The Moscow match between the football teams of Russia and Croatia was the only qualifying match last Wednesday, where the stands did not see the goals.
Unrecognized Hiddink. Perhaps this is the main impression, enshrined in the minds of the final whistle of the Spaniard Mehuto Gonzalez. The leitmotif of last summer, with intrusive resonance blown out by the horns of the domestic media, prepared the public for the coming of the miracle worker. Stories about the Moscow deeds of the Dutch coach in recent years more and more transformed into examples of the genre of life. There wasn’t enough except for the recital of night dreams of a beloved hero. Guus Hiddink himself, in an imposed manner, was perhaps burdened. He, as far as he could and had the time, dissuaded others in his exceptionalism. However, no manifestations of personal modesty helped to dispel the halo of a celestial so soon as the two halves of the game in Cherkizovo did.
By and large, suspicions that the Dutchman is not clairvoyant, but quite out of this world, began to creep into the souls of fans with the arrival of completely routine news from the camp of the team. Training loads have scattered the recent Smertin injury. Ignashevich and Pogrebnyak were not saved from microdamages. In the ridiculous role of Figaro, torn between two teams - the main and the youth, nominally the first assistant Hiddink Borodyuk appeared. Unless the decision to divide the pre-match camp into the stages of “Bor” and “Holliday Inn” was perceived by bold know-how. The effectiveness of which, alas, has not yet been confirmed by anything.
... In a duel with the Croats performed by the Russians, there was a single, about ten minutes, game segment, which is called amazing only because of the lack of a goal. Chronologically, he is tied to leaving to replace Pogrebnyak with the advance of Arshavin into his attacking partners. The value of this surge is not so much even in the four penetrating attacks that unfolded someone else's penalty, but in the ideological content. The team suddenly moved together harmoniously, the evil earned in high pressure, shocked and even frightened the opponent, and the best memories of the previous Hiddink squads resurrected in us.
It is a pity, the transience of the moment only exacerbated the bewilderment of what was happening on the field before and after. Perhaps the brightness of the impression was helped by the coincidence of the outbreak with a brief loss of vigilance by Slaven Bilic. It seemed that the novice Croatian helmsman was unduly inspired by Rapaich's shot from the free kick into the post. This hinted that the guests still had a first-time advantage after the break. Bilich risked consolidating it, planned to refresh the offensive by replacing Petrich, was distracted and at first did not react at all to the transformation in the attacking order and the change in the mood of the Russians. The young coach was assisted by the Kovaci brothers. Being in alterations worse than this, without wisdom from the bench, they wisely curbed panic, reassured partners. And having received to the aid, albeit belatedly, the skilled destroyer Leko, the Croats calmly brought the match to their dry residue. We do not forget at the same time that only the distance in the diameter of the bar saved us from doubling “s” in the surname Klasnich, when the striker of the “Bremen” deftly beat through himself from the environment of three defenders - five minutes before the final whistle ...
The game stood out unexpectedly rustic. Opponents didn’t “move chips” much, they chose discretion over risk. Hiddink in such a hypostasis is considered to be a stranger to us. In the first half, his students were noticeably worse than the guests in control of the ball. It seemed that with his loss, the team retreated too deeply and gave the opponents time to thoroughly prepare positional attacks. For long periods captain Aldonin “disappeared” from the game. Lone Pavlyuchenko struggled to cling to the ball due to the shy support of insiders Arshavin and Izmailov. Loaded by specialized work, the flank defenders Anyukov and A. Berezutsky did not dare to think about participating in the organization of attacks. And for their central brothers Ignashevich and Kolodin, the concept of “first pass” has become synonymous with the word “trouble”. By the time when, at the 61st minute, Semshov delivered the first Russian shot on target, there were already eight of them in the Croatian side ...
The Russians and their coach, we saw, had a chance to turn the match in a different direction. Hidink chose not to rush after him headlong and refused even his signature technique: bold replacements on the flag. We agree that the time has not come to surprise us with anything else for the Dutchman? Well, are there any other suggestions?
Sergey NOVIKOV