Igor Akinfeev: “It was very quiet in the locker room after the match”

Having reduced to a draw (1: 1) a match with Israel, the Russian team lost points in the second consecutive home match under the leadership of Guus Hiddink. In an interview with “SPORT today,” goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev defended the Dutch coach - but noted that CSKA would have played better with the Israelis.

- How is your mood, Igor?

- Awful. It would be better if the Israelis scored us in the 50th minute of the meeting. Then, I’m sure we would bring the match to victory. At least everyone would do it. And so we didn’t have enough time to restore the advantage. When the opponent equalized, I immediately thought: that's all, there is no chance to win.

 

- Now the Russian team will probably miss the final part of the European Championship?

- I do not know. We must play on. Still, we still have draws, not defeats. Of course, two points from two home matches is very small. Competitors come off, but we must continue to fight. And there it is.

 

- You, probably, can present the least claims to yourself?

- I will not say anything about myself, this is your job - journalists, experts. But I did everything I could. And even in the episode with a missed goal, I have nothing to reproach myself for.

 

- You assumed that the game with Israel would turn out differently?

- I thought we would win 1-0. And now, how it all happened ... It seems to me that CSKA would definitely defeat this team. And it's not that the club is stronger than the national team. It’s just that with us all the players would maintain concentration until the last minute. Yes, and would have realized some of those many moments at the gates of others. And the national team players failed to do this.

 

- There was no desire in the last minutes to run to the gates of others?

- (Laughs). I wouldn’t have time to run back then. Still, the field is too big.

 

- Guus Hiddink upset after the match?

- And not only him. All the guys are depressed. The team drew, this is a bad result. The locker room after the match was very quiet. However, Hiddink urged us to forget this meeting and prepare for the next match.

 

- One gets the feeling that in the game of the Russian team with the advent of Hiddink there were no changes.

- Why? We began to play more technical football. They began to play more low. And then, we have moments. But there is no implementation ... Why this happens, I can not explain. I can not yet.

 

- Under the previous coaches, we successfully played in our field with teams of the level of Israel and Croatia.

- May be. But then I did not play.

 

Alexey Shevchenko


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