As the Russian national football team brace to play Uzbekistan next week, head coach Valery Karpin said the hosts’ first 2026 World Cup showed how much the White Wolves had improved since their last Russia draw four years ago.
‘Uzbekistan have improved considerably since 2022, when we last played them in Tashkent,’ Karpin said on Friday. He said Fabio Cannavaro’s side were ‘no punching bags’ at the World Cup and called the friendlies against Uzbekistan and Venezuela a chance for Russia to test themselves.
‘It’s going to be quite an interesting match’, Karpin remarked.
Uzbekistan lost all three of their matches in their 2026 World Cup debut, against Colombia, Portugal and DR Congo. They took the lead in their final match through captain Eldor Shomurodov before DR Congo came back to win 3–1.
For their part, Russia will play without Zenit striker Aleksandr Sobolev and Real Sociedad attacking midfielder Arsen Zakharyan. Both were on the provisional list, but Karpin left them out of his final 28-man squad on medical advice.
A goalless draw in 2022
Karpin said he waited until Friday to finalise the squad, hoping Zakharyan would be fit to play for Real Sociedad in the Europa League the night before. The midfielder was left out of his club’s matchday squad.
The only previous senior meeting between the teams occurred on 20 November 2022, in a friendly at Tashkent’s Pakhtakor Stadium. It ended 0-0 in front of 14,539 spectators.
Sobolev and Zakharyan both started for Karpin’s side that day and were replaced in the 76th minute. Shomurodov led Uzbekistan’s attack before making way for Igor Sergeev early in the second half.
Read more: Cannavaro remains Uzbekistan football manager until 2027
The rematch kicks off at 8 pm Tashkent time (6 pm Moscow time) on Thursday, 12 November, at the Pakhtakor Stadium in the Uzbek capital.
