Iran and Russia exchange penalties and draw
The Russian national team managed to survive in the first friendly match in 2023, keeping a draw in the confrontation with Iran in Tehran. "Gazeta.Ru," tells about the course of the meeting.
Iran - Russia - 1: 1
The Russian national football team held its first match of the new year. In 2022, Valery Karpin's wards entered the field only three times in friendly matches against teams from Central Asia - Kyrgyzstan (2: 1), Tajikistan (0: 0), and Uzbekistan.
In a situation where the national team of the country is suspended from participation in international tournaments due to a special military operation in Ukraine, and foreign teams refuse even scheduled meetings with it, as Bosnia and Herzegovina has already done, the meeting in Tehran was very important.
The Iranian national team is one of the strongest teams in the region, it constantly participates in the final stage of the world championships and showed very good football in the autumn at the World Cup in Qatar, although it did not leave the group.
Two penalties and a difficult draw: Russia failed to beat Iran
The Russian national team led by Valery Karpin held the first match in 2023 and played ...
March 24 08:00
In addition, the Iranians took the match against the Russian team with all seriousness, putting up the main team (Serdar Azmun did not play due to injury), and the fans filled the stands of the national stadium in Tehran almost to capacity and actively supported their favorites with ships - pipes, by sound very reminiscent of South African vuvuzelas.
Valery Karpin also put up a complete combat squad for the game. True, we must immediately make a reservation that there were no legionnaires at his disposal - both French Monaco and the Italian Torino sent papers stating that Alexei Miranchuk and Alexander Golovin were injured.
The place at the gate was taken by Matvey Safonov from Krasnodar (at the same time, it is expected that Alexander Selikhov will come out against Iraq ), in the center of defense, the bunch was Maxim Osipenko from Rostov, and Ruslan Litvinov, who usually comes out in Spartak all the same in the support zone, although experience in the center of defense still has considerable
Vyacheslav Karavaev and Daniil Khlusevich defended and supported attacks along the edges, in the center was a fist from Danil Glebov, Anton Miranchuk, and Daler Kuzyaev. Anton Zinkovsky and Arsen Zakharyan from Spartak and Dynamo, respectively, acted as wingers-insiders, and Nikolai Komlichenko, the ward of the Rostov head coach, was at the forefront from the first minutes.
At the same time, players such as Dmitry Barinov, Sergey Pinyav, Daniil Fomin, and Alexander Sobolev remained in the reservee, whom it would be logical to see from the first minutes if the meeting was official.
The match itself started quite calmly. Owners had some territorial advantage. At the same time, the difference in approaches was striking: if the guests tried to combine the bottom and take over the game already on the outskirts of the penalty area, then the Iranians loaded long passes from their half of the field to the penalty area, where they won the fight, threw off and counted on rebounding.
Amir Galenoi's team did quite well with such football, and it created pressure and earned numerous standards. From one of the corners, having won the fight against Kuzyaev at the far post, in the 12th minute it was dangerous to head, but Seyad Ezatollakhi, an ex-player of Rostov, struck close to the post.
In the middle of the first half, Kanaani decided on a free-kick from almost thirty meters, and Safonov had to jump to pull a cannon shot from the bottom corner.
And in the 27th minute, Zinkovsky's dribbling suddenly led to a penalty. The skilled Spartak player burst into the penalty area with the ball from the left and beat Ezatollahi, who awkwardly put out his foot and knocked down the Russian, although he didn’t have much chance to create an opportunity.
The referee pointed to the point without hesitation, and Anton Miranchuk, after a spectacular pause, beautifully spread Alireza Beiranvand and the ball into different corners.
The minimum advantage of the Russian team lasted until the break, although the Iranians created several sharp situations from the game and from free kicks.
But immediately after the resumption of the game, Ruslan Litvinov stepped on the opponent's foot in his penalty area in an unforeseeable situation, and Mehdi Taremi approached the point. Forward "Porto" struck in the center, but Safonov did not guess.
After that, the coaches made many substitutions, and the advantage of the hosts only increased on the field. All that Russia has created in the remaining time is perhaps a breakthrough and a shot above the gate by Zakharyan.
Safonov also had to work hard, helping out the team. Iran was very close to victory. What is only worth 21 strikes on the Russian goal? Nevertheless, Karpin's team survived and took away a draw from Tehran. Not the brightest, leaving a double impression, but strategically important.
0 Comments