The Confederations Cup is a glorified friendly tournament, really. A nice way to fill in the international calendar, an opportunity to get a bunch of continental champions playing competitively against each other and, possibly most importantly, a dress rehearsal a year out for the next World Cup host.

That would be Russia and the All Whites were lucky enough to draw the Russians in their group – although the Russians were also lucky enough to draw the New Zealanders. Now is probably not the best time to point out that in a complicated political climate the next two World Cups are being held in Russia and Qatar, but whatever, that’s FIFA for ya.

Russia were absolute garbage at the Euros. For several years they’d invested heaps of cash into their system in order to peak for their home World Cup, including an ill-advised monster contract offered to Fabio Capello in 2012, but after the Don Fabio Disaster (he got them to the 2014 World Cup after missing the previous two but they didn’t win a game there) the powers that be decided it’d be best to get back to that old local flavour. So after three foreign coaches in a row they hired CSKA Moscow favourite Leonid Slutsky to lead them into the 2016 European Champs.

Four straight wins to close the qualifying campaign shot them from a probable playoff into automatic qualification and things at the tournament proper started okay as they frustrated England with a late equaliser (thoroughly underserved, to be fair). But that wasn’t enough to overshadow the crowd troubles Russian fans had caused on the streets of France and they then lost 2-1 to Slovakia. With a win needed to advance in their last match, Russia were smacked up 3-0 by Wales. Eliminated without a win, conceding six goals in three games.

As hosts of the World Cup they don’t have to qualify. That means they’ve had to fill in their international windows with friendly games and that doesn’t always make for the best competition. Hence their list of opponents since the Euros has a pretty diverse look to it.

Drew 0-0 with Turkey (A)
Won 1-0 vs Ghana (H)
Lost 4-3 to Costa Rica (H)
Lost 2-1 to Qatar (A)
Won 2-1 vs Romania (H)
Lost 2-0 to Ivory Coast (H)
Drew 3-3 with Belgium (H)

Those last two games took place in the March window so while the Aotearoa side was taking care of Fiji home and away, the Russians were getting booed off the park in their own country after a tame defeat to the Ivory Coast. That’s a Côte d'Ivoire team which was there with a caretaker manager after the previous boss was sacked following a poor African Cup of Nations campaign. Jonathan Kodjia (Aston Villa) and Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace) scored the goals. At least they were better in snatching a 3-3 draw against Belgium in Sochi a few days later. Only just, because they were 3-1 down with 15 minutes left in that last one. Aleksandr Bukharov levelled things up in injury time. Lesson there: Don’t slack off in stoppage time against the Russkies, Uncle Tony.

As usual the Russians, now managed by Stanislav Cherchesov, have picked an almost completely home-based squad. It’s also not much of an experienced squad – with 18 of the 30 played picked in the wider pre-tournament squad having 10 or fewer international caps. That’s despite 21 of them being aged 27 or older (they’re younger than they were at France 2016, granted). Russia are pretty sick of being average at this football thing but they don’t really have the depth of players at the moment. Therefore there's a bit of rotation going on here and a few key injuries over the last 12 months haven't helped.

Igor Akinfeev will captain them. The goalkeeper will probably earn his century of caps at the Confeds and he’s always been a seriously handy bloke between the sticks, a prodigy from a young age. Hell, the dude is 31 and he’s already played over 500 times for CSKA. Although while he’s got the Russian league record for clean sheets, he’s also kinda famous for not keeping them in other competitions. Poor lad has also gone a record 43 games (and counting) without an 0-for in the Champions League and those big game nerves have also seen him make some silly mistakes at international tournaments too. Maybe this is his big stage, the one he’s been waiting his whole career for.

⚽️ Congrats to Igor #Akinfeev on becoming #Russia's national #football team captain! pic.twitter.com/aI8iV0dcun
— РоссиЯ 🇷🇺 (@Russia) March 24, 2017

Curiously both Aleksandr Kokorin and Pavel Mamayev were absent even from the preliminary squad. Between them they have 75 international caps but the pair courted a little controversy after they were pictured partying pretty hard only a couple days after the defeat to Wales at the Euros. Kokorin’s only just come back from injury though. 104-capped defender (and scorer against England at Euro 2016) Vasili Berezutski has retired from international footy too, one less soldier to call upon.

Elsewhere there’s not too much to mention. Yuri Zhirkov (once of Chelsea) is a proven veteran but hasn’t been a starting regular as often these days. Alan Dzagoev is a creative player who can make some things happen. Denis Glushakov’s heroic performances in midfield just helped Spartak Moscow to the Russian Premier League title. Artem Dzyuba and Fyodor Smolov will be expected to score the goals. 21 year old Aleksandr Golovin is one of the few exciting young fellas in the wider picture.

After the financial excess of the Fabio Capello era and the pride and bluster of Leonid Slutsky, this is definitely a new era of Russian footy under Stanislav Cherchesov and it’s hard to say what to expect. Without any real stars to build around, they should be a team that plays compact and tactfully. Not a team that will look to make a statement of thrashing the All Whites like Portugal and Mexico might prefer, instead a team that’ll be pragmatic in making sure they get the result that they need.

Which should make for a close game, to be honest. New Zealand are also a team that knows they have to play in a way that limits their opponents if they’re going to be successful and that’s why a few people are tipping a draw here. A Russian win is just as likely but they’re a team you can score past so if the kiwi team are going to get that elusive first win at a world tournament then this is the best chance they’re going to get.

This is not a Russian team that is going to worry anyone else in this group but we do have to be wary that in the tournament opener, with a big home crowd, there’s heaps of pressure on Russia to dispatch of the All Whites. It’s going to be a difficult atmosphere to play in.