On September 24, Russia will play against the national team of Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek. This will be the first meeting between the teams in history. The match will likely take place in Bishkek.
The expanded squad of the Russian national team for the September training camp has been announced. The extended squad includes 35 players.
Goalkeepers: Anton Shunin ("Dynamo"), Mikhail Kerzhakov ("Zenit"), Matvey Safonov ("Krasnodar"), Ivan Lomaev ("Krylia Sovetov").
Defenders: Vyacheslav Karavaev, Alexey Sutormin, Danil Krugovoy (all – "Zenit"), Daniil Khlusevich, Georgy Dzhikiya (both – "Spartak"), Igor Diveev (CSKA), Maxim Osipenko, Alexander Silyanov (both – "Rostov"), Stanislav Magkeev ("Lokomotiv"), Sergey Borodin ("Krasnodar"), Yuri Zhuravlev ("Akmat"), Artem Makarchuk ("Sochi").
Midfielders: Dmitry Barinov, Artem Karpukas (both – "Lokomotiv"), Danil Glebov, Daniil Utkin (both – "Rostov"), Daler Kuzyaev, Zelimkhan Bakayev, Andrey Mostovoy (all – "Zenit"), Nikita Krivtsov ("Krasnodar"), Alexander Kovalenko, Maxim Glushenkov, Roman Yezhov (all – "Krylia Sovetov"), Daniil Fomin, Vyacheslav Grulev, Arsen Zakharian (all – "Dynamo"), Roman Zobnin ("Spartak").
Forwards: Fedor Chalov (CSKA), Nikolai Komlichenko ("Rostov"), Alexander Sobolev ("Spartak"), Konstantin Tyukavin ("Dynamo").
The head coach of the Kyrgyzstan national team, Alexander Krestinin, on the friendly match against the Russian team.
— We usually do not divide matches into official and unofficial. Yes, this meeting will be friendly. But even if it is not counted in the FIFA ranking, we will prepare for it as if it were official. Of course, we will field a strong lineup and play to win, just like in any other match. What happens is another question. However, we do not have many opportunities to play against the desired opponents as often as we want. So, if plans sometimes align with reality, we take full advantage of it. We do not have a division between reserve and main squads, so we do not intend to keep anyone specifically on the bench; we never have such experiments. And let’s not forget that every player and coach wants to win, — said Krestinin.
The Kyrgyzstan national team is ranked 95th in the FIFA rankings. The team reached the Round of 16 in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup and qualified for the next tournament, which will take place in 2023. In their last three matches, Kyrgyzstan won against Singapore and Myanmar and drew with Tajikistan.
