March 18 – Russia’s national team captain Artem Dzyuba has denied he asked not to join the side’s training camp because of the conflict in Ukraine.
Dzyuba says it was for family reasons, rather than “political aspects”.
Dzyuba, Russia’s joint top scorer, is said to have relatives in Ukraine and in a statement on the Russian Football Union website, coach Valery Karpin commented: “He assured me … he really wants to play for the national team.”
“But now, due to the difficult situation in Ukraine, where he has many relatives, he apologised and asked, for family reasons, not to be called up to this camp.”
Russia was set to host Poland on March 24 in a World Cup qualifying playoff semi-final but has been kicked out of world football and is using the international break to train instead.
“I didn’t not join the Russian national team because of political issues. It’s about family circumstances, but I don’t want to go into details,” Dzyuba was quoted as telling the Sport-Express news outlet.
“It seems to me that there was a misunderstanding, [coach] Valery Georgievich [Karpin] misunderstood me, or his words were misinterpreted.”
Dzyuba was a late call-up to the squad when Russia hosted the World Cup in 2018 and became a national icon during the team’s surprise run to the quarterfinals.
He has since equalled Aleksandr Kerzhakov as Russia’s record goalscorer but has largely fallen out of favour.
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