In the final match of the September segment of the qualifying tournament for the 2022 World Cup, the Russian national team beat the Maltese at home with a score of 2: 0. Again, without showing spectacular football, she nevertheless achieved the desired result and took another three points. Valery Karpin’s team now has 13 points, and the Croats who occupy the first place in Group H are second only to the additional indicators.
After a difficult, primarily in physical terms, match in Cyprus, which Russian footballers played out on the rims, one should not count on an easy life in the home confrontation with Malta. This team is holding almost the best qualifying tournament in its history and by the middle of it scored four points. Yes, she suffered three defeats in five meetings, but did not lose to anyone without a fight. And the Russians had certain problems on her field, and the Croats at home could not score for her for an hour before they achieved a major victory, and the Slovenes in their Ljubljana three days ago snatched three points from her only thanks to a dubious penalty.
In addition, the Russian national team has really already spent a lot of energy in the September qualifying session and lost several players due to injuries. After the match with Cyprus, one of the leaders, Alexander Golovin, also left it. Mario Fernandez, also the leading footballer of the national team, never returned to service. In addition, the head coach of the Russians, Valery Karpin, again resorted to the rotation of the starting lineup, which now does not even include the seemingly irreplaceable central defender Georgy Dzhikia. His position was taken by the debutant of the national team Maxim Osipenko. As with the Croats, Daler Kuzyaev, Alexey Ionov and Arsen Zakharyan entered the field again from the first minutes. And as part of the rotation of the captain, this time Fedor Smolov received the armband, who scored two assists in the match with Cyprus. Let us remind you that Dzhikia and Dmitry Barinov had already managed to get the capital before him.
Not to say that the Russian national team actively started the game and pushed the Maltese to the goal, nevertheless, it opened the scoring quickly, which is very important in rivalry with an opponent of a lower class. In the tenth minute, Smolov scored, who, by the way, had already scored a little earlier, but that goal was canceled by the referee because of an offside position. The guests quite self-confidently started a perepasovka in their own penalty area, experienced defender Steve Borg inaccurately threw the ball to goalkeeper Henry Bonello, and he was outstripped by the Lokomotiv striker, who made a one-touch shot on the “shot” and struck an empty net.
However, even such an offensive embarrassment did not discourage the wards of the Italian specialist Davis Manji, and without a shadow of a doubt they went to recoup. For the time being, the matter was limited only to the approaches to the goal of Marinato Guilherme, but the standard with filing into the penalty area and a shot by Andrei Ajius was very dangerous. It’s good that Igor Diveev took over the ball, otherwise Guilherme could not help out.
Although, in general, both teams had tight scoring chances. In the first half, the Russians created practically nothing with their feet. The Maltese again almost brought a goal for themselves, when the defenders threw the ball back to Bonello and he, trying to save it, gave a too risky pass. It all ended with an interception, and Smolov had a great chance to make a double, but the forward screwed him up. Oleksiy Miranchuk also struck a shot, after which the ball missed the ball a little bit. And in the end, right before the break, the score could well have become equal. Kuzyaev also decided to give the ball to the goalkeeper, and instead assisted Luca Montebello. Fortunately, it did. The Malta striker was at an acute angle and missed the target.
And in general there was some kind of anxiety about the result of this match. The game for the Russians frankly did not go well. The second half began with an unpleasant blow from Joseph Mbong, and Guilherme parried it with some difficulty. Karpin made three substitutions, but nothing changed for the better. The Maltese were much closer to the goal, when the same Mbong closed the cross between Montebello and the hosts saved Guilherme. The ethnic Nigerian, of course, gave his opponents a lot of trouble.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3BuoFG6n1Y
And yet, gradually, Russian footballers established control over the game and transferred it to someone else’s half. True, their advantage was expressed exclusively in corner kicks, with which the guests coped quite calmly. But defender Zach Muscat took Bonello by surprise, and his pass back to the goalkeeper almost from the center of the field just miraculously did not turn into an own goal. And then the Maltese broke the rules in the penalty area. Ryan Kamendzuli blocked Kuzyaev’s strike with his hand, and Zelimkhan Bakaev converted the penalty. At the end of the match, it seemed, Osipenko scored the third goal after a corner kick, but VAR recorded that the projection of the ball did not completely cross the goal line. The episode turned out straight from the category of “do not believe your eyes”, because the television replays gave the impression that there was a goal.
The Russian national team won 2: 0 and continues to share the leadership in the group with the Croats, who, in a parallel meeting, confidently dealt with Slovenia at home – 3: 0. With an equal number of points – 13 each – they take the first place due to the best goal difference. On the third line with nine points are the Slovaks, who beat Cyprus at home – 2: 0. The Russians will play their next match with Slovakia in Kazan. Also in October they will leave for Slovenia.
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