Player Focus: In-form Kokorin Key to Russia's World Cup Hopes
The World Cup has already thrown up plenty of surprises. Costa Rica’s 3-1 win over Uruguay was perhaps the biggest shock of the tournament to date, with young Arsenal star Joel Campbell playing a key role in the win. The 21-year-old bagged the equaliser early in the second half before providing the assist for Marcos Ureña’s late goal to secure all 3 points.
Young attackers look set to shine in Brazil, with Neymar, Admir Mehmedi and Haris Seferovic - all 23 years old or younger - amongst the goalscorers at this early stage. One youngster set to feature as well is Alexander Kokorin, with Russia not playing until their encounter with South Korea late on Tuesday.
The eastern European giants come into the tournament labelled again as one of the tournament's ‘Dark Horses’ having once more impressed in qualifying. Russia topped their group, taking 22 points from a possible 30, impressively finishing ahead of Portugal.
Fabio Capello’s side lost just twice en-route to the World Cup and they are expected to progress from Group H with relative ease this summer. Their main concern may be who tops their group, with Belgium undoubtedly their biggest rivals in that regard.
Only Alexander Kerzhakov (5) scored more goals in qualifying for Russia than Kokorin (4) and the Italian manager will be confident that Kokorin's goalgetting ability can fire Russia to top spot. Bigger and better things are expected of the 23-year-old this summer having gained experience playing in 2 of Russia’s 3 group games during their underwhelming Euro 2012 campaign.
A lack of experience would have played a big role in his poor showing in Poland and Ukraine two years ago, but after a promising campaign for Dinamo Moscow in the Russian Premier League, Kokorin will be hoping to carry his form into this month's tournament. Of all Russians in that division, only Artem Dzyuba (17) scored more league goals than the young attacker (10) last term, while 4 of those came in his last 6 appearances of the season.
Clearly, Kokorin has hit form at just the right time and it is little wonder Capello has used him as his first choice striker, despite the temptation to field Kerzhakov. Moreover, the manager opted against calling up Dzyuba for the World Cup, despite his goalscoring return for FK Rostov last term. Capello clearly trusts Kokorin on the international stage and the Russia boss will be hoping his faith in him is repaid this summer.
Possibly the main reason Capello is likely to favour Kokorin ahead of Kerzhakov up front is the former's all-round attacking ability compared to the latter's one-dimensional approach. Kerzhakov is the type of striker who will play as far forward as possible, relying on chances being created for him rather than assisting in the build up play. Kokorin, however, prefers to drop deeper to aid his teammates in the final third and provide for those around him.
Only a handful of players registered more league assists (6) than Kokorin last season, while of every Russian player, only Aleksandr Samedov (7) provided more goals. His inclination to operate between the lines drags defenders out of position and provides other members in Capello's squad with the chance to capitalise on the space left behind the opposition backline to forge goalscoring opportunities. Against the likes of South Korea and Algeria, who are likely to adopt a more conservative, counter-attacking approach, opening up this space will be crucial to breaking down resolute opponents.
With Capello preferring to use a lone frontman, there is a possibilty that the Russia attack will be nullified by either - or both - South Korea or Algeria. However, a player of Kokorin’s ability will help break down the opposition, should this happen. The striker in Capello's system is expected to run the channels and hassle defenders, making it harder for him to be marked out of the game and Kokorin does this excellently. He may still be young and learning his trade, but he proved his worth in Russia's top tier last season and now is his chance to showcase his talents with the world watching. A commendable conversion rate (18.2%) in the league last season shows he is more than capable of consistently finding the net and Russians are hoping he can transfer his league form onto the international stage.
Also capable of performing behind the striker, his versatility will be an asset in Brazil as Capello could look to mix things up in attack, with Kerzhakov operating ahead of Kokorin. However, his respective WhoScored ratings when playing as the striker (7.71) and in the position behind the frontman (6.88) suggests Capello must have him spearhead the attack rather than support it.
Plenty may be riding on Kokorin's performances in Brazil, but he has shown for Dinamo that he can shoulder responsibility in spite of his age. Russia are tipped to progress to the knockout stages and Kokorin will need to perform if the national team are to reach the last-16. Facing South Korea provides the team with the platform to get their World Cup campaign off to a winning start. Kokorin has what it takes to hit the ground running and fire Russia to 3 points.
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