After a short international break the Russian Premier League is coming back. We are waiting for the key fixture of the matchday 7 – Lokomotiv vs Dynamo. Until then, we are going to summarize Dynamo players’ performance in their national teams.
The goalkeeper Anton Shunin and the left-back Konstantin Rausch were called up to the Russia national team for the UEFA Nations League away match against Turkey and a friendly against Czech Republic. The Russians secured a hard victory over the home team scoring by 2:1 at Senol Günes Spor Kompleksi Yeni Stadyum (07/09/2018). Anton Shunin started the match on the bench, while Rausch came on as a substitute in the 82nd minute instead of Kudryashov. A few days later, the Russian team defeated Czech Republic in a spectacular way in Rostov-on-Don, scoring five times and conceding only once. Konstantin Rausch joined the starting XI and played almost the entire match, leaving the pitch in the 87th minute. During this period of time Konstantin managed to make two assists that allowed our team to hammer the opponents. Anton Shunin spent this match on the bench.
Four Dynamo’s young players – wingers Vyacheslav Grulyov and Danil Lipovoy, the centre-back Roman Yevgenyev and the left-back Maxim Nenakhov who is currently on loan in FC SKA-Khabarovsk got calls to the Russia U-20 team which is headed by Mikhail Galaktionov. In Čakovec the Russians played two friendlies against Croatia U-20. In the first match our football players lost by 0:1. Nenakhov and Lipovoy appeared in the starting XI, but Maxim was forced to leave the pitch beforehand (in the 30th minute), being booked twice. Danil was substituted in the 40th minute giving way to his teammate Yevgenyev. Vyacheslav Grulyov played the whole second half. Three Dynamo players (Yevgenyev, Lipovoy and Grulyov) entered the starting line-upin the second match against Croatians. Grulyov was replaced by Umaev in the 70th minute. Russia U-20 team did not perform successfully again (0:1).
Dynamo’s centre-back Toni Šunjić helped the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina to win twice at the start of the UEFA Nations League. The Bosnians defeated Northern Ireland in Belfast (08/09/2018) by 2:1 and then gained a tough victory (1:0) over Austria in Zenica (11/09/2018). Šunjić spent 90 minutes in both matches.
On the contrary, the captain of the Lithuania national team as well as Dynamo’s midfielder Fiodor Černych did not experience positive emotions. On the 7th of September the Lithuanians hosted the national team of Serbia (0:1) at LFF stadionas and three days later went to their geographical neighbors – Montenegro (0:2). In both cases, the Baltic team failed to score a single goal, having suffered two defeats at the start of the new UEFA tournament. Fiodor played both matches wire-to-wire.
And finally let’s talk about Valentin Granatkin Memorial, which started on the 30th of August and lasted until the 10th of September in St. Petersburg. Traditionally, the Russia U-20 team are invited to the competition. Three Dynamo’s players – Bogdan Zorin, Svyatoslav Tses and Vladimir Moskvichyov got calls to the U-20 national team. The Russians qualified for the semi-finals, where they faced St. Petersburg team, which had managed to put together the strongest band in recent years. In a tough match, the Russia U-20 team lost by 0:2. Svyatoslav Tses appeared in the starting XI and played the entire match. Vladimir Moskvichyov was substituted by Bogdan Zorinin the 88th minute. The match for the third place against Lithuania turned out to be more successful for the Russians. Our guys played strong and confident and deserved a 2:0 win. Zorin, Tses and Moskvichyov spent all 90 minutes on the pitch.