Winless team add to anxiety for hosts
Moscow, June 6: The question confronting Russian football fans ahead of the World Cup is whether the host nation’s team can actually get any worse.
On Tuesday, Russia extended their winless streak with a 1- 1 home draw against Turkey. It meant Stanislav Cherchesov’s side have failed to chalk up a single victory in eight months.
Cherchesov has five wins, six draws and nine defeats since taking over in August 2016, but his recent record is even less impressive. Tuesday’s draw meant he is Russia’s first manager ever to fail to win in seven consecutive games.
Cherchesov insists that gaining experience ahead of the World Cup, which Russia opens against Saudi Arabia in Moscow on June 14, was more important than the results.
“Russia will perform well,” he insisted at the news conference after the match with Turkey. “You will see the ‘ ideal’ Russian team on June 14.”
Russian media and fans do not share his confidence.
“Everything’s bad,” declared the front page of Wednesday’s Sport Express daily, which said the national side’s play had dampened the mood of fans in the country.
Cherchesov also managed to find some positives in his team’s performance compared to their previous friendly last week, a 0- 1 defeat to Austria.
“I think we’ve made a qualitative leap ahead by comparison to the match with Austria,” he said.
NIGERIA CZECH- MATED Czech Republic beat Nigeria 1- 0 at the Rudolf- TonnStadion in Rannersdorf, Austria, on Wednesday.
Defender Tomas Kalas scored the winning goal in the 35th minute.