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Russia’s qualification for the Euro 2008 finals (at England’s and Israel’s expense) may have been a last gasp affair but it again emphasised the fact that the former Czarist-ruled enclave is still ‘Big Brother’,even in footballing matters, among the Commonwealth of Independent States constituents. None of the other former territories of the erstwhile USSR managed to make the grade.
But it comes as no big surprise as to why the other CIS states fell by the wayside. Even in the Soviet era, the other republics were not highly rated and only a few of their players made the Soviet team, the bulk of which was composed of Russians and Ukrainians. The Soviets in fact reached the final of Euro 1988 where they lost to an in-form Holland.
From time to time, stars did sprout up in each of the 15 Republics, but barely a handful made the big time. The same situation exists even today: the only big names in international football from the other CIS states are the Ukrainian duo of Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea) and Andriy Voronin (Liverpool), Georgia’s Kakha Kaladze (AC Milan) and Belarusian Aliaksandr Hleb (Arsenal). That’s about it.
Only the most diehard football fans can name the squads of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan or Moldova. The reason is obvious – they are like Cinderellas at the European championship ball. Kazakhastan, Armenia and Azerbaijan finished in the last three slots in Group A in the order mentioned. Georgia finished second last in Group B. It’s been like that all these years except in the case of Kazakhstan which joined UEFA in 2007 only.
The Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – are almost sailing in the same boat. Latvia actually managed to qualify for Euro 2004 but finished last in their preliminary Group D behind the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Germany.
Ukraine was expected to qualify for Euro 2008 based on its 2006 successes. But they finished a dismal fourth in Group B behind Italy, France and Scotland. Some experts put it down to the unsure play of team leader Shevchenko. Others due to the enerational change in the squad, despite the fact that almost the same team played in the World Cup in Germany.The fact is they just overrated their own abilities and the coach lost the plot.
Belarus managed to stir some hopes in the qualifiers, but again failed to deliver. Perhaps, these hopes rested on Hleb, given his form for the gunners. But one player cannot drag an entire team into the Euro finals.
As for the rest, their football is unpredictable and their ability to pull off a surprise is minimal. Russia, which enjoyed a modest FIFA ranking of 23 at the year end, had a roller coaster ride into the Euro 2008 finals, drawing goalless twice with Croatia and being humbled away by England and Israel. Russia lost so many points en route that hardly anybody even dared talk about its chances to qualify. But fortunately, England tripped at the final hurdle and threw away their ticket to the Alps.
All of Russia’s 12 matches were so tense that the fans couldn’t take their hands off their hearts after the traditional singing of the national anthem at the start of each match. Russia’s best outing was at home against Macedonia (3-0) despite goalkeeper Vladimir Gabulov being sent off and Macedonia earning a penalty kick.
So what was Guus Hiddink’s contribution to Russia’s qualification? For starters, it must be pointed out that the
squads of autumn 2006 and autumn 2007 were quite different.Many notables like playmakers Yegor Titov and Dmitry Loskov, attacking midfielder Alexey Smertin (Fulham) and defensive midfielder Evgeni Aldonin have left since. The last named was incidentally captain when Hiddink joined.
The Dutchman experienced huge problems in his choice of players given the huge pool available and he ventilated his frustrations in an interview in the Russian media. Hiddink however underlined that he does not prefer to use the same line-up every time. Perhaps, he didn’t have the right players or his key players were off colour.
For example, Hiddink couldn’t decide on his regular centre forward as it was impossible to guess in advance whether Aleksandr Kerzhakov (Sevilla), Roman Pavlyuchenko, Pavel Pogrebnyak, Dmitri Sychev or Ivan Saenko (Nurnberg) would fire real bullets or blanks. And that was not the only problem. The defence too lacked co-ordination and toughness.
However, Hiddink put his faith in youth and inducted several players who hadn’t played for the national team before he came along. The average age of the team is 25 and there is nobody older than 29. While most of them are playing for Russian Premier League clubs from Moscow – Spartak, Lokomotiv, CSKA and Dynamo -- there are also representatives from Zenit (St. Petersburg), the current national champions, and players from abroad, including Udinese midfielder Viktor Budyansky.
Though the celebrated Kerzhakov has managed to score
six times in the qualifiers and 13 times overall for Russia, the
pivotal player is captain Andrey Arshavin, who can function as
winger, playmaker or striker. The Zenit pro has superb pace,
dribbling qualities, vision, technique and passing and is now
being eagerly pursued by Newcastle United.
Arshavin however was sent off in Russia’s 1-0 away win in
Andorra five minutes before full time for kicking an opponent
from behind and will miss the first two matches of Euro 2008
– vs Spain (June 10) and Greece (June 14). A disappointed
Hiddink may still take him along to the finals though.
Incidentally, Arshavin knows how it feels to be left home at
the last moment: in 2002, Oleg Romantsev didn’t take him
to the Japan and South Korea World Cup, and in 2004 Georgi
Yartsev ignored him for the Euro championship in Portugal.
Thanks to Hiddink, who has managed to harness the
merits of his wards to advantage (while being unable
to tone up their weak areas), some new stars have
emerged – goalkeeper Gabulov, midfielder Dmitry
Torbinsky, defender Roman Shishkin and striker
Pogrebnyak. All are 22-24 years old and play for
Russian clubs.
Pogrebnyak is the darling of the media but Hiddink
marks out Torbinsky. The 23-year-old player was born in
Norilsk, a city situated in Siberia above the Arctic Circle.
A piano prodigy, Pogrebnyak could only play futsal in his
childhood because he lived in a permafrost zone. The 12-
year-old Torbinsky however managed to enter Spartak’s
Football Academy in Moscow and was encouraged by
Oleg Romantsev, who managed Spartak those days. But
injury marred his path to success. Only last season his
luck changed. He started making the first XI for his club
and was called to the national team.
Will these young guns measure up to the stature of
past Soviet stalwarts like Lev Yashin, Oleg Blokhin,
Igor Belanov, Rinat Dasayev, Fydor Cherenkov, Oleg
Protasov and Alexei Mikhailichenko among others?
Time will tell.
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