It’s hard to say whether there will be a full house at the stadium on Wednesday or St. Petersburg football fans have also lost faith in our team. At the box office there are tickets to almost any place, and you can buy them for five to seven minutes. The people are not crowding, and the posters, to be honest, are not visible.
The girl, who was resting after class in the gym, was genuinely surprised to see journalists who opened laptops. “Well, does Zenit play?” She marveled. She was reassured: just a team.
“Do you need light, or cut everything out in figs here?” - Stadium politely turned to the staff of the team, who stood at the edge waiting for orders from Guus Hiddink, while he roamed the field.
- And you turn to him yourself. There he is, gray-haired, standing in the center.
The electrician was about to go out on the lawn.
“Do you know English?” - doctors and masseurs stopped him. - And then he only speaks it. However, still in German and in Spanish.
“Yeah,” the hard worker nodded. - This is your humor. Understand. I don’t care, I’ll knock everything out now. Or not? What to do? I really need to go, figs.
They solved the problem with light (nevertheless, they cut it out in figs - A.Sh.).
The main group started training. But Yuri Zhirkov began to wind circles around the stadium. Next to him, a masseur ran and almost kicked CSKA midfielder.
“You write here,” the team doctor told reporters. - Zhirkov has a personal trainer named Nasibov. He does not deal with everyone separately. Only with the horse of Smertin and Yura.
Team players, meanwhile, began to warm up. Igor Korneev, Hiddink’s assistant, wondered why each exercise was accompanied by an explosion of laughter. Water was muddied by Borodin and Ignashevich, poisoning each other tales. Hiddink did not intervene in anything, calmly talking with Borodyuk. Alexander Genrikhovich did not go to Portugal with the youth team and, probably, was very sorry. The weather in St. Petersburg is extremely unstable. It rained three times a day. It is possible that Hiddink's assistant was reassuring. Like, he will go to the sea (if only not on vacation in June 2008 - A.Sh.).
Then the players began their favorite game of Hus. This is when four small gates are put on the field backwards. The meeting ended with the score 1: 1, Pavlyuchenko and Pogrebnyak scored.
How did Hiddink split the teams? Ignashevich, Vasily Berezutsky, Malafeev, Kolodin, Anyukov, Titov, Saenko, Arshavin, Kerzhakov, Izmailov and Pogrebnyak played for the “yellow”. All the rest (except Zhirkov) - for the "blue". The division, it must be said, looked completely random. It is impossible to draw any conclusions about the starting lineup. In every one present, the Dutchman suspected an Estonian.
By the way, Hiddink canceled the press conference on the eve of the training. There were even rumors that he was panicking, did not know what to say. But the press service of the RFU sharply denied this information. The official version was: “I just didn’t want to.” But, they say, on Tuesday everything should be fine.
Fifteen minutes after the start of the lesson, a sound signal sounded at Petrovsky, and someone read out a text on the speakerphone saying that the whole press should leave the field.
“Go get warm somewhere,” admonished the stadium. - And after the training, the players will talk to you. Go to the shower and talk. However, they probably will not sweat.
At the same time, the employees of Petrovsky giggled maliciously. Yes, it is unlikely that a full house will be gathered in St. Petersburg.
Most team members sharply ignored the "five-minute press." Ever since the gathering in Bor, Dmitry Sychev has been repeating that he “has nothing to say.” Apparently, if he accumulates thoughts, he will speak. Really read a book?
Those who nevertheless stayed next to reporters were not struck by revelations. Igor Akinfeev admitted that he had already forgotten about the game with Israel, although "the sediment remained." And Evgeni Aldonin once again lamented that the team is not scoring.
And another detail. For trips around St. Petersburg, the national team was given a beautiful bus of cheerful green color. If he does not help to win, then in general it is not clear what else needs to be done for this team.
Alexey Shevchenko