Jan Kuchta shines in Russia! This is how he did against Akhmat. How does the public react?

Jan Kuchta is staying in Russian Lokomotiv Moscow for the time being. And apparently he is still managing to concentrate only on football, since his winter transfer in Russia in September. This time, he helped Lokomotiv to a goal and an assist in their 3-2 win over Akhmat Grozny and also picked up the man of the match award.

Jan Kuchta made his third competitive start in the Russian Premier League. In three competitive matches he scored 2 goals and assisted once. However, if we look at the sum of all his matches in the Lokomotiv jersey, including the winter training, the Czech national forward’s goal account grows considerably.

Since his transfer from Slavia he has scored an impressive 7 goals in 9 matches. Lokomotiv can count on the 25-year-old forward. Against Akhmat he also won the man of the match award for his performance.

The WhoScored statistics server rated Kuchta’s performance with a highly superior 8.14. But according to WhoScored’s ratings, there were two better players on the field, namely Frenchman Wilson Isidor (Lokomotiv, rating 8.52, goal + assist) and Daniil Utkin (Akhmat, rating 8.61, goal + assist).

The ex-Slavic forward had 26 touches with the ball in the match, a passing success rate of about 89% and made three key passes. Kuchta was fouled once, won one header, was caught offside twice and also received a yellow card.

Public reaction

The majority of the Czech football public understandably has reservations about the Russian national striker’s engagement. However, he left for Lokomotiv before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So how does the public react?

“There are many opinions about Jan Kuchta’s stay in Russia. I won’t be his lawyer, it’s his life, his decision, his career. If someone thinks that all foreigners are gone, they are wrong. In my opinion, they will be picked up in the summer,” said journalist Luděk Mádl.

“Sorry, he should have quit a long time ago and been home, but money is a powerful thing, not to mention the people who get tithes from it and want him to stay there as long as possible.”

“He’s lost a little weight, don’t you think? Probably out of sugar.”

While FIFA has announced that foreign footballers operating in Russia can terminate their contracts and seek alternative engagements with impunity until April 1, practice shows that it is unlikely to be such a simple task.

Moreover, according to FIFA, if foreign footballers find other engagements, they would still have to report back to their Russian venue on 1 July (although FIFA has declared that it will depend on developments, which means that they might not have to return).

Anyway, we don’t see Jan Kuchta in the current situation. He is certainly not the only foreigner left in Russia. Only Croatian Jedvaj, Polish Rybus, Dutch Kerk, French Isidor or even youngster Mark Mampasi, who has citizenship of both Russia and Ukraine, are still in Lokomotiv.

Looking at the way the Russian authorities suppress all opinions that do not suit the propaganda there, it is logically possible that even footballers are afraid to leave their clubs. In any case, Kuchta is not missing from coach Jaroslav Šilhavy’s nomination for the barrage match against Sweden.

Luděk Mádl, WhoScored, Livesport, Transfermarkt