The latest in the fall: the Russian national team is preparing for the final matches this year

The Russian national team has its second autumn training camp and the last matches of the year. This time, the program of Valery Karpin's team is more modest than in September – October: not three games, but only two. But geography is more interesting. On Thursday, November 12, the Russians will play away against Uzbekistan in Tashkent at the Pakhtakor Stadium. And on Tuesday, November 17, Karpin's team will close the year with a match against Venezuela in Krasnodar.

Why didn't Sobolev and Glushenkov join the team?

The coaching staff announced the expanded list of 36 players on October 26, and the final application only on November 6. Goalkeepers Alexander Maksimenko, Anton Mitryushkin and Denis Adamov, defenders Igor Dmitriev and Ruslan Litvinov, and Sergei Pinyaev dropped out of the final squad, which included 28 players.

But the two main losses of the national team are not them. It turned out to be a joke: the national team goes to Tashkent without the two top scorers of the RPL — Maxim Glushenkov and Alexander Sobolev each have ten goals, between them they scored 20 of the 32 goals of the leading Zenit. However, only midfielder Artyom Karpukas will go to the training camp from St. Petersburg. Moreover, Glushenkov was not even on the extended list.

There were enough versions of non-recall: rest by agreement, injury, discipline. Karpin put an end to this issue in an interview with Ilya Kazakov, a journalist and columnist for Sport Express, on Rossiya 24 on November 3.:

— Speaking specifically about Glushenkov, he will not be at the training camp. I've said it a thousand times and I'll repeat it again: those who want to play for the national team should play," the head coach emphasized. — And it shows it not in words, but in deeds. Maybe he will be at the next training camp, but maybe not.

A remarkable detail has also surfaced: According to Karpin, even his teammates were unhappy with Glushenkov's behavior. There is no drama in the story of Sobolev's non-admission.

— We talked with the medical staff, and for health reasons we did not include Sobolev in the final squad for the upcoming training camp. The same goes for Zakharyan," Karpin explained.

At the end of the goal: the Russian national team will end the year with matches against Uzbekistan and Venezuela

What is the danger for the team of Valery Karpin, the World Cup debutant and a strong South American opponent

The coach admitted that they waited until the last moment: there was hope that the Real Sociedad midfielder would play in the Europa League match the day before, but Arsene did not even get into the application for that match. According to his agent, it's an ankle injury.

On November 7, Zakharyan returned to the Spanish team's application after an injury, which means his willingness to help not only the club, but also the national team, to which Karpin did not call him. And then suddenly Monaco midfielder Alexander Golovin, who was initially called up, was injured — he left the field in the 54th minute of the match of the 10th round of the French championship with Le Mans (1-1) on November 8. Zakharyan's representative Gennady Golubin said that Arsen "never refused the national team, despite the fact that he was repeatedly given some kind of roulette with challenges: Karpin wants to see him, he doesn't want to."

It's more interesting with Sobolev: the 29-year-old striker missed two matches due to illness (on October 25 against Dynamo Makhachkala in the championship and on October 29 against Baltika in the Cup), but on Sunday he still started against Rostov (2:2) and played 63 minutes. Sergey Semak confirmed that the player has not yet recovered from his illness.

The composition of the national team of Uzbekistan

CSKA goalkeeper Maxim Borisko, Rostov defender Andrei Langovich and his teammate midfielder Alexei Mironov have not played for the national team yet — the November break may give each of them a debut for the Russian national team.

Karpin formulated the formula for these two weeks in advance:

— With Uzbekistan and Venezuela, we will have the opportunity to test ourselves at a good level, — said the coach of the team.

According to the aggregate ratings, this is exactly the case: the Russians are ranked 35th by FIFA, Uzbekistan is 59th, and Venezuela is 49th, the highest among their November rivals.

Uzbekistan played in the World Cup for the first time in its history this summer — no Central Asian team has ever reached it. The debut, however, turned out to be bitter: defeats from Colombia (1:3), Portugal (0:5) and DR Congo (1:3), zero points and a goal difference of 2:11. But Abbosbek Fayzullayev's goal against the Colombians remained in history — the first for Uzbek football at the world Championships.

The head coach is Fabio Cannavaro, 2006 world champion and winner of the Golden Ball. The Italian was called up in October 2025 to replace Timur Kapadze, who led the team to the World Cup, and was appointed - as it later became clear — not for one tournament, but for a cycle up to the Asian Cup in 2027. After the World Cup, Cannavaro announced a roster update: "The bonus for previous achievements is over."

According to his style, his team is a compact unit, a high meeting of the opponent in the first minutes and vertical transitions: the basic scheme is 3-4-2-1, without the ball — a restructuring into 5-3-2 or an extremely conservative 5-4-1. The coach himself named the weak point — the endings: "When players get tired, concentration drops."

It's a draw.: Nigeria interrupted the winning and dry streak of the Russian national team

Valery Karpin's team won back from 0:1 and scored three times, but did not keep the advantage.

In 2026, after the World Cup, the White Wolves had already beaten Iran (3:1) and Syria (4:1), but lost dryly to South Korea (0:2). Iran, beaten by the Uzbeks, the Russian national team won with a score of 2:0. By the way, the Uzbeks have already had a face—to-face meeting with the future second opponent of the Russians this year - 0-0 with Venezuela at the FIFA Series tournament (5-4 victory on penalties).

The main figures of the team: captain Eldor Shomurodov, well-known to RPL fans from playing for Rostov, who was still in the race of the top scorers of the Turkish championship in the spring; Manchester City defender Abdukodir Husanov, the most recognizable Uzbek football player of our time; and the already mentioned Fayzullaev (played for CSKA from 2023-2025). Cannavaro, by the way, promises to field the strongest squad in Tashkent.

The teams will play in Tashkent for only the second time. The first meeting, on November 20, 2022, at the same stadium ended in a goalless draw.

The composition of the Venezuelan national team

The Russian national team has never played with Venezuela — on November 17, the rivals will meet for the first time. The only intersection of history dates back to 1981: then Venezuela in Merida played 1-1 with the USSR national team of clubs, an unofficial version of the country's main team.

Venezuela is the only South American national team that has never played at the World Championships. In qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, the team was close to a historic breakthrough, but Bolivia eventually took the place in the intercontinental matches. After the failure, the coach changed: Fernando Batista left in the fall of 2025, and the federation entrusted the team to Oswaldo Vizcarrondo, the former central defender of the national team, first in the status of acting, and from January 20, 2026 — on a permanent basis. The first assistant was Brazilian Kleber Xavier, a long-time assistant to the famous coach Tite. The purpose of the new cycle is explicitly stated: participation in the 2030 World Cup.

The form of the Venezuelans before the game in Krasnodar is alarming. They did not win even once at the first autumn training camp.: 1:2 against Japan, 0:0 against South Korea, and the same zeros against Jordan, with the team finishing part of this cycle with a reserve team. The pattern has been the same all summer: we lost to Turkey (1:2), although we beat Iraq (2:0) in June, which is preparing for the World Cup. But the steady trend of Vizcarrondo in 2026, matching his position, is "dry" zeros: the defense is decent, the attack is silent.

For the Russian audience, the main question is whether Salomon Rondon will come. The former forward of Rubin, Zenit and CSKA, the best scorer in the history of the national team, is 37 years old. In the Mexican championship this year, he scored 16 goals in 16 matches for Pachuca, and fans at home are openly demanding that the coach call him to the November games. Jefferson Savarino, the Fluminense winger, is also dangerous, having recorded 51 matches for the national team. But rotation is almost inevitable: on November 14, Venezuela holds a friendly match with the national team of the Basque Country in Bilbao, and three days later, a flight to Krasnodar and a game with Russia.

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The FIFA formula is on the side of the Russians here: points for defeating an opponent from the top fifty are awarded noticeably more generously than for the October defeat of Namibia, and both matches will be included in the rating release on November 18. Venezuela needs the game almost more: another misfire for a coach who has been given a cycle until 2030 will only increase the pressure on him at home.

The home game also has a ceremonial burden: it is dedicated to the memory of Nikita Simonyan and the 70th anniversary of the Olympic triumph of the USSR national team in 1956. The audience will see the national team next time in 2027.

The final composition of the Russian national team:

Goalkeepers: Stanislav Agkatsev (Krasnodar), Matvey Safonov (PSG, France), Maxim Borisko (CSKA)

Defenders: Kirill Danilov, Danil Krugovoy (both from CSKA), Evgeny Morozov, Alexander Silyanov (both from Lokomotiv), Andrey Langovich, Viktor Melekhin (both from Rostov), Mingiyan Beveev (Baltika), Ilya Vakhaniya (Krasnodar), Turpal-Ali Ibishev (Akhmat), Maxim Osipenko (Dynamo)

Midfielders: Kirill Glebov, Matvey Kislyak, Ivan Oblyakov (all from CSKA), Danil Prutsev, Nail Umyarov (both from Spartak), Danil Glebov (Dynamo), Artyom Karpukas (Zenit), Alexey Mironov (Rostov), Alexey Batrakov (Galatasaray, Turkey), Lechi Sadulaev (Akhmat), Alexander Golovin (Monaco, France), Alexey Miranchuk (Atlanta United, USA).

Forwards: Yaroslav Gladyshev, Konstantin Tyukavin (both Dynamo), Nikolay Komlichenko (Lokomotiv).