Russia
Factsheet:
Euro 2012 Group A: 08-06-12: Russia – Czech Republic, 12-06-12: Poland – Russia,
16-06-12: Greece - Russia
FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking: 11
Previous European Championship Appearances: 1996, 2004, 2008
Qualifying record: 10+7=2-1 17-4
Interesting facts: Only Italy conceded fewer goals than Russia among the 51 nations
competing for Euro 2012 participation.
Only Pavel Pogrebnyak of Fulham does not represent a
domestic club among all of the national team candidates.
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After being chosen to lead Russians when the Guus
Hiddink era was over, Dick Advocaat, a usual substitute to Hiddink, shockingly gave
away his job as Belgium coach and returned to Russia. Here he managed to
qualify for a major competition on his first attempt. Something you can’t
really satisfy the Russian fans with, but still, something that doesn’t happen
every time. The team has been unbeaten in 11 matches now, conceding only 3
goals.
At the last Euro the team achieved the semifinals,
winning against any team they met on their way apart from the soon-champions
Spain. This time the destiny appeared to be milder to Russia, giving them
Czech Republic, Poland and Greece, hence making them obviously the best team
in Group A.
Russia has already got some experience in a situation,
where the list of group contenders doesn’t include any heavyweights, which
makes Russia a group favorite. 10 years ago they couldn’t cope with such a
pressure after being drawn with Tunisia, co-hosts Japan and Belgium at World
Cup 2002. Do Advocaat and his players read history or not will be known very
soon.
The match we remember: The only time the teams met
was at Euro 96 Group C last day match, when the substitute Vladimir Smicer’s 89th
minute goal ended the wonderful 6-goal encounter between the teams and gave
Czech Republic the chance to reach the quarterfinals and go all the way to the
final. However, Dick Advocaat lost two and tied one match against Czech
Republic, while in charge of Netherlands national team.
The match we remember: The teams have only met in friendly matches.
The match we remember: Those two teams have always
met in the group stage whenever both of them appeared at European
Championships. Both of those matches were won by Russia, including the one at
Euro 2004, where the future champions did not lose any other matches. The Greek
miracle could have remained a dream, had Dmitri Kirichenko used his easy chance
to score in the dying minutes of the match.
Two profiles:
Andrey Arshavin: He was Hiddink’s superstar and a member of the
symbolic squad at Euro 2008. Now he is back to the tournament in the role of a team
captain.
Though only played in the
Russian league before, Andrey Arshavin got easily accustomed to the English
Premier League. He is best known for his poker against Liverpool and his trustworthiness
– Arsene Wenger appointed him as a captain in one of the matches after Arshavin
had been at Arsenal for only 3 months. He became the most effective player in
the Premier League in his first season, despite joining the League in February.
There are lots of things to
be told about this man, but the most relevant and complete note would be the
fact of him being the Russian Football Face for the World Cup 2018 bid. This is
what he means for Russia.
Away from the football pitch
Arshavin is known to be an intelligent person, interested in politics, fashion,
writing books as well as playing poker and draughts. His intelligence and enormous
experience are going to be the key to Russian possible success at the Euro.
After being harshly criticized for his passivity both for Arsenal and Russian
national team, he showed determination towards the Euro, when returning back to
Zenit St. Petersburg to earn more playing time. This is probably the last
European Championship for Andrey Arshavin, who turns 31 10 days before the Euro
kick-off.
Alan Dzagoev: Dzagoev, 21, is definitely the most talented player
the Russian football has produced in the past 5 years. Only 17 years old, Dzaga
was invited to CSKA, where he shone already in his first season scoring 8 goals
in 20 games. In result he received the Best Young Player of the League 2008 award
as well as high appraisal from Guus Hiddink. The Dutchman included Dzagoev in
his World Cup 2010 qualifying match bid against Germany. He played a whole half
on his debut, thus becoming the second youngest player after his teammate Igor
Akinfeev ever to appear on the pitch for Russian national team. He has already
earned 18 caps despite his young age.
Dzagoev, who currently is
out for the rest of the season due to his broken toe, is expected to be 100%
fit for the Euro. While fans constantly criticize Russian star players for being
too lazy when representing the national team, Dzagoev is always appreciated for
being one of the most enthusiastic players in the team. This feature, together
with his killer passes, as mentioned by Guus Hiddink, and accurate shots are
one of the main assets the Russian team is going to bring to Poland and Ukraine
this summer. A Euro 2012 Breakthrough candidate for sure.
My prediction:
The former and current Londoners Zhirkov,
Pavlyuchenko, Arshavin and Pogrebnyak have the class to lead their national
team further to the quarterfinals, which they probably will do. Russia was
superior in their Euro 2012 qualification group, full of strong opponents. Their
experienced manager, once led Netherlands to Euro 2004 semifinals, is an
absolute master to get results against lower-ranked teams.
But sometimes it is not only the result that matters.
In fact, Russians failed to show any great performance during the campaign,
which became a topic to discuss for the Russian media. The problem is that
Hiddink era was over, but Advocaat era never came. The Dutchman nr. 2 in
Russian football decided that it is worth to follow Hiddink’s track without
moving towards reconstructing the team or performing the needed generation
change. Advocaat either believes that the new generation is not good enough or
simply trusts the experienced players, but the fact is that he sticks to very little
number of players including the presence of 4 overage midfielders Zyryanov
(34), Semshov (34), Semak (36) and Loskov (38). This is the reason why I think
that the team does not have the resources to surprise their possible
quarterfinal opponents, as they did back in 2008. And, of course, the tough
company of Group B does not make the Russians’ task easier. I believe the
absolute limit for this team is never going to be higher than quarterfinals.
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* 6+2=3-1 7-7: played 6, won 2, tied 3, lost 1,
scored 7, conceded 7
Football managers, oligarchs, players, pundits and fans that define the Russian Premier league
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