Rostov and Russian national team manager Valeri Karpin commented after a number of stars left the country
Russia’s manager Valeri Karpin says the recent flight of foreign stars from the country has left the domestic league out of balance but has suggested that young talents can seize the opportunity for more playing time.
Karpin has returned to juggling the Russian national team job with his role as head coach of the Russian Premier League team Rostov, and guided them to a 4-1 victory against 10-man Lokomotiv Moscow on Sunday.
Both teams are among those who have lost foreign talent since Russia began its military operation in Ukraine.
In Lokomotiv’s case, German coach Markus Gisdol left the team, while Rostov has lost players such as Japan’s Kento Hashimoto, Swedish duo Pontus Almqvist and Armin Gigovic, and Norwegian youth Magnus Knudsen, among others.
Other clubs have suffered a series of departures, but some such as Premier League leader Zenit St. Petersburg has not seen any major exit from its foreign talent.
Karpin suggested that the situation undermined the current state of Russia’s highest level.
“It is violated in absolutely everything, I can give many reasons,” said Kaprin when asked about the championship’s “sports principles”, according to the official. Rostov website.
“Some countries have, in order not to violate the sports principle, banned the registration of new players.
“At a number of clubs in our championship, the players left the team, while they remained in a number of others.”
Karpin said, however, that young stars in Rostov took the opportunity that circumstances had given.
Among Rostov’s starting eleven for their resounding victory against Lokomotiv were teenagers Andrei Langovich and Viktor Melekhin, while a trio of stars in their early 20s – Kirill Shchetinin, Aleksandr Silyanov and Danil Glebov – all started the match.
Shchetinin, on loan from Zenit, opened the scoring for the hosts in the 33rd minute of Sunday’s match at Rostov Arena, just three minutes before Nair Tiknizyan received a red card for the visitors.
After leaving Rostov in August last year to focus solely on the Russian national team job for his World Cup qualifier, Karpin returned to the club in March but will also be responsible for the national team until at least the end of the year.
Under Karpin, Russia missed an automatic place at the World Cup in Qatar 2022 when they suffered defeat against Croatia in their last group game.
Russia was later suspended from the European play-offs after being suspended by UEFA due to the conflict with Ukraine.
Poland got a bye after playing against Russia in the semifinals in Moscow, and the Poles continued to book its place in Qatar by beating Sweden in the playoff final.
The Russian Football Federation (RFU) is awaiting a final decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on their appeals against the UEFA ban. So far, RFU’s offer to lift suspensions from FIFA and UEFA has been rejected.
Karpin earlier sa it would be a “triumph of common sense” if Russia were granted the right to try to qualify for Qatar.
(RT.com)