Euro 2012 Preview - Russia
Absurd FIFA ranking: 11th
Coach: Dutch supremo Dick Advocaat
Match Schedule:
June 8 – Russia v. Czech Republic (Wroclaw, 2:45 p.m. EST)
June 12 – Russia v. Poland (Warsaw, 2:45 p.m.)
June 16 – Russia v. Greece (Wroclaw, 2:45 p.m.)
Prospects: Russia won a competitive but far from stellar Qualifying Group B beating Slovakia, Ireland, Macedonia, Armenia and Andorra along the way. But Vladimir Putin should keep his shirt on. Russia have enough veteran experience and quality to top this worthless group but they'll be matched up against one of the teams to emerge from the Group B.
Key Player: Former Chelski man Yuri Zhirkov still has the quality to ping balls at Pavs' head.
Youngster to watch: Moscow Spartak striker Artem Dyuba; Advocaat would be wise to ditch Arsenal reject Andrei Arshavin and go with this 6'4" chunk of goalscoring power.
Who Will Get the Goals: Former Spurs front-man Roman Pavlyuchenko is still the most potent goal threat in the Russian arsenal.
Prediction: Top of Group A before going out in a blaze of glory to Advocaat's countrymen in the Quarterfinals.
posted by The Blue Devil @ 6:43 PM
4 Comments:
First place will be between the Russians and Czechs. The Russians faced the Dutch in the quarters four years ago and won in extra time , led by another Dutchman in Guus Hiddinck. I wonder if Fulham's Pav Pogs would also be a goal scoring threat along with Pavs. I agree that they should ditch Arshavin.
Arshavin has returned to form for Zenit because they'll do the work for him that he was expected to do at Arsenal. If the Russians set out their stall the same way, he'll shine. It's not that he's shite, it's that he's lazy. I for one think that the Russian at Fulham(?) is a lot more lethal than Pogs.
Interesting. I don't rate the current Czech side as highly as you lot. I see them getting edged out into third by the hosts. Yes, Poland and Ukraine are both weak but we've never had a situation in which none of the hosts escaped from the group stage to my memory. Being at home is still an advantage.
Not since Switzerland/Austria have we had more unlikely hosts and both of them scraped through, you're right.
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