Everyone at the training camp: how the national team is preparing for the upcoming matches

The Russian national football team continues to prepare for the friendly match with Jordan. On Tuesday, an open training session for the media was held in Novogorsk, in which almost all the players called up for this training camp took full part. Among them were goalkeeper Matvey Safonov, who came from abroad, as well as midfielders Alexander Golovin and Alexey Miranchuk.

Composition

The team started training over the weekend — most of the RPL players left for the national team immediately after the end of their clubs' matches in the Russian championship. They were supposed to start working in full force, including three foreign players, on Monday. But on the afternoon of September 1, the RFU announced that two Krasnodar players, goalkeeper Stanislav Agkatsev and midfielder Nikita Krivtsov, had left Novogorsk for medical reasons.

According to the goalkeeper coach of the Russian national team, Vitaly Kafanov, Agkatsev has a minor injury, but the club and the national team decided to give the goalkeeper a rest. Evgeny Staver, the first number one of Rubin Kazan, was called in his place. Initially, he was absent from the expanded list, which included the representative of Tolyatti Akron, Vitaly Gudiev, who eventually found himself outside the national team.

As a result, in addition to Safonov and Stavera, Alexander Maksimenko from Spartak Moscow and Denis Adamov from Zenit St. Petersburg were in the goalkeeper brigade in Novogorsk. Vitaly Kafanov announced that it is planned to release Maksimenko in the main squad for the game against Jordan, and Safonov against Qatar.

Interestingly, for the first time in four years of working for the national team, the goalkeeper coach of the national team does not combine it with club activities. In June, at the end of the last RPL season, Vitaly Vitalievich left Rostov, with whom he had been working since February 2019 at Karpin's headquarters.

"I've been working nonstop for 27 years and I realized that I was running out of emotions that I had to share with goalkeepers in training,— Kafanov told reporters after Tuesday's practice. — I felt it a little earlier. After the season, I realized that I needed a break. I drove through 11 clubs before the training camp and watched the training process. I really needed this period. I did everything right. Now there is a desire to work. I'm ready to return to Rostov and work at any club, because I can't imagine myself without working with goalkeepers on a daily basis. Conversations with the goalkeeping coaches of the clubs give a lot. I will probably change something in my approach. I liked how the goalkeepers of the RPL clubs work everywhere. It was a great motivation for goalkeepers and coaches when I came to watch them.

Almost the rest of the national team's coaching staff continues to combine this work with the club's. Karpin has been in charge of Dynamo Moscow since June, and his long-term assistant Jonathan Alba has been acting as Rostov's head coach since February, with Viktor Onopko helping him there.

The novice and the main star

On Tuesday, the national team trained for about an hour. Of all the players at her disposal, only CSKA defender Igor Diveev trained according to an individual program. The rest were completely healthy and engaged in the general group. His army teammate, 19-year-old midfielder Kirill Glebov, was called up to the national team for the first time.

"I'm glad to be in the national team, along with such players," Glebov said. — I talked to Karpin a little bit, but I already began to understand his requirements. Everyone was kind to me. We started watching Jordan's game, and we sorted it out. The most important thing is what kind of football we will show. You have to do your best in the national team.

Just like in the last training camp in early June, when our team played Nigeria (1:1) and Belarus (4:1), the person who caused the most excitement was Matvey Safonov, who won the championship and the French Cup last season as PSG's second goalkeeper, as well as the Champions League. Considering that his team also traveled to the United States for the World Club Championship in the first half of the summer, the players of the Paris club had almost no vacations. But against this background, Safonov is not embarrassed by coming to the national team.

— I am glad to be back with the national team, to see people I know, to come to my native country, — said Matvey. — There is no problem with the fact that there were almost no pauses in PSG games. A lot of time is devoted to rest. It's quite normal. I like to be in this rhythm, everything suits me. I'm having fun. In my position, it's a sin to complain.

The national team's training took place in an extremely active mode, after which the players went with the coaching staff to a closed theoretical lesson. They have another preparatory day scheduled for Wednesday, when at 18:00 the Russian national team will begin training at the Lukoil Arena in Tushino, where the match with Jordan starts on Thursday at 20:00. The game with Qatar will be played on the opponent's home field on Sunday.