The Russian football team in a friendly match played a draw with Nigeria
In the next friendly match, the Russian national team helped out, and the winner of the Champions League, the winner of the Champions League. In the first half of the meeting in Luzhniki with the Nigerians, the goalkeeper PSG Matvey Safonov repelled a mortal blow from Fisayo Bashir, and in the second-the pass of Tolulas Arokodare allowed the rivals to equalize. The game ended in a draw – 1: 1.
A connoisseur of foreign football, looking at the Nigerian composition, reaching the main Russian stadium, at which the Russian national team for the last time played football even before that the sanctions restrained its existence and friendly matches in 2022, of course, would sigh: not that, not that. We know who is the first heroes in him-Victor Osimhen, Aemolo Lukman, Samuel Chukvuye. And they are not.
But it was not worth it to grumble. Compared to the teams that the Russians had beaten to this – Bruneian, Grenadian, Zambia – Nigerians and without some heroes looked flying from another planet: powerful, with the ball work well, so much impudence that their hazard first arises 20 minutes after the start of the meeting, when Maxim Glushshenkov twists the ball into the hectare and he gets close goalkeeper. And to the corner – continuous Nigerian scum, and the Russian national team, used to score to the opponents in half a year and more, has to defend themselves.
By the way, she defended her not bad, despite the shortage of practice, even if those who came to the Luzhniki that evening, obviously would like to enjoy other aspects of her football. But even in the end it came to them.
The success of the Russian national team was brought by a pretty miniature played by Andrei Mostov and Danil Circum. The Mostovoy very deftly threw the ball to the partner, and the circle deftly leaked to the front, from where he made the pass, intended for the elevated one in the area of the eleven-meter mark Nikolai Komlichenko. The program, however, did not reach him: seven Ajaya, intercepting her, sent the ball into his own goal. An error, but from the category of those that are forced to make.
And soon, the advanced one had long been not playing for the national team of Matvey Safonov, who came to her in the rank of the winner of the Champions League. The attack of the Nigeria national team, which unfolded on the right, was gorgeous. Particularly chic was a jerk of Fisayo Bashir-with gigantic steps, he carried himself to free space in front of the goalkeeper of the PSG. It is more convenient to imagine the situation to shoot the gate. Bashira hit the Bashir well, but Safonov showed a wonderful reaction and a wonderful flexibility: he developed and hooked the ball with his hand. The Russian national team responded with another sharp scan, in which the bridge was a little not enough accuracy.
Matvey Safonov was in the spotlight in the second half. But already about not at all joyful.
For some time, the game hinted that the Russian team would get to another victory without special adventures. In any case, the replacements made by the coach Valery Karpin, who was grinning the entire attack line, was not spoiled. And the Nigerians did not show anything that the goosebumps experienced for the hosts would go along the skin: something terrible was about to happen.
But it happened. Following Matvey Safonov in those days when he was not playing PSG yet, but for Krasnodar, when the Nigerians restored his balance, he probably remembered that in the Russian club he sometimes allowed himself to carelessly handle the ball. But then it turned out to be just a convenient pass on Toluolas Arokodar.
The Russian national team did not miss the Nigerians before a collision with the Nigerians in eight consecutive matches, since October 2023. The series was interrupted in such an offensive way. And the meeting, despite the whole stack of cool moments in the owners in the end, ended with a draw.
On Tuesday, the Russian team will hold another friendly match as part of the June fee. In it, she will play with Belarusians in Minsk.
