In just over ten days, Russia will play the opening match of the World Cup against Saudi Arabia on 14 June. At the host, the mood is currently on the ground. Last Wednesday, the Sbornaja conceded a 0-1 defeat in the test against Austria. Well, defeats against the under the new coach Franco Foda so form-strong Austria can happen. Meanwhile, the German national team can report about it. But at some point the World Cup hosts must come into shape. For six internationals there was no victory for the team of coach Stanislaw Chertschessow. There were only two draws during this period. The last victory comes from October 2017, when they won 4-2 against South Korea. Now the last preparation game for the Russians is on Tuesday evening. In Moscow, the host of the host will welcome Turkey. The pressure from the home is getting bigger. The knockout round is the minimum goal for the home World Cup.
Russia:
The Austrian press hardly had a good hair on the Sbornaja after the bankruptcy in Austria. It had been the “worst match of the Russian national team in a long time”. The team failed. It had shown no will to win, but given a complete emptiness in the attack. In 90 minutes, the team did not score a single chance. The online portal “soccer.ru” called the game “Chertschessows ode of discouragement”. The coach is stubborn, he has no pedagogical talent and would not study the opponents. Under Tschertschessow the Sbornaja dropped to No. 66 in the Fifa ranking. It was nine years earlier still in eighth place.
On Sunday, the Russian Football Federation (RFS) has released the final 23-man squad for the World Cup. Former Bundesliga players Roman Neustädter and Konstantin Rausch were removed from the squad. Zenit St. Petersburg striker Alexander Kokorin is out of action for the World Cup due to a knee injury. Almost all players earn their money in the domestic Premjer league. The stars, the hopefuls and the leading players are missing. At the World Cup, in addition to Saudi Arabia, the hosts meet in Group A as well as two-time World Champion Uruguay and Egypt. In the last winless games, however, the World Cup host met, after all, except for Austria, on the elite of the football world. At home against Spain there was a 3: 3. The other games were lost: 0: 1 against Argentina, 0: 3 against Brazil and 1: 3 against France.
Turkey:
Turkey missed as fourth in Group I qualifying for the finals in Russia quite clearly. In the group stage, Iceland, Croatia and Ukraine had to give up. In the ten games there were four wins, three draws and three defeats. In addition, they conceded in ten appearances 13 goals. In 2002, Turkey had taken a sensational third place at the World Cup in Japan and South Korea. But now the “Crescent Stars” have failed for the fourth time in a row in the World Cup qualifiers. On Friday, the Turks denied a friendly match against Tunisia and separated at the end with a 2-2 draw. The ex-Frankfurt Cenk Tosun caused in the game for a scandal. He flew after an obscene gesture in the 60th minute with red from the square. The 28-year-old had clashed with a fan of his own team and showed him the head-down gesture. He was then sent directly to the cabin by Referee San Fedayi.
For four test matches, the team of Mircea Lucescu is now unbeaten. Before that, however, there had been a series of four games without a win, with defeats at home to Iceland and Albania. The Romanian coach had taken over the post of national coach in August 2017 as successor to the resigned Fatih Terim. However, Lucescu could not lead the team to the World Cup finals in Russia. The 72-year-old still tries to initiate a change and puts a lot of emphasis on young players. But a change takes time.
PREDICTION: Russia to win @ 2.00
