On Thursday, the Russian national football team failed to beat Algeria in crucial Group H matches in the World Cup and ended their performance. Coach Fabio Capello from Italy poured his anger on the championship referees after the match, while goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev said he was ready for overwhelming criticism.
"We could have won, but we missed a goal. The referee did not blow the penalty before us. I have been silent and said nothing about referees until now, but now I can say everything I think.
Our goalkeeper was blinded by laser lights for ten minutes. There are photo and video evidence - there are no other opinions. This is a fact - the goalkeeper could not see anything and missed the goal. I no longer talk about refereeing in the match with Belgium," - F. Capello complained after the match.
In the crucial Group H match, Russia needed to beat Algeria by any margin to secure a spot in the round of 16. After Aleksandr Kokorin's goal in the 6th minute, the Russians led, but could not maintain the advantage.
With half an hour left in the match, Islam Slimani headed in another mistake by goalkeeper I. Akinfeev after a penalty.
"The referees saw lasers pointed at me, but did nothing. Of course, the Algerian team is a good team, they had good attacks, made dangerous shots in the first half. You want to talk about mistakes. You can talk, you can write about a poor goalkeeper - I do not care," - I. Akinfeev said after the match.
It was precisely the goalkeeper's hesitant play in the penalty area that allowed Algeria to score a goal, and in the first match of the championship against South Korea, the goalkeeper almost scored a goal himself.
"Any loss is deserved. We understand that now there will be a lot of criticism against us, and we will have to accept it. We did not achieve the desired result, but we should not pay attention to those people, I do not even know how to call you. We need to live on and continue playing football," - I. Akinfeev tried to forget mistakes and failures in Brazil.
15min.lt
