Valery Karpin met with the players of the Russian national team, butt Russia – Poland
On Tuesday, the head coach of the Russian national team Valery Karpin held a meeting with his players in a Moscow hotel. According to Karpin, not all the players were at the meeting: legionnaires from Europe, as well as Zenit players, were unable to arrive.
After the meeting ended, Karpin answered journalists’ questions. Here is the main thing from his unscheduled press conference.
Why this meeting was needed
– We had to meet, we decided to meet. We talked about Poland and Croatia. We decided to talk now, because then it will be difficult – vacation, training camps. None of this will be forgotten. They will go on vacation and go to the training camp with the words that we spoke today.
Neither the players told you, nor I will tell you what we talked about at the meeting. Why open up? I won’t. Until the end of the year, there will be no more such meetings: now the tour, then the teams that play in the Europa League will play there, then another tour, and then everything – vacation. These meetings are very helpful. I would like to meet with them every week. Individual meetings and groups will continue in January at the team camps. We will travel to the Emirates, Turkey, Spain.
On the reasons for the defeat from Croatia
– We talked about psychology. The players said that with Croatia it was all over the head. It’s not about cowardice. Don’t get attached to these words. Responsibility for the result always crushes in different ways. Wrong once – the second does not want to be wrong. I wish this never happened again. I found a response from my words that they were hiding from the ball. I can’t talk about it. The players were not afraid of Croatia, it was a responsibility. Perhaps, in the same situation with Cyprus, they would have played the same way, because the result is crushing.
Nobody got scared of nobody, again. Nobody was afraid of Modric, there was no such thing. This is a collective game. The status of the decisive match influenced, and the play-off match will be even more decisive. There will be no next chance, so this meeting was.
Photo: Dmitry Golubovich, “Championship”
About the state of Fyodor Kudryashov
– We talked with Kudryashov on the phone. Now his morale has improved, he has already started playing. I understood what he wanted to do at that moment (when he scored his own goal. – Approx. “Championship”) – but he could not, because his two back muscles contracted. I could have stayed on crutches.
“I let the team and the country down”. Why is Kudryashov right that he spoke
About blind faith in players
– I believe that our footballers can play football. Do not fight back, but play. I am holy in this … no, blindly, blindly believe. My task is to get them to play, not fight back. Today’s meeting has confirmed this. I said it, and they believed it. Why am I now sure that they believed my words? Because you cannot live without faith. People tend to be wrong. Yesterday I was on the subway – people were coming up to me. I don’t know if this is support or not, but those who do not support me are unlikely to come up.
About the unvaccinated in the national team
– If the state cannot do it (make all citizens get vaccinated. – Approx. “Championship”), how can the national team? Let the state oblige. Don’t call in the unvaccinated? So you will tell me fables later. You will be the first to tell me about it, 500%.
“The national team is 70 percent vaccinated. The rest are anti-vaccines. ” Karpin – in front of Cyprus
Preparing for the match with Poland
– I did not discuss with the RFU the possibility of a January or February collection of the national team. Honestly, you’ll chase two hares, you won’t catch a single one. The tour will be postponed for us, I will already be happy. This is not enough – it would be good if we took all the players on January 15th and trained them until March 24th. Then, maybe (and even that is not a fact), this would be enough. How would you like it? Of course. But this is unrealistic. Italy does this, but they are in the training and competitive period, and here everyone is in different countries. To let the players go when they are preparing for the season, everyone has their own tasks, connections are being played, the foundation is being laid, as a club coach I would not want to.
Photo: Alexander Safonov, “Championship”
About your future in the national team
I have a contract until March 31st. Whether I’m ready to continue – I’m not ready to say yet. After the joints, we will think about it. Do I like it? On what scale? Club work is different, but just as interesting. Which one is more interesting – I can’t say. Am I a young man by coaching standards? I am the oldest. It is also interesting here, although everything is different. Things are incomparable. But it’s different there – every day is movement. I can’t say that I miss her right now.