During the warm-up, the players unexpectedly started joking with Alexei Smertin, who began commenting on the matches of the English championship on the Russian sports channel.
“Why, there was something to talk about,” Vladimir Bystrov waved his hand. - The balls just flew into someone else's goal (“Watford” played with “Fulham” - 3: 3 - approx. A. Sh.), Manage to give names.
Death was embarrassed.
“Yes, you didn’t hear him,” Andrei Arshavin supported his friend. - He is asked there how this football player looks like. And Alexey says that the guy is not bad. They again begin to ask him about football qualities, and he evades the answer.
The nearby players laughed loudly.
“And he constantly said, but when I played everything was different,” shouted Anyukov.
Smertin also laughed, and then suddenly with incomprehensible pride declared:
- Yesterday I found out that I was paid $ 50 per comment.
A sigh of disappointment rang across the field. Everyone was quiet. Smertin sincerely did not understand why the figure did not make an impression (they don’t give him so much at Dynamo - approx. A. Sh.).
“Listen, Alexei,” suddenly suggested Andrey Arshavin. - And you comment one whole day. So say Death Day today. And spy all competitions. You will earn.
Everyone started to have fun again
So for jokes and jokes everyone woke up. And then, at first, it was a pity to look at the players of the national team who appeared on the field at 10 in the morning. As soon as Guus Hiddink was cheerful and fit.
- Good day. Everything is OK. Not bad, ”he said before training to a few reporters, demonstrating his knowledge of the Russian language.
He immediately began to chase the players, knocking them off a nap. A foreign specialist suggested exercises on technique, cheering the guys up, beautifully distorting their names. “Iegor, Iegor,” he exclaimed, and his assistant Igor Korneev fled to him, and Yegor Titov was simply distracted from work.
By the way, Korneev is certainly the most technical member of the Russian team. Either the current players were not in shape, or he was in perfect order, but the former CSKA football player performed all five exercises (and he always took part in the exercises, and not just translated tasks). What, for example, cannot be said about Alexei Smertin. Although Dynamo probably thought about how to earn more money with his comments.
“Yeah, Igor looks good,” Alexei Berezutsky agreed after training. “He would be useful to us.” I would go for a replacement.
During a two-way match, Korneev played as a defender. The only goal in the match, by the way, was scored by his team. Distinguished Dmitry Sychev. But Pavel Pogrebnyak (previously the main team) and Roman Pavlyuchenko (Korneev's teammate) noted that they missed the most advantageous positions.
Hiddink himself judged the meeting. Once he recorded an obvious offside, and Dmitry Sychev out of habit rushed to prove that everything was within the rules. But after two fast runs, I remembered where to be.
“Now is the press hour,” the coach announced after the training. Guus Hiddink went into the locker room and escaped through the back door from reporters who had been waiting for him for thirty minutes. Football players also were not eager to talk and went soon to the hotel.
On Thursday, the team will move to Moscow and will live in a hotel. As one of the players admitted, they are looking forward to this event. And, despite the fact that the regime will be tough enough, but everyone wants to change the situation. They love various city joys.
Alexey Shevchenko