Marked for Denis Mushkarin
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ilja Antonov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Ruslan Maltsev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Magomed Omarov
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Rodina 2 will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Ilja Antonov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rodina 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Denis Mushkarin's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandr Stenyakin signs something — a contract at Rodina 2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Dmitry Markitesov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Rodina 2 man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Daniel Svintsov was the best thing in any of them.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rodina 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Match9 Nov 2026
Continental football is in reach for Rodina 2
17 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ruslan Maltsev has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rodina 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match17 Oct 2026
Irtysh made Rodina 2 work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A mark of 7.80, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Andrei Zakharov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Denis Mushkarin
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rodina 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
The leaders are next for Rodina 2
Kuban top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Denis Mushkarin is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ilja Antonov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Rodina 2
Astemir Khezhev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Market12 Oct 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Denis Mushkarin has his answer from Rodina 2; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roman Tarasov, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Market12 Oct 2026
The name of Ilja Antonov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rodina 2 say nothing, which says plenty.
Match12 Oct 2026
Rodina 2 have something to play for
Position 5 on 11 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dinamo Barnaul waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rodina 2 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
Match21 Sep 2026
Rodina 2 at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 6, 8 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Pavel Baranov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Andrei Zakharov was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Rodina 2 dressing room was either.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Ruslan Maltsev
Nobody at Rodina 2 is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 8. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Arseny Khorin pops up at the right end — 7.59
7.59, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Rodina 2
Svyatoslav Kozhedub and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Avangard have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Artem Biryukov. The answer from Rodina 2 has not changed — yet.
Market17 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Rodina 2 will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Timofey Danilov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match15 Aug 2026
It needed Arseny Khorin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Irtysh, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Andrei Zakharov chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Looking ahead17 Aug 2026
The leaders are next for Rodina 2
Kuban top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Arseny Khorin is the weekend's best young player
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Kaluga, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rodina 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Stenyakin, and the manager let it.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Rodina 2 dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Andrei Zakharov after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Rodina 2, and it is a cruel one.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Rodina 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Savin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.