EURO 2012 Focus - Russia
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As the EURO 2012 approaches, Extratime.ie will take an indepth look into each participating team. Alan Smith looks at the EURO 2012 Group A side Russia.
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Where they are staying, where they are playing
Three interesting facts about the team
The big news from Dick Advocaat’s squad announcement was the inclusion of uncapped defender Kirill Nababkin. Right-back Nababkin may have impressed in the Champions League with a CSKA Moscow but his call-up to the 23 man squad was his first ever, though the 25 year-old had played U21.
Made up mostly of home based players, with only two foreign based players - Marat Izmailov from Sporting Lisbon and Fulham striker Pavel Pogrebnyak – the addition of Rubin Kazan skipper Roman Sharonov may have come as a slight surprise too. Although he has made eight appearances for Russia, he hasn’t been involved for eight years.
Andrey Arshavin will be the star attacking name in the squad along with fellow former north London neighbour Roman Pavlyuchenko, while Yuri Zhirkov is another household name in the continent.
Of course Ireland fans will know the squad much better than most, Alexander Kerzhakov and Alan Dzagoev both sticking in the memories of those who were at the 3-2 defeat in the Aviva, along with midfielder Roman Shirokov – not to be confused with the aforementioned Sharonov – who scored a goal each in that game.
The squad in full
Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (PFC CSKA Moskva), Vyacheslav Malafeev (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Anton Shunin (FC Dinamo Moskva).
Defenders: Aleksandr Anyukov (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Aleksei Berezutski (PFC CSKA Moskva), Sergei Ignashevich (PFC CSKA Moskva), Vladimir Granat (FC Dinamo Moskva), Yuri Zhirkov (FC Anzhi Makhachkala), Dmitri Kombarov (FC Spartak Moskva), Roman Sharonov (FC Rubin Kazan), Kirill Nababkin (PFC CSKA Moskva).
Midfielders: Igor Denisov (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Konstantin Zyryanov (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Roman Shirokov (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Denis Glushakov (FC Lokomotiv Moskva), Igor Semshov (FC Dinamo Moskva), Marat Izmailov (Sporting Clube de Portugal), Alan Dzagoev (PFC CSKA Moskva).
Forwards: Andrey Arshavin (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Aleksandr Kerzhakov (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Aleksandr Kokorin (FC Dinamo Moskva), Roman Pavlyuchenko (FC Lokomotiv Moskva), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Fulham FC).
Out of the 10 games played in Group B, Russia recorded seven wins and two draws, their only defeat coming at home to Slovakia. However, having conceded just four times – two of those against Ireland at the Aviva – it was defence rather than attack which proved to be their biggest weapon.
That’s not to say goals were hard to come by. They secured top spot with a resounding 6-0 win over Andorra and ended up with 17 strikes in the For column at qualification.
Many Irish fans will admit that the Boys in Green were blessed not to have conceded in Moscow after a bombardment from the Russians. Richard Dunne’s heroics, and the Sharpie drawn on his back, will be remembered as a key moment in securing the play-off position, even though Ireland were four points clear in the end.
Though he was deemed a failure by many Arsenal fans after a spell of underperforming and often bench warming, Arshavin remains Russia’s most influential player.
His goalscoring return during qualifying was poor, failing to net once despite playing in all 10 games, but Advocaat has stuck with him as skipper. The manager had worked with Arshavin at Zenit previously, prior to the attacking midfielder’s move to London, and with his 31st birthday on the eve of the tournament, if he can click into similar form that dazzled everyone four years ago Russia may go far.
Where they are playing, where they are staying
Based in Poland, Russia get their campaign underway on the opening night of the tournament against the Czech Republic on June 8 in Wroclaw. After that they’re off to Warsaw to face the co-hosts on June 12 before taking on Greece in their final Group A tie on June 16.
They’ll be staying at the Le Meridien Bristol hotel in central Warsaw for the group stages and will train in the town of Sulejowek, 12 miles out from the city centre.
Three interesting facts about the team
- Euro 2008 was the first tournament that Russia, excluding tournaments as the USSR, made it out of the group stages and they ended up going almost the whole way, making it to the semi-finals only to be defeated by eventual champions Spain. It’s known as the summer that Arshavin shone, though he hasn’t been able to replicate that form for club or country since.
- They are known as big tournament flops aside from that however, having fallen at the first hurdle in the 1994 and 2002 World Cups, along with Euro 96 and 2004.
- Focus is already being placed on the country hosting the World Cup in 2018 by the Russian FA but on the field Advocaat is still sticking with his experienced players. Can it pay off?
Qualifying concluded with that 6-0 decimation of Andorra but since then, they’ve had a mixed bag in friendlies. They drew 1-1 with fellow group opponents Greece in a friendly, before defeating Denmark away in February.
Last weekend they also ended up 1-1 with Uruguay before a scoreless draw with Lithuania in Nyon on May 29. They’ve plans to take on Italy in Zurich on June 1.
About Alan Smith
Alan Smith works as a sub-editor for the Guardian newspaper in London. Originally from Cork, he freelances for several other newspapers and websites. Follow him on twitter @alansmith90. View Full Profile