| Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
Sport Express correspondents spoke to the Berezutsky brothers, who shared their ideas about pre-season preparations.
- Is Russian national team’s preparation camp is helpful for you?
Vasily: Of course, it’s very useful for, since it gave us three additional days of work. CSKA returned home, while we stayed in Turkey.
Alexei: But CSKA players are also training now in Moscow. I can say that it gave us something special, but this training session was necessary because we didn’t see each other for four months. Players need to gather together from time to time
- Do pre-season preparations become more difficult?
Alexei: Training camps become easier, because they take less time. Coaches come to a decision that three months of preparations are too long.
Vasily: One or two sessions are quite enough to return to good form after winter holidays. Earlier we had even four training camps, that made us hate football by the start of the season. When we won UEFA Cup in 2005, we had only one month of preparations.
- Do you think that CSKA’s switch to playing scheme with four defenders will help you in the national team?
Vasily: The previous scheme doesn’t differ much from the current one, since the player, who played on the right flank was occupied with defensive work rather than attacking, so he could be named as the fourth defender.
- What did you feel when you turned from first-choice players into substitutes at the European championship?
Vasily: It would make us upset if the team lost, but victories made us happy.
- What feeling do you have ahead of the new season?
Alexei: This season will be very interesting. Russian team will need to qualify for the World Cup playoffs, while CSKA will have to play in the Champions League.
- Do you think that games against Germany will be decisive in the World Cup qualifying campaign?
Vasily: That’s really true, however it doesn’t mean that we should ignore other teams. Germany clash will be decisive only if we don’t lose points in the other games.
Alexei: But if we win all matches before our meeting with Germany, we will guarantee the first place beforehand. I am sure that German team will lose points.
