Russia - Euro 2008 Team Profile

Ozren Podnar reports...

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Road to Switzerland / Austria

The biggest country in the world, Russia is not the greatest soccer nation, but their current coach, Guus Hiddink, is one of the luckiest. Russia's qualification for the European Championship from Group E was nothing short miraculous, after the agony of losing in Israel and having to depend on the outcome of England v Croatia at Wembley. His players attributed the extraordinary success to Hiddink's golden touch.

Analysis

It took a long time for Hiddink to find a winning combination after a less than promising start in the qualifiers with two home draws with Croatia and Israel.

The ensuing four wins without conceding a goal midway through the qualifiers pushed Russia to the second spot in the group and the team looked set to go through on their own merit by controversially beating England 2-1 in Moscow.

Amazingly, a defeat in Israel followed, leaving the Red Army dependent of what the apparently unmotivated Croatia would do against England on the final day of the competition. The shocking developments at Wembley favoured Russia, who barely completed their own part of the deal by beating Andorra 1-0.

In his 15 months in charge, Hiddink managed to create a new nucleus for the national team, although he has not been able to overcome the lack of quality replacements. Despite his young age, Igor Akinfeyev has emerged as the best successor to the retired Ovchinyikov in goal. Still, due to his severe knee injury he came to be replaced by Malafeyev and Gabulov on several occasions.

Only seven goals conceded in the 12 qualifying games seem to indicate the value of the defence, but the statistics are deceptive since apart from Zenit's Anyukov, all other defenders are a bit sluggish and run into trouble when faced with smaller and rapid forwards like Michael Owen. The libero Sergei Ignashevich at least is a master of positioning and is capable of bringing the ball forward with good intent.

The midfield four usually features Vladimir Bistrov, the left footed Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Konstantin Ziryanov, a gifted player who can also act as a withdrawn forward. CSKA's fullback Yuri Zhirkov is used by Hiddink in midfield with good results, while the terrific dribbler Marat Izmailov fell out of the coach's grace after the initial games, in replaced by a responsible central midfielder like Igor Semshov.

The strike force relies on Andrei Arshavin, Aleksandr Kerzhakov, the supremely talented Dmitri Sychev and the hottest property in Roman Pavlyuchenko, who is apparently desired by Real Madrid in the near future.

Key player: Andrei Arshavin

Arshavin from reigning champions Zenit is the star, playing as a withdrawn striker, or "in the hole" as the position is known in England. Arshavin is a decisive player, packing a good shot in both feet and very skillful in one-on-one situations, even though he has problems with tougher defences.

One to watch: Roman Pavlyuchenko

The hero and the scorer of both goals in the big game against England in Moscow. Pavlyuchenko topped the Russian scoring charts the past two seasons and is rumoured to be in the sights of Real Madrid, who see in him a possible replacement for Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Coach

Born on November 8th in Varsseveld, Hiddink was a solid player with De Graafschap, PSV Eindhoven and NEC Nijmegen, but his true claim to fame turned out to be his coaching work. He exploded on to the scene with three Dutch titles, three Cups and the European Cup in 1988 with PSV, before coaching Fenerbahce in Turkey and Valencia, Real Madrid and Betis in Spain. Between various club engagements he led Holland to fourth place at the 1998 World Cup and South Korea to the same spot four years later. Then ensued his second spell at PSV, crowned with another three League titles and a Cup. Simultaneously with PSV, he led Australia to the 2006 World Cup, being knocked out by Italy in the round of 16 only by a suspect penalty awarded in the 89th minute. Finally, since 2006 he has coached Russia with results well above the quality of play achieved.

Recent Previous Tournaments

1996 First round
2000 Did not qualify
2004 First round

Soccerphile says .....

In spite of the presence of internationally acclaimed forwards like Kerzhakov, Sichev and Pavlyuchenko, the attack is sterile and has struggled even against Andorra. The mental balance has proven fragile and the defensive lapses during the Israel game almost cost the nation a year's worth of efforts.

Euro 2008 Squad

Bet on Euro 2008

Goalkeepers Igor Akinfeyev (CSKA Moscow), Vyacheslav Malafeyev (Zenit St Petersburg), Vladimir Gabulov (Amkar Perm)
Defenders Vasili Berezutski (CSKA), Aleksei Berezutski (CSKA), Aleksandr Anyukov (Zenit), Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA), Denis Kolodin (Dynamo Moscow), Renat Yanbayev (Lokomotiv Moscow), Roman Shirokov (Zenit)
Midfielders Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Lokomotiv), Igor Semshov (Dynamo), Dmitri Torbinsky (Lokomotiv), Vladimir Bystrov (Spartak Moscow), Konstantin Zyryanov (Zenit), Sergei Semak (Rubin Kazan), Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA)
Forwards Andrei Arshavin (Zenit), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spartak), Dmitri Sychev (Lokomotiv), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Zenit), Roman Adamov (FK Moscow), Ivan Saenko (Nuremberg)

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