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.
The team led by Valeri Karpin He had not played on Russian territory since he crushed Cyprus in November 2021 in the qualifying phase of the World Cup in Qatar (6-0), a tournament that he finally did not play when he was excluded by FIFA.
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The Russians, who received their rival at the spectacular Gazprom Arena in Saint Petersburg on Sunday, were unable to defeat the modest Iraqi team in the first half, in which the Arabs were even better.
The two goals came after the break. First Anton Miranchuk took advantage of a rebound from the goalkeeper and then Piniáev he scored the second on personal play.
A selection without stars
The starting eleven for the locals barely featured renowned footballers, with the exception of Obliakov from CSKA or Sobolev from Spartak Moscow.
Karpin had already anticipated that he would introduce changes in relation to the team that drew (1-1) on Thursday in Iran, where he could no longer count on his main stars, Golovin (Monaco) and Alexei Miranchuk (Torino), not even with their captain Dzhikiya.
Karpin, on wire
Given the bad results, karpin He was willing to resign if the Russian Football Union so decides, although he argued that the main reason for the poor performance of his players is mainly psychological.
Faced with international ostracism and the lack of rivals to play with, the Russians played a friendly match in Kyrgyzstan (1-2) in September 2022 and in November they drew goalless in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Russia plans to play in Asia
For all these reasons, the Russian Football Union (UFR) is considering leaving UEFA and playing in Asia, a proposal that has sparked a heated national debate.
The UFR fears that the exclusion of its team will prevent it from also participating, in addition to the 2024 Euro Cup in Germany, in the qualifying phase for the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in the US, Mexico and Canada.
Karpin, who recently renewed his contract as coach until 2024, supported the idea that Zenit’s Brazilians, Malcolm and Claudinho, who recently received a Russian passport, can play for the Russian national team.