Sorry for starting this early, but I'll no doubt forget. Well if the plucky Raaasssssiiiiiyyyyaaaaa can improve, the mighty Estonia might only ship 4 past them. The problem for the NT - IMO is that the fixtures are scheduled around the RPL. Usually the NT performs badly in its fixtures in Oct/Nov, but when March comes up the rest of Europe is knackered and Russia steam-roll the opposition. Here is the callups for the match versus Estonia on November 17th. The game will be played for the first time in Krasnodar I believe. Goalkeepers: Sergei Ovchinnikov (FC Lokomotiv Moskva) Viatcheslav Malafeev (FC Zenit St. Peterburg) Igor Akinfeev (PFC CSKA Moskva) - good to see him in. Defenders Aleksandr Anyukov (FC Krylya Sovetov Samara) Aleksei Bugayev (FC Torpedo Moskva) Sergei Ignashevitch (PFC CSKA Moskva) Aleksei Berezoutski (PFC CSKA Moskva) Vadim Evseev (FC Lokomotiv Moskva) Dmitri Sennikov (FC Lokomotiv Moskva) Roman Sharonov (FC Rubin Kazan) Midfielders Rolan Gusev (PFC CSKA Moskva) Yevgeni Aldonin (PFC CSKA Moskva) Dmitri Loskov (FC Lokomotiv Moskva) - finally... Dmitri Khokhlov (FC Lokomotiv Moskva) Marat Izmailov (FC Lokomotiv Moskva) Aleksei Smertin (Chelsea FC) Dmitry Alenichev (FC Spartak Moskva) Vladimir Bystrov (FC Zenit St. Peterburg) Denis Boyarintsev (FC Rubin Kazan) Andrei Karyaka (FC Krylya Sovetov Samara) Attackers Andrei Arshavin (FC Zenit St. Peterburg) Igor Semshov (FC Torpedo Moskva) Dmitri Bulykin (FC Dinamo Moskva) Aleksandr Kerzhakov (FC Zenit St. Peterburg) Dmitri Sytchev (FC Lokomotiv Moskva) Dmitri Kirichenko (PFC CSKA Moskva)
And so, the circle of life is finally complete, as the planets reallign to their original positions, ready for the new Big Bang, this one to clense the Universe of all the unfortunate infestation called "life". Welcome back, Aleksei Berezoutski. And may the steeds of the Riders of the Apocalypse be swift and true.
Good to see Russia getting the younger players in. There is the potential for a good nucleus of players in the future. I think in 4-5 years Russia will have a very good team. The only thing stopping them, IMO is the lack of players who play abroad. Mind you only Smertin can pull this off successfully.
вперед Руссия!!! Well they did and won by a comfortable scoreline. The match was over by halftime as ganu's midfielder of the year Andrei Karyaka opened the scoring. Then cue 3 Loko boys to aide the Russian cause ....... For me its good to see Marat Izmailov back on form and scoring. He has been threatening to put in a stellar performance. And did so here. And as for Dima, he looks like becoming a true goalscoring star for the team. And after he was left out last time, in which I did state that Yartsev made a mistake - got it right and Loskov played and scored from the spot - thankfully not letting Karyaka no where near it. Back on form for qualification and great end to a superb Russian season. Russia 4-0 Estonia [Karyaka 25, Izmailov 27, Sychev 34, Loskov (pen) 68] "уууууууурррррррраааааааа!!!!! "
Man, is Khokhlov's face red right about now? And, in addition, Yevseyev had a great chance late in the match but missed from 3 meters off. It would've been a five-goal match for the Train! Loskov's got his first NT tally. Huzzah!