Football match Slovenia - Russia (2009)

Slovenia

The Slovenian team lost just two points to the winner of the group from Slovakia, and this happened only in the last round. In the ranking of the teams that took second places, Slovenia held the fifth line. Behind the Slovenes were the participants of the upcoming European Championships Czech Republic and Poland.

M	Team	AND	AT	N	P	Balls	±	ABOUT
one	Slovakia	ten	7	one	2	22   -   ten	+12	22
2	Slovenia	ten	6	2	2	18   -   four	+14	20
3	Czech	ten	four	four	2	17   -   6	+11	sixteen
four	Northern Ireland	ten	four	3	3	13   -   9	+4	15
five	Poland	ten	3	2	five	nineteen   -   14	+5	eleven
6	San marino	ten	0	0	ten	one   -   47	−46	0

And - games, B - wins, N - draws, P - losses, Goals - goals scored and goals conceded, ± - goal difference, O - points

Russia

The Russian team, which almost did not lose points in its qualification group, lost in the decisive match for the first place to the Germans and went to the UEFA butt matches. In the ranking of second teams, Russia took first place in points and goal difference.

And - games, B - wins, N - draws, P - losses, Goals - goals scored and goals conceded, ± - goal difference, O - points

Opportunity to hit Russia

With the obvious difference in class and places in the FIFA ranking, as well as the percentage of points scored, most experts believed that Russia should defeat Slovenia and reach the final of the World Cup. 1960 European Champion Viktor Monday called Slovenia the “village team” and demanded that the Russian team play in the most attacking style, trying to push through the opponent’s defense ^[2] . The Russian players Alexander Kerzhakov, who considered the superiority in the score in the first game to be the advantage of the Russian national team ^[3] , and Dmitry Sychev, who did not see drama in the first butt match ^{[4], were} sure of the victory. The Russian national team was also supported by RFU figures - the incumbent president Vitaly Mutko ^[5] , who was ready to wash the shirts of the Russian national team in the event of entering the World Cup ^[6] , and deputy general director Sergei Kulikov ^[7] .

Slovenia Possibility

However, Slovenian players and coaches did not rule out the possibility of a sensation in the butt games and their victory following two meetings. Even Russian experts doubted the successful outcome of the match in Maribor, especially after the Azerbaijan-Russia game, which did not affect the position of the teams in the qualification group. Zlatko Zahovic , the legendary player of the Slovenian national team, was categorically tuned. In one of his interviews, he stated that Slovenia would easily beat the Russian national team at home and reach the final of the World Cup ^[8] , and he explained the defeat in Moscow by the poor quality of the field ^[9] . Even earlier, he sharply called Russia “a non-football country” ^[10] , although he subsequently denied this and assured that his words were misunderstood ^[11] .

The champion of the USSR-1984 in the Zenit team Sergey Dmitriev was also cautious in his assessments, who said that the score could be an advantage for the Slovenian team as well - to enter the World Cup she had to win with a score of 1: 0 or with a difference of more than two goals ^[12] . Another man connected with Zenit also foresaw the defeat - actor Mikhail Boyarsky ^[13] , who predicted the outcome of the meeting. The midfielder of the Polish national team Mariusz Lewandowski ^[14] , who remembered the defeat with a score of 0-3 from the Slovenes, also warned the Russians about the tough game of Slovenes. Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor even promised to clean the shoes of the players of the national team in the event of its release ^[15] .

First Half

The game began with powerful attacks by Slovenes, which, however, in their arrangement used strictly defensive tactics. In the first minutes, Milivoe Novakovich took advantage of the defenders' positional error and came face to face with Igor Akinfeev, but the goalkeeper saved the goal of the Russian team. At the 9th minute, Sergei Ignashevich almost cut the ball into his own net, but the bar went off for the guests. In total, five shots were made in the opening at the goal of the Russians, of which four were on target. Zlatko Dedich had another opportunity, having received a canopy from Milivoe Novakovich and jumping over Roman Pavlyuchenko , but Akinfeev took his shot. The Russians snapped only once, when in the 19th minute Pavlyuchenko from the U-turn dangerously hit Samir Handanovich on goal. Later, Novakovich struck the goal from 18 meters, but Akinfeev took this hit, a second attempt at the 26th minute from the penalty line was also unsuccessful.

The counterattacks of the Russians were activated only in the 30th minute, and by that time the Russian team had two players at once who received cards: Yuri Zhirkov (for the demolition of Marco Schuler) and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (for the blow of Milivoe Novakovich). In addition, Alexander Radosavlevich was slightly injured. At the 40th minute, Sergei Ignashevich , breaking a free-kick, hit the ball right in the face of Milivoe Novakovich , who became a “wall”. It took the intervention of doctors to bring the Slovenian to life. Despite the loss, the Slovenes intensified the onslaught and in the 44th minute they achieved their goal. Walter Birsa hung the ball into the box, beating Diniyar Bilyaletdinov . Zlatko Dedich escaped from behind Sergei Ignashevich and hit the ball into the net, opening the score in the match.

Second Half

Half Time

After a break in the Russian national team, two replacements take place at once: Roman Pavlyuchenko and Renat Yanbaev are replaced by Alexander Kerzhakov and Sergey Semak, respectively. Marriage in gears and low ball possession played a role in an incomprehensible game during the second half. The Slovenes immediately went on the defensive, so as not to lose their advantage. But even in such conditions, Milivoe Novakovich in a counterattack from 25 meters almost hit the goal of the Russians, using the mistake of Vasily Berezutsky. The Russians did not get an answer - Diniyar Bilyaletdinov could not get through the defenders of the Slovenian team, who constantly knocked him down, but Alexander Kerzhakov, by his activity, gave a chance to compare the score.

Kerzhakov's removal

At the 67th minute, an episode occurred that became fatal for the Russian national team and caused widespread outrage of football fans. After lumbago Yuri Zhirkov Alexander Kerzhakov in the fall tried to transfer the ball into the goal, but the shell was in the hands of Samir Handanovich . Kerzhakov tried to knock the ball out of the hands of Handanovich , and at that moment a scuffle ensued. The Norwegian referee Terje Hauge immediately showed a red card to Kerzhakov for attacking the goalkeeper, although the video replay showed that Kerzhakov did not beat the goalkeeper, but tried to check whether the ball was fixed. However, the judge also showed Handanovich a card for talking with the referee. This episode caused a storm of indignation - even earlier, Kerzhakova was hit by Boshtyan Cesar , but the judge ignored this moment.

Realizing that Slovenia could enter Russia instead of Russia, Hiddink immediately threw Pavel Pogrebnyak into the battle, removing Diniyar Bilyaletdinov . And then the striker “Stuttgart” had a moment - he punched point blank, but Handanovich on the goalkeeper line parried this blow. Russia staged a bulk at the gate, which was unsuccessful.

Incident with Igor Akinfeev

About 10 minutes before the end of the game as goalkeeper of the Russian national team Igor Akinfeev , Slovenian fans began to throw foreign objects. As Akinfeev himself later said, at first they began to throw coins in his back, and then they got into him with some kind of weighty object - either with a lighter or with a folding knife ^[16] . The goalkeeper of the Russian team brought the item to the judge, and he could stop the meeting according to the rules to analyze the circumstances of the incident. However, Hauge limited himself to handing over the suspicious item to the reserve referee, and immediately gave a whistle to continue the match, which subsequently caused outrage among Russian fans (see below).

The scoreboard, meanwhile, was 85th minute, and it was then that the Russians had the last chance to compare the score. At speed, Yuri Zhirkov burst into the penalty area, ran to the goalie and delivered a heavy blow. But if it were not for the reaction of Samir Handanovich , who parried him in a handball, the score would have been equal. Three minutes later, Akinfeev ran into the penalty area, but the Slovenes competently defended themselves and withstood the bulk after drawing the standard position.

Zhirkov's Removal and End of the Match

In the time added by the referee, Yuri Zhirkov got into a skirmish with a substitute player of the Slovenian national team Matey Mavrich and a man serving the balls - they took time and did not want to give Yuri the ball to throw an out. Another scuffle ensued, during which Mavrich fell picture-wise, and the referee immediately showed a second yellow card for Zhirkov, which also turned red for him. The second removal in the match completely demoralized the Russian team. Only in the last minute the defender of the Russian national team Vasily Berezutsky delivered the last shot on goal of Handanovich, but the ball flew past the far corner. After a short period of time, Hauge gave a whistle to end the match. The score is 1-0, and Slovenia gets to the World Cup, leaving Russia behind him.

Players

Russian football players were shocked after losing to Slovenia. Sergei Semak was very shocked by the defeat, and during the flight to Moscow his pressure dropped sharply, as a result of which a doctor’s intervention was required. Players on the plane turned to Hiddink with a request not to leave the Russian team ^[17] even after this game. Andrei Arshavin on his website officially apologized to Russian fans ^[18] .

Trainers and Specialists

The shock after the game was so great that Guus Hiddink refused to attend the press conference ^[19] , but after the match he gave an interview to reporters. According to him, the whole team lost this match, but he believes his players, who claimed about the numerous provocations of the Slovenes and the abusive behavior of the fans ^[20] . But Matyazh Kek said that his players completely outplayed Russia and, moreover, created a sensation in the football world. According to him, the team performed in much the same way as in the 2000s, when Zlatko Zakhovich was on the team.

During a storm of criticism from well-known players of the USSR national team and film and pop stars ^[21], the arbitrator’s decisions on Kerzhakov and Zhirkov were declared unfair ^[22] , and Hauge apologized to Hiddink immediately after the meeting. Readers of Sport-Express chose Yuri Zhirkov as the best player of the match ^[23] , beating only slightly Igor Akinfeev, who was found not guilty of a conceded goal ^[24] . Zlatko Zakhovich himself, who predicted the victory of his team, said that Slovenia is a much more experienced and strong team than Russia, and also criticized the entire Russian team ^[25] , although he subsequently claimed that he was misunderstood ^{[26] [27]} .

Press

The Russian press was critical and tough - Sport Express published articles titled “Suicide” ^[28] , “Goal in the locker room” ^[29] , “Woe to Maribor” ^[30] , “Aliens at the celebration of life” ^{[31 ]} , “Red card on the way to South Africa” ^[32] , “And we do not need Africa” ^[33] . In Russian sports publications, this defeat is often called one of the most sensational, since Slovenia was 49th in the FIFA ranking at the time of the meeting, and Russia was 12th ^[34] .

Post-match incidents

Russian fans were furious with both the outcome of the meeting and the behavior of Slovenian fans who chanted obscene chants and insulted everyone who was connected with Russia in every possible way. Against this background, after the game, several skirmishes occurred ^{[35] [36]} , among the victims were Serbian fans of the Russian national team, of whom about 30 people were at the match.

Replay Requirements

The indignation of Russian bloggers with the outcome of the meeting was so great that they officially began to demand an immediate replay of the match or even the award of technical defeat to the Slovenes. In their opinion, the judge openly judged in favor of the Slovenes, helping their players to get up and unreasonably showing cards to Russian football players ^[37] . However, due to the fact that there is no clause in the FIFA code that canceled the goals of players or cards, fans were forced to look for a more serious argument, and this argument was Hauge’s act, when he ignored the moment with an object thrown at Igor Akinfeev.

A blogger named shdever immediately stated that it was a folding knife ^[38] , which triggered the start of the flash mob in RuNet. The Russians started sending letters to FIFA demanding immediate disqualification of the Slovenian team and automatic award of technical defeat to the Slovenes ^[39] , however, most often letters were sent to the International Federation of Football Associations demanding to replay the match ^{[40] with the} following contents:

All Russia needs replay the match with Slovenia and requests the judge to dismiss Terje Hauge for a bribe, or simply biased, I beseech you. We must do something. We fight for the fairness ^[41] .

In fact, the Russians could rely on the support of Guus Hiddink, who was outraged by the refereeing and stated that none of all the decisions of the arbitrator was correct ^[42] . On the Internet, it was also proposed to send such a version of the letter, which was used by bloggers with a higher level of knowledge of the English language:

Dear leaders! We, Russian National Team fans, think that the match Slovenia-Russia was going in unfair conditions. First of all, we think that the refere made many stupid mistakes which had a strong influence on the result of the match. We believe that this refere does not satisfy the requirments of these play-off matches. We believe that Hauge has a strong dislike to Russian Team. We believe that you will do something about this. We hope that the match will be played again in another country between Russia and Slovenia. Although, please draw attention on the knife which was thrown in Igor Akinfeev from the Slovenian Team's fans from the fan-stands. Russian goalkeeper gave this knife to the refere. This knife could hurt our player. We fight for fairness! ^[43]

On November 21, bloggers were expecting a possible FIFA decision on the Slovenia-Russia match ^[44] , since on the same day the Irish requested a similar replay of the match with France, in which Thierry Henry deliberately played his hand and helped the Frenchmen reach the final of the World Cup ^[45] . They were going to announce the decision at 18:00 Moscow time. After 18:00, the news of the following content was distributed on the Internet (spelling and punctuation corrected in accordance with the norms of the Russian language):

Today at 17:30 Moscow time a meeting was held in the arbitration committee of FIFA. In particular, the episodes of the match for a ticket to the World Cup between the national teams of Slovenia and Russia in Maribor were considered.

Having objectively examined each episode separately, and also having carefully studied the match protocol, the commission issued a verdict on the replay of the match. The replay of the football match Slovenia-Russia, in which Slovenia is nominally the home team, will take place at the Bezhigrad stadium in Ljubljana , on Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 22:45 Moscow time.

Herbert Fandel was appointed referee for the match, assisted by Karsten Kadah and Volker Fetzel (all from Germany).

Matyaz Kek, the Slovenian national team’s coach, has already responded to such a decision: “Of course, it’s difficult - to get together again for a match that implies such a high passions, but we will try to once again give battle to our opponent and show that we deserved the ticket.” ^[46]

.

The lack of official information on the FIFA website and the dubious literacy level of the original message hinted that such a message is a duck. Более того, стадион «Бежиград», о котором шла речь, был на реконструкции, а судья Херберт Фандель уже завершил карьеру арбитра. 24 ноября представитель РФС официально заявил, что матч не будет переигрываться ввиду отсутствия причин для подобного шага ^[47] , подобная просьба ирландцев также была отклонена. Только после жеребьёвки финальной стадии чемпионата мира стало ясно, что результаты стыковых матчей не подлежат обжалованию.

Nevertheless, on April 1, 2010 this topic became relevant again: several strange articles were published in newspapers, one of which reported the disqualification of Slovenia for non-payment of premium players ^[48] , which implied that Russia would automatically take the place of Slovenia. According to another version, Russia was to take the place of Nigeria ^[49] .

The plot in the program "Man and the Law"

On December 4, 2009, the program “Man and the Law” was released on the First Channel, in which the host Alexey Pimanov presented the infamous story about the Russian national team ^[50] : according to the statement of its authors, the national team players gathered for a party in the restaurant a few days before the game, which they allegedly smoked hookah, drank alcohol and spent time in the company of girls of easy virtue. The football players themselves called this story falsification and provocation, and the brothers Alexey and Vasily Berezutsky even sued Alexei Pimanov for defamation ^[51] , but lost the case ^[52] .

According to independent experts, all the main statements of journalists were invalid, since there were found a lot of inaccuracies. The football commentator Vasily Utkin also supported them, saying on the program “Football Club” ^[53] that the video shown on the air of the program “Man and the Law” ^[50] is a falsification. A few explanations given:

1. “When a person speaks about football , and in general about sports , a person speaks who, he may be interested in him thoroughly, but he does not deal with him, here, as a journalist , professionally, everyday, he does not engage as an athlete, that is, sports, in general , alien to him as a hobby. When sometimes even the most brilliant journalist speaks about him, such a heresy is obtained. ”
2. “ You see what’s the matter, I’m not just a regular, but I’ve been to various companies there many times. You know, this restaurant doesn't work until five in the morning (with a grin). You can say anything you want about your experience. <..> My friends, well, if you manage to sit here in this restaurant until five in the morning, on a normal, normal, non-banquet day and not on New Year's Eve. Then tell me . ”
3. “ And the most important thing that is characteristic of this material: the Mariot hotel employees were filming with a hidden camera, the restaurant employee was filming there. You see, after all there all these people give a rather general observation of what happened sometimes there, here in Mariotte , in particular: there is no indication that they came at a certain time, in particular, before the match with Slovenia ”

Comedy Shows

• The plot of the same program became the basis for one of the numbers of the KVN Prima team shown in the KVN Premier League final 2009 on Channel One: as planned, the release of this program would appear if the Russian team qualified for the finals of the 2010 World Cup .
• The Murzilki International DJs team working at Autoradio performed the song “Russia will ever win” dedicated to this match, using the arrangement of the song “Reason Someday Will Win” of the group “ Meaning Hallucinations ”.
• Hip-hop artists did not pass this match: the rapper SHOT recorded the song “Slovenia-Russia - one-zero”, adding snippets of reports from Channel One as samples; the performer FreeMike also recorded a diss on the referee of that meeting, Terje Hauge , accusing him of incompetent refereeing and abundantly using profanity.
• Comedy Club resident Semyon Slepakov composed and performed on air the song “Little Member”, dedicated to Andrei Arshavin . It has the following lines:

And to participate in the match in charge
You flew from a neighboring country -
Indeed, in the upcoming game with Slovenes
Your goals were very necessary.
All Russians are positive
Waiting for achievements and changes,
But this evening was not active
The Russian national team is a small member.

• Football matches of the national teams of France and Ireland in November 2009 ( en: 2009 Republic of Ireland v France football matches )

• Black ninth
• The Russian team does not go to the World Cup