OT: Russia in other sports

MaxV

Registered User
Nov 6, 2006
4,888
590
New York, NY
There is a lot going on actually besides hockey with Russian sports.

- World Cup futbol obviously (low expectations there, unfortunately).
- Khabib Nurmagomedov has become the first ever Russian UFC champion (something tells me he isn’t the last) in Lightweight division. He has also broke a record for the most consecutive rounds won in UFC. There are other Russian MMA fighters making noise as well.
- Boxing program is really booming right now as well.
- CSKA is in the hunt for Basketball gold, arguably the best team outside the NBA.
- Russia has surpassed Portugal for #6 spot in UEFA rankings and will get a 6th team in European competition. Unfortunately it will probably be a low-budget team, as Rubin and Rostov are rebuilding while Dynamo is in financial purgatory.
 
Last edited:

MaxV

Registered User
Nov 6, 2006
4,888
590
New York, NY
The good news is that Russia will get a 6th team into European competition next year.

The bad news is that it will either be Tosno or Avangard, as these 2 will play in Cup Final.
 

MaxV

Registered User
Nov 6, 2006
4,888
590
New York, NY
The MMA situation is really interesting. For those that have followed it over the years know that wrestlers have a very good track record of becoming MMA contenders.

I’ve watched MMA for a number of years and would always wonder, if a country with the second best wrestling program historically produces so many great MMA fighters, why can’t a country with the best wrestling program? And sure enough, talented Russian fighters are coming out of the woodworks in large numbers.

BTW, some of you might know that Russia (and other countries now also) has its own martial art called Sambo, made specifically for the army during Lenin era. I encourage reading the story behind it, it’s actually very interesting and not just for Russians.
 

MaxV

Registered User
Nov 6, 2006
4,888
590
New York, NY
Interesting.

According to Championat, the cup winner most likely isn’t going to Euro Cup. It’ll most likely be the 6th place team.
 

Caser

@RUSProspects
May 21, 2013
13,510
12,207
Riga/Yaroslavl
twitter.com
So, the big event is coming. Even me, while I have stopped following football for something like 5 years now (as it started to look like some kind of a circus back then), will try to watch some World Cup stuff.
 

MaxV

Registered User
Nov 6, 2006
4,888
590
New York, NY
And we managed to get into the knockout stage early and kind of in style. :)

Don’t celebrate early. It’s not official yet. There could still be a 3-way tie with 6 points if Saudis win both of their remaining games and Russia loses to Uruguay.

Of course with goal differential being +7 for Russia, it would take a monumental collapse.

But if we have learned anything from the past...
 

MaxV

Registered User
Nov 6, 2006
4,888
590
New York, NY
An interesting scenario for the last game.

The team that wins this group might not be doing themselves any favors.

It looks like most of the powerhouse teams (France, Brazil, Spain/Portugal, Germany, England/Belgium and maybe Argentina) will be in the same bracket as Group A winner.

A loss to Uruguay isn’t the end of the world.
 

MaxV

Registered User
Nov 6, 2006
4,888
590
New York, NY
This is crazy. I saw the lineup before the game and instantly it bacame obvious, we are going full bunker mode. It wasn’t even a good lineup for countering, just purely for closing space.

Cherchesov’s decisions in this tournament had me raise my eye brow on a number of occasions, but it I can’t complain about the results.
 

Maestro84

Registered User
May 3, 2018
2,120
1,634
Toronto
Futbol: They just somehow beat Spain in the rd. of 16
Tennis: Sharapova is a pretty darn good player. Sascha Zverev and Denis Shapovalov (two rising stars)are both of Russian descent but neither represent Russia. Marat Safin was sort of a wasted talent though
Figure Skating: Their women have always been strong in this department
Boxing and Gymnastics: I remember them winning a ton of gold medals during the Olympics for these two events
 

MaxV

Registered User
Nov 6, 2006
4,888
590
New York, NY
Heartbreak result, but still a great tournament.

This is a young and talented team. I think they will make noise in the future.
 

Fantomas

Registered User
Aug 7, 2012
13,232
6,541
Laughing my ass off at ESPN's World Cup coverage. I think they were really hoping for a lot of controversy to fuel their russophobia, which has not come. So they've had to pretty much make stuff up.

Before the tournament they did that story about masked hoodlums, which made the front page and then was bumped up there again a few days later. No one knows where those soccer hoodlums are now; maybe someone should try and find them. And today a huge freaking crisis - a European reporter was robbed! Happy day, was the second story on the front page for a few hours.

This is seriously the best they could do.
 

MaxV

Registered User
Nov 6, 2006
4,888
590
New York, NY
Laughing my ass off at ESPN's World Cup coverage. I think they were really hoping for a lot of controversy to fuel their russophobia, which has not come. So they've had to pretty much make stuff up.

Before the tournament they did that story about masked hoodlums, which made the front page and then was bumped up there again a few days later. No one knows where those soccer hoodlums are now; maybe someone should try and find them. And today a huge freaking crisis - a European reporter was robbed! Happy day, was the second story on the front page for a few hours.

This is seriously the best they could do.

Not just them. Some German “sarai” news agency reported that Russian players sniffed some stuff before Croatia. It isn’t even on the banned substance list, but since it’s Russia, it’s a major story.

Whatever, man. Stuff like this has zero effect on me and I don’t get why the rest of Russian posters care either.

Some of you guys aren’t familiar about the two top USA sports, baseball and American football.

If you were familiar with it, you would know that Russian doping scandal is a drop in the ocean of what is MAJOR WORLDWIDE problem and no country (or its fan base) should be throwing stones.
 

MaxV

Registered User
Nov 6, 2006
4,888
590
New York, NY
Anyway let’s talk about the team in general.

I honestly think, and I’ve mentioned this in another thread, that this new generation will turn the Russian team around. I doubt that we will reach the elite teams, but there is no reason for Russia to be lower then the second tier teams like Columbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Mexico and others.

The core is coming together already and are still young. Plus there are several very talented young guys that could be ready soon.
 

Kap-the-Head

Registered User
Jan 7, 2006
1,165
77
Saint Charles, IL
Some interesting facts: Russia's players travelled the most during the five games, with Zobnin leading the pack with 63 km... That's almost 8 miles a game.
Here comes the doping charge :)
 

Caser

@RUSProspects
May 21, 2013
13,510
12,207
Riga/Yaroslavl
twitter.com
Great result, especially if we remember all those injury troubles. Also, let's face it: this team is not the most talented team (I still remember all the talent and depth we had back in 2009, can't help but facepalming when I think how fast most of it was lost), but it makes it even more important, as they fought really hard and succeeded with that approach.


Btw, with the emotions cooled off a bit, I think the heroic quarterfinals loss might be the best result going long-term - at least it won't get us too carried away. Although tbh I'm still remembering that Modric's penalty attempt that Akinfeyev almost got.

Hard to predict how it all turn out long term. I mean, obviosly we have some assets now to build on: a good young team, stadiums, some "momentum" after this performance, btu there are quite some chalenges. Generation is still changing: Ignashevich and Samedov have officially retired, also there are some other guys who probably won't be there going forward: Kudryashov, Granat, Zhirkov, Smolov... even it's hard to tell about Dzyuba, as it's hard to predict how he will look like, as he is too inconsistent on long term spans. Additionally it's hard to predict how good will Cherchesov be as a coach going further - again he is too inconsistent long term as a coach, not to mention some questionable decisions in this tournament.

But the most important challenge is making the RFPL great again, as it's hard to build anything without a strong league (not just the top teams) - top players should try themselves in Europe, but the core and younger guys can be only generated by the domestic league. By "great again" I mean times around 2009 - there was a pretty good overall level of teams back then and it resulted in the NT talent depth. I've read that finally there are plans to change the current dumb format of the foreigner limit in 2020 and also introduce some ELC-like limitations for younger players' contracts, I think a lot will depend on how it is handled.

P.S. Recently I remembered that Igor Denisov missed both Euro2008 and this tournament due to his character issues... something to think about in terms of a battle of a Man Vs. his Ego actually.

P.P.S. While so far I enjoyed the tournament as an event, I still think that modern football is a joke and I don't regret "retiring" from closely following it some years ago.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->