Russia are approaching Euro 2012 in a confident mood, eager to at least match their performance from four years ago, when they reached the semi-finals before losing to eventual champions, Spain.
Despite a sluggish start to the qualifiers, which included a labored 2-0 win over tiny Andorra and a 1-0 home defeat to Slovakia, the Russians comfortably sealed their place in this year’s finals by finishing top of qualifying Group B.
Russia rarely produced the attacking flair that made them look so attractive in Austria and Switzerland in 2008, but they were defensively sound, conceding only four goals in their 10 matches.
Dick Advocaat, who succeeded his Dutch compatriot Guus Hiddink as Russia coach following the country’s failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, has retained virtually the same squad from the previous campaign.
Advocaat has been heavily criticized by local media for failing to blood new players into an ageing team that many experts feel has already reached its peak.
Key players, such as Russia captain Andrei Arshavin, striker Roman Pavlyuchenko and winger Yuri Zhirkov, who shone at Euro 2008, have struggled for form this season.
Those three plus Diniyar Bilyaletdinov have quit their respective English Premier League clubs over the last few months and returned home to revive their careers.
Arsenal forward Arshavin, in particular, had an erratic last 12 months in London before rejoining his former club Zenit St Petersburg on a three-month loan in February.
Arshavin’s inability to adapt to the rigors of the English game is seen as the biggest drawback to Russia’s chances.
One bright spot for Russia is the form of Pavel Pogrebnyak, who defied the trend by moving to England, joining Fulham from Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart in the January transfer window.
The powerful striker, who missed Euro 2008 with a knee injury, scored in his first three league games for his new team, including a hat-trick against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Nevertheless, Russian soccer boss Sergei Fursenko has boldly predicted that his team could reach the final in Kiev.
“I think we’re very capable of doing even better than what we achieved four years ago,” Fursenko, who also claimed his country would win the 2018 World Cup, said after the Russians were drawn in Group A along with co-hosts Poland, 2004 European champions Greece and the Czech Republic.
At Euro 2008, Hiddink-led Russia, regarded as rank outsiders, upset the favorites to reach the last four, their best showing at a major championship in 20 years.
“In 2008, not many people counted on our team, thus we were able to surprise a lot of the so-called experts,” said former international Yevgeny Lovchev, now a newspaper columnist for sports daily Soviet Sport.
“This time, it will be a much harder task, not only because other teams are not going to take Russia lightly, but also because Advocaat has relied basically on the very same players as his predecessor,” he added.
However, Arshavin has remained optimistic.
“I know a lot of fans back home have written us off. Let them say what they want. Personally, I like to prove people wrong,” the 31-year-old was quoted as saying by Russian media.
“I think a big plus for us is that we have a seasoned team and know what to expect in a tournament like Euro 2012, where the main task is always trying to advance past the first round,” he reportedly said. “Once you reach the quarter-finals, anything is possible — we did it four years ago.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but