Of course, the Dutchman is on horseback today. On white, in a gilded blanket. The ears of criticism, ready to tip over his head, move to hell. Someone thinks - until better times. Although the belief in them with a considerable number of enemies of Hus is weaker.
The notorious theses about the inconsistency of Western coaching techniques with the East Slavic mentality do not say that they are failing. On the one hand, the inconsistency is what it is: outside the main team of the country, they are alive, healthy and untouchable yesterday, and today they are offended by Smertin, Titov, Loskov ... On the other hand, why, in fact, the result of this painful grinding in must be the defeat of those invited to the kingdom a foreigner?
While Hiddink convinces us of the reality of the opposite. The fact that even from the provisions that would have been hopeless for his predecessors, you can get out with his head held high.
In Tallinn, the Russian team looked like a tightrope walker, who did not have the right not only to make a mistake - to a passing slack. The dangerously shaky team appeared only in a short segment of the first half, when Akinfeev twice in three minutes averted the dangerous threats of Lindpere and Klavan. They managed to keep the balance. And the rest of the time, slowly, but with steady fidelity to the plan, they were moving towards the goal. And she got to her in the middle of the second half.
Much was being built at Hiddink that night at a perceived risk. Baptisms of Shishkin and Torbinsky - it seems that he was not in any of the predictions of the composition! In fact, the debut of Zyryanov. An arrangement with three defenders who had never before played in such a combination, moreover, with only one insuring supporting midfielder!
This tactic would not be too outlandish, had Estonians played, as expected, a banal “defensive” option. But after all, they took a chance - made a bet on courage. Their Dutch helmsman decided to fight with a compatriot opponent not at all the weapons that he was forced to lay down in October, at the first meeting in St. Petersburg.
Yelle Guus reasonably suggested that the most difficult part for the Russians would be the start of the match and tried to complicate it to the limit. We have not yet seen such relaxed-aggressive Estonians in this cycle. We admit that in the debut of the match the hosts were closer to the goal. And only at the turn of half-time, anxiety in the mood of Russian fans began to give way to faith: they would not break, they would re-play the game in their own way.
Hope has served Kerzhakov and Arshavin. Their combination and carte blanche received by her is Hiddink's most successful, top-end decision in this match. It was as if he had seen enough of a video with recordings from the best times of this duet in “Zenith”. By the way, after all, Bystrov, who also talentedly joined the partners on the right, was at that time still a player in St. Petersburg!
The three mentioned above set the tone in Tallinn. They cleverly pressed the game to the lawn. It may have turned out to be waddled, but the chances to outplay the non-scumbling Estonian defense were right under her feet. After all, Kerzhakov’s goal kicks (we’ll give the first ball to him nevertheless - touching Bystrov, if it happened before the line was crossed, was a control shot) resulted in the excellent passes of Arshavin, penetrating the penalty box.
The constant focus on aggravating moves and threats has generally become a laudable dominant of the actions of Russians in the alien half. Opponents, who spent three replacements during the second half, aimed solely at strengthening the attack, did not create anything comparable in severity with the Arshavin-Kerzhakov improvisations.
As for the rest of Hiddink’s favorites, each of them performed his own section of the team score at the level of, if not a virtuoso, then a reliable pro. There were no failures. The safety margin of this version of the composition was much more than expected.
And in the group standings after the mutual braking of the Israelis and the British in Tel Aviv, the positions of the Russians were suddenly incredibly strong. It seems not only until June.
Sergey NOVIKOV
ESTONIA - RUSSIA - 0: 2 (0: 0)
Goal: 0: 1 - Kerzhakov (66), 0: 2 - Kerzhakov (78).
ESTONIA: Poom, Shishov (Nemelo 80), Lemsalu, Stepanov, Kruglov, Dmitriev, Terekhov (Kams, 52), Leetma (Kink, 68), Oper, Lindpere, Klavan.
RUSSIA: Akinfeev, Anyukov, Ignashevich, Shishkin, Bystrov (Saenko, 90), Zyryanov, Bilyaletdinov, Zhirkov, Arshavin, Kerzhakov (Sychev, 83), Torbinsky.
Warnings: Zyryanov (24), Stepanov (33).
March 24. Tallinn. "Le Coke Arena". 9.30 p.m.
Judge: Darko Ceferin (Slovenia).