retired_puly1364

Thanks poyplemonkeys

31st of August 2007

After having a long break, I had lived in Russia for 2/3 of those 3 months between the last match. I also found a nice girl who I'm really in love with. Life is going upwards and that break from club football is doing wonderful to my nerves and happiness. I had to work till late night in Cherbourg and NFA. Thinking about million thing what I can do better. No time to take care of myself.

My department in Moscow is now looking awesome. I'm still enjoying the view which I have from my bedroom window. I visited Estonia also, my born place, Hiiumaa, an island with around 10 000 people living there. I met my mother, father. Grandparents died few years before I went to Cork. I also had that awful urge to go to Ireland, talk with my friends and former players there. So I was there for a week. Met with all the former players and the management. They aren't doing great at the moment despite starting off good. Now they're around 6 points off the leader, but the league is tight. I hope they can make it. The biggest pleasure was to meet with John O'Flynn. He is still continueing the way I left him, despite he's new manager not trusting him. He is the best scorer and has scored more than 10 goals in the league I think.

Anyway, that day, I rejoined the players who are on that list (as you can see, I called up an new name, a sucky defender, just in case):

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Club | Height | Weight | Age | Value | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | GK | | Igor Akinfeev | GK | CSKA Moscow | 185 cm | 81 kg | 21 | £5.25M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S2 | | Vyacheslav Malafeev | GK | Zenith Peterburg | 185 cm | 83 kg | 28 | £1.7M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Veniamin Mandrykin | GK | Mainz | 188 cm | 84 kg | 26 | £1.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Dmitry Barabin | SW | Spartak Moscow | 181 cm | 79 kg | 21 | £16K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DC | | Sergey Ignashevich | SW, D RC | CSKA Moscow | 186 cm | 82 kg | 27 | £1.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DC | | Vasily Berezutskiy | D RC | CSKA Moscow | 189 cm | 83 kg | 25 | £1.7M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DR | | Vadim Yevseev | D RL | Lokomotiv Moscow | 180 cm | 80 kg | 31 | £825K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DL | | Alexey Berezutskiy | D LC | CSKA Moscow | 190 cm | 82 kg | 25 | £2M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Dmitry Sennikov | D LC | Lokomotiv Moscow | 183 cm | 76 kg | 31 | £825K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DMC | | Eugeny Aldonin | DM | Brescia | 179 cm | 73 kg | 27 | £2M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Alexeï Smertin | DM | Man Utd | 174 cm | 70 kg | 32 | £2.2M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S1 | | Vladimir Bystrov | AM R | Spartak Moscow | 173 cm | 69 kg | 23 | £2.3M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Rolan Gusev | AM R | CSKA Moscow | 180 cm | 75 kg | 29 | £1.7M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Dmitry Shoukov | AM RL | Perugia | 181 cm | 79 kg | 31 | £50K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | AMC | | Andrey Arshavin | AM RC, F C | Shakhtar | 172 cm | 68 kg | 26 | £4.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MR | | Anatoly Gerk | AM RC, F C | CSKA Moscow | 179 cm | 76 kg | 22 | £2.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | ML | | Yury Zhirkov | AM L | CSKA Moscow | 178 cm | 72 kg | 24 | £4M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Dinijar Bilyaletdinov | AM C | Lokomotiv Moscow | 179 cm | 73 kg | 22 | £2.4M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Vladislav Radimov | AM C | Zenith Peterburg | 182 cm | 80 kg | 31 | £1M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S6 | | Igor Semshov | AM C | Portsmouth | 170 cm | 67 kg | 29 | £1.6M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | AMC | | Yegor Titov | AM C | Spartak Moscow | 186 cm | 84 kg | 31 | £1.6M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S4 | | Dmitry Bulykin | ST | Dinamo Moscow | 190 cm | 85 kg | 27 | £1.2M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | FC | Wnt | Alexandr Kerzhakov | ST | Shakhtar | 175 cm | 70 kg | 24 | £4.3M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Vartan Mazalov | ST | Silkeborg | 176 cm | 77 kg | 23 | £120K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S5 | | Dmitry Sychev | ST | Lokomotiv Moscow | 175 cm | 71 kg | 23 | £2.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

1st of September 2007

I had an reason to order some champagne on a plane to Italy, as FYR Macedonia won 3:1 againist Turkey. Also Ireland drew with Italy and Luxembourg won againist Kazakhstan. What a good day!

4th of September 2007

Press Conference

Can Russia beat Italy?

Yes, we can, if it's our day. Italy is my favourite NT when not to count Estonia in, but that doesen't mean anything. We have showed good displays lately and we hope to continue it and atleast be a threat to them.

Turkey lost points again, that puts you on the pole position to become second team to go through to the European Championship. Are you pleased with that?

Ofcourse, me and NT would surely like to thank Macedonia for beating them. I hope we are certainly in superb chance to win the 2nd spot, since after the Italy game, we play with them, Luxembourg and another team which I somehow forgot. It was Kazakhstan maybe.

Who are biggest threat's from Italy?

Certainly one of the top-scorers of the qualifying rounds - Andrea Caracciolo, though, I heard because of a small injury - he will not start the tomorrow match. Their attacking line can cause us a lot of problems, but we have to work like an clockwork in every line if we want to beat them.

But who will you be hoping on tomorrow?

Me? I'm hoping that the team can put in a fantastic performance and make me proud. But mostly, we need midfield to be at their best because otherwise it's gonna be hard. Luckily, we've got Smertin back from ban to help us.

You've got some very serious injury problems. Especially on the left-side of the midfield. You've got no Izmailov, Zhirkov (who got injuried during a training) or other left-sided stars. Who you gonna play?

I will decide that tomorrow. It's an big hit for us to not have any first choices in that position, but we will try to overcome it and take a big step towards the European Championship.

5th of September 2007

The Delle Alpi stadium was full in Turin with 69 000 people mostly wearing blue shirts, though there were around 2000 people with white jersey of Russia. I & players had planned that this game will probably be losed so we could've still been in the race with a loss.

European Championship Qualifying, Game 9
Italy 2:0 Russia (25. Vincenzo Iaquinta, 81. Andrea Pirlo)

Russia Akinfeev; Yevseev, Ignashevich, V. Berezutskiy, A. Berezutskiy; Smertin; Gerk (65. Bystrov), Shoukov (65. Sennikov); Titov, Arshavin; Kerzhakov

We lost thanks to two free-kicks, though the game wasn't good. To the press I said: "This game will not effect the plans of Russia getting into EC. We are still in the race and still in the pole position, despite this game not being the best under me." That was true, because Turkey is actually been an joke recently. Another draw againist Ireland at home puts their hopes under serious doubt. Kazakhstan also made 0:0 with Macedonia.

The table before the last two games looks promising (Turkey plays with us away, then Italy at home):

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Italy | | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 4 | +22 | 28 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Turkey | | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 10 | +6 | 16 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Russia | | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 10 | +2 | 13 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | FYR Macedonia | | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 17 | -4 | 11 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Ireland | | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 13 | -1 | 10 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Luxembourg | | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 23 | -16 | 6 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Kazakhstan | | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 18 | -9 | 6 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_puly1364

27th of September 2007

"Hello, Tanel. It is Mutko here."
- "Hello, Mr. Mutko. Anything you need?"
"Yes, I'm very busy at the moment and have you decided the squad list for the Turkey and Kazakhstan games?"
- "Yes, I am. Would you want me to fax them to you?"
"Sure, that would be nice. I'd like to send the invitations soon because I have to go off for an conference."
- "Okay, it will take a couple of minutes. Goodbye."
"Goodbye. We will see you tomorrow!"

The squad list:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Club | Height | Weight | Age | Value | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | GK | | Igor Akinfeev | GK | CSKA Moscow | 185 cm | 81 kg | 21 | £6M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S2 | | Vyacheslav Malafeev | GK | Zenith Peterburg | 185 cm | 83 kg | 28 | £1.7M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Veniamin Mandrykin | GK | Mainz | 188 cm | 84 kg | 26 | £1.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DC | | Sergey Ignashevich | SW, D RC | CSKA Moscow | 186 cm | 82 kg | 27 | £1.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DC | Yel | Vasily Berezutskiy | D RC | CSKA Moscow | 189 cm | 83 kg | 25 | £1.7M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DR | Yel | Vadim Yevseev | D RL | Lokomotiv Moscow | 180 cm | 80 kg | 31 | £775K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DL | | Alexey Berezutskiy | D LC | CSKA Moscow | 190 cm | 82 kg | 25 | £2M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Anton Glebov | D LC | Saturn | 176 cm | 73 kg | 19 | £30K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S3 | | Dmitry Sennikov | D LC | Lokomotiv Moscow | 183 cm | 76 kg | 31 | £750K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Evgeny Krstev | D C | Deportivo | 180 cm | 78 kg | 21 | £600K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Gennady Nizhegorodov | D C | Dinamo Moscow | 181 cm | 77 kg | 30 | £450K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S7 | | Eugeny Aldonin | DM | Brescia | 179 cm | 73 kg | 27 | £2.1M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DMC | | Alexeï Smertin | DM | Man Utd | 174 cm | 70 kg | 32 | £2M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S1 | | Vladimir Bystrov | AM R | Spartak Moscow | 173 cm | 69 kg | 23 | £2.3M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Rolan Gusev | AM R | CSKA Moscow | 180 cm | 75 kg | 30 | £1.7M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | AMC | | Andrey Arshavin | AM RC, F C | Shakhtar | 172 cm | 68 kg | 26 | £4.4M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MR | | Anatoly Gerk | AM RC, F C | CSKA Moscow | 179 cm | 76 kg | 22 | £2.9M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Andrey Karyaka | AM LC | Benfica | 180 cm | 74 kg | 29 | £1.3M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Yury Zhirkov | AM L | CSKA Moscow | 178 cm | 72 kg | 24 | £3.9M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Dinijar Bilyaletdinov | AM C | Lokomotiv Moscow | 179 cm | 73 kg | 22 | £2.4M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Ret | Dmitry Los'kov | AM C | Lokomotiv Moscow | 175 cm | 74 kg | 33 | £300K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S6 | | Igor Semshov | AM C | Portsmouth | 170 cm | 67 kg | 29 | £1.7M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S4 | | Dmitry Bulykin | ST | Dinamo Moscow | 190 cm | 85 kg | 27 | £1.2M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | FC | Wnt | Alexandr Kerzhakov | ST | Shakhtar | 175 cm | 70 kg | 24 | £4.2M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Sergey Pravosud | ST | CSKA Moscow | 185 cm | 82 kg | 21 | £1.1M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S5 | | Dmitry Sychev | ST | Lokomotiv Moscow | 175 cm | 71 kg | 23 | £2.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>

5th of October 2007

Press Conference

Hello Mr. Tursk, this is a game of the year for Russia. Meeting with Turkey should decide weather you will surely get to Austria and Switzerland or it will be an 50/50 situation. Do you agree?

Yes, I totally agree. We need to win this one and when we win - we are through. With a loss - we have no chance to qualify I think. With a draw - we will remain in pole. It is a though game, we have to work our socks off.

Can you confirm the rumours that you and tennis-star Maria Sharapova will soon by an house in South-Russia and move in under the same roof?

This is my private life and I would not like to discuss about it. Atleast on a press conference which we have to talk about Turkey and Russia.

There have been some theories in media about you leaving Yegor Titov out of the squad. What is the problem with him?

Yegor called me and he is sorry, but he is very tired. He isn't the youngest of the players. We can cover him up. He also promised, when someone gets injuried - he is willing to join us.

So who's gonna take his place tomorrow?

I'm considering between Andrey Karyaka and Dinijar Bilyaletdinov. I will decide it after the last training today, but the players will know about it tomorrow. Just to hold out any sleeping problems before tomorrows match.

When Russia reaches EC. Will you still remain in charge of the Russian NT after the next summer?

Would people want it?

Yes, majority of NT fans want that.

Then that's nice. I will see how we do in the EC when we get there. When we do good, I will not put down the job. I want to reach the WC to. It is great feeling that people trust me.

Despite you denying it. People still think that you will sign as a manager of CSKA soon. Can you comment it again?

I will not sign for CSKA. I sure have talked with the president there, but I'm on a rest of club football until the summer of 2008. And also, it is kind a cold in Moscow in winter and not very warm in summer also. I'd like to coach a club in France or in Holland.

6th of October 2007

It was the deciding match. A match for life and death. I was an sure favourite, but Turkey have an awesome bunch of talented players. (Emre, Sanli Tuncay, Nihat)

European Championship Qualifying, Game 10
Russia 2:1 Turkey (33., 75. Alexandr Kerzhakov - 85. Nihat)
Sent Off: 45. Cetin Servet (Turkey)

Russia Akinfeev; Yevseev, Ignashevich, V. Berezutskiy, A. Berezutskiy; Smertin; Gerk (66. Bystrov), Zhirkov; Karyaka, Arshavin (66. Bulykin); Kerzhakov

Awesome win. 12 degrees was an nice football playing temperature in Lokomotiv stadium in Moscow. The match was whistled good by Herbert Fandel, though only problem for us was that Sychev got injuried and V. Berezutskiy and Yevseev reached yellow card limit. I had to make a phone-call to Titov. But we can't overlook Alexandr Kerzhakov, again. He is just awesome.

Other results were:
Macedonia 3:2 Luxembourg
Ireland 2:0 Kazakhstan

9th of October 2007

Press Conference

Russia is almost there. Win againist Kazakhstan would make sure your ticket to the EC. There should not be no problems after that match.

No, there should not be any problems. Matches againist Kazakhstan and Luxembourg should be easy. Though, I don't want to underestimate both of them. They both can give a suprise and we must be aware of it, but with current form - we can do it. We are 90% in EC.

You recalled Yegor Titov. Will he play or will you use Karyaka?

Karyaka did good againist Turkey and you don't change the winning squad. Titov is tired too. He is just here for a moral support more, but I may take him off the bench. We will see tomorrow.

In match againist Turkey, you still had few problems. Have you dealed with them?

Yes, we practiced a lot of defening. We moved a bit clumsy over the time. It needed to be fixed and it shouldn't be an problem anymore. Also I had some work with the strikers and wingers. They weren't at their best.

It is rumored that Russia have done no basic home-work about Kazakhstan. Are you so sure of the win?

That is rumoured wrong. I did some home-work. I did not look at certain players. Just looked how their lines work and how to isolate them. I'd rather spend the time with the team or relaxing in a hotel.

How is your report with Russian players after more than half year. The dressing room atmosphere is said to be perfect.

Yes, I'm getting on well with the players. I have had no notable conflicts with none of the players. They are very happy to play under me and I'm happy to coach them. Also my attacking style of play adds some more fun to the game.

10th of October 2007

So we met Kazakhstan in "Central" stadium in Almaty. The match was refereed by Andy D'Urso and it was okay weather there too. An nice atmosphere with more than 20 000 people coming to see us. (Or Kazakhstan)

European Championship Qualifying, Game 11
Kazakhstan 0:3 Russia (23., 54. Alexandr Kerzhakov, 88. Yegor Titov)

Russia Akinfeev; Ignashevich, Sennikov, Krstev, A. Berezutskiy; Smertin; Gerk (63. Bystrov), Zhirkov; Karyaka (63. Titov), Arshavin; Kerzhakov

Kerzhakov again on target and legendary Titov celebrated his one of the last games for Russia with a goal too. He will retire after the year finishes. What a present him by getting our ticket to the EC. Great player! Turkey draw 2:2 with Italy and Luxembourg had 1:1 againist Ireland. Party was up there. Players and I were the heroes. Espescially everyone praised me and Kerzhakov who did a splendid job scoring goals under me!

retired_puly1364

*Author's note. I had almost finished the review when my computer needed a restart. So I'm bit to tired to re-write everything again so I skip the interview. Nothing special there anyway.

4th of November 2007

So to finish the year relaxingly. I asked those guys to join me in the Russian camp. (Arshavin and Zhirkov are injuried/banned with cards)

10th of November 2007

Before the match, people paid tribute to the long-serving NT player - to legendary Yegor Titov. Attackin midfielder, 36, playe his last ever professional game and he started on Arshavin place. The weather wasn't create though. Cold air, just 6 degrees. That's why I'm soon off to Estonia.

European Championship Qualifying, Game 12
Russia 2:2 Luxembourg (23. Andrey Karyaka, 74. Alexei Smertin - 60. Robert Kingston, 77. Steve Bernard)

Russia Akinfeev; Yevseev, Ignashevich, V. Berezutskiy, A. Berezutskiy; Smertin; Bystrov (53. Gerk), Izmailov; Karyaka, Titov; Kerzhakov

Would have wanted to win this match for Titov, but okay. Let Luxembourg feel joy of their undeserved draw. We made 2 mistakes in defence and they used those. No wonder they suprise big teams! Smertin's goal was one of the best, if not the best, I've seen in my life. What a wonderful shot. Nice curl in it. The goalkeeper was left just looking at it. The players also. From the top left-hand corner. Anyway, Italy won 4:0 againist Kazakhstan and Ireland 1:0 againist Macedonia.

The final table:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Italy | | 12 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 32 | 6 | +26 | 32 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Russia | | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 19 | 13 | +6 | 20 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Turkey | | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 19 | 14 | +5 | 17 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Ireland | | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 14 | +2 | 17 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | FYR Macedonia | | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 16 | 20 | -4 | 14 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Luxembourg | | 12 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 29 | -17 | 8 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Kazakhstan | | 12 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 27 | -18 | 6 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

Who are our possible opponents in the summer:

Austria
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
Finland
France
Germany
Holland
Iceland
Italy
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Sweden

Can't wait for the draw in december.

zipman

Impressive job!!!

retired_puly1364

18th of November 2007

Sad news from Ireland. Cork has finished at 7th place in Ireland. My great friend John O'Flynn scored 20 goals. 12 in league. He was thrown out of the squad though.

11th of December 2007

I wasn't lucky enough to be at the draw myself, but here are the groups of European Championship. An average one for me. Though Denmark and Czech are on the level or stronger than us.

GROUP A

France
Germany
Norway
Spain

GROUP B

England
Holland
Iceland
Sweden

GROUP C

Finland
Italy
Portugal
Switzerland

GROUP D

Austria
Czech Republic
Denmark
Russia

retired_puly1364

13th of December 2007

For the past days, I worked on an very precise preparation for the WC if I could call it so. After hours of thinking - I cancelled all of our friendlies and instead - I collected the players and practice schemes and stuff by playing againist eachother behind closed door. Our form was meant to be an big secret.

Offical Press Relase:

24th of March 2008

I moved together with tennis-star Maria Sharapova. We bought an big house in south Russia. We have been meeting for 8 months now and plan to marry in the summer. She will play less tennis, but will not totally stop. She definately will play in big tournaments. We're very happy at the moment. She and I met in an party which was held in Moscow. It's the first time she will live in Russia.

15th of May 2008

After looking at several bookie odds. Russia has given a very little chance to win the EC. One of the worst teams here. I didn't give media no comment as we will only talk to press just before the EC due to our important preperation.

27th of May 2007

Those are 23 guys who got the letter to join with me in Moscow on the first to have an press conference and then go off to Switzerland next day.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Club | Height | Weight | Age | Value | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Igor Akinfeev | GK | CSKA Moscow | 185 cm | 81 kg | 22 | £5.75M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Vyacheslav Malafeev | GK | Zenith Peterburg | 185 cm | 83 kg | 29 | £1.7M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Veniamin Mandrykin | GK | Mainz | 188 cm | 84 kg | 26 | £1.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Sergey Ignashevich | SW, D RC | Newcastle | 186 cm | 82 kg | 28 | £2.3M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Vasily Berezutskiy | D RC | CSKA Moscow | 189 cm | 83 kg | 25 | £1.9M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Vadim Yevseev | D RL | Lokomotiv Moscow | 180 cm | 80 kg | 32 | £250K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Alexey Berezutskiy | D LC | CSKA Moscow | 190 cm | 82 kg | 25 | £2M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Dmitry Sennikov | D LC | Lokomotiv Moscow | 183 cm | 76 kg | 31 | £775K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Evgeny Krstev | D C | Deportivo | 180 cm | 78 kg | 21 | £450K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Gennady Nizhegorodov | D C | Dinamo Moscow | 181 cm | 77 kg | 30 | £350K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Eugeny Aldonin | DM | Brescia | 179 cm | 73 kg | 28 | £2M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Alexeï Smertin | DM | Man Utd | 174 cm | 70 kg | 33 | £1.3M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Vladimir Bystrov | AM R | Spartak Moscow | 173 cm | 69 kg | 24 | £2.3M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Rolan Gusev | AM R | CSKA Moscow | 180 cm | 75 kg | 30 | £1.7M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Andrey Arshavin | AM RC, F C | Shakhtar | 172 cm | 68 kg | 27 | £4.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Anatoly Gerk | AM RC, F C | CSKA Moscow | 179 cm | 76 kg | 23 | £3M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Marat Izmailov | AM LC | Lokomotiv Moscow | 169 cm | 68 kg | 25 | £875K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Ret | Andrey Karyaka | AM LC | Benfica | 180 cm | 74 kg | 30 | £1.2M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Yury Zhirkov | AM L | CSKA Moscow | 178 cm | 72 kg | 24 | £4M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Dinijar Bilyaletdinov | AM C | Lokomotiv Moscow | 179 cm | 73 kg | 23 | £2.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Alexandr Kerzhakov | ST | Shakhtar | 175 cm | 70 kg | 25 | £4.3M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Sergey Pravosud | ST | CSKA Moscow | 185 cm | 82 kg | 22 | £1M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Dmitry Sychev | ST | Lokomotiv Moscow | 175 cm | 71 kg | 24 | £2.7M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

1st of June 2008

Pre-European Championship Press Conference

There have been a lot of talk about the preperation of Russia. What is it supposed to achieve?

It is totally new method and I hope this to uphold Russia's honour with getting through the first round and maybe even further. From what I've seen in the training - the players are great as usual.

It seems that you are missing few players due to the 23-player selection limit. Why did you choose those guys who will travel to Switzerland tomorrow?

It was no easy decision. I had to leave out quite a lot important members of the team, but they will understand it and I'm sure they will support us watching TV at home. But the good thing is that I've got no serious injuried players to deal with.

Titov has now retired. Who will fill in "the 3rd striker" position?

I've got an lot of qualities there, but i'm making my decision between two different players I think. Dimitry Sychev, one of them, is the one who I need to score goals as he has been great for Lokomotiv this season & the other choice Andrey Karyaka will also be choosen once I need some more technical and passing play. It will be his last big tournament as he will retire this summer.

But there is one hit for the squad. You have to do without Sergey Ignashevich in first two games.

He can play in the second match when really needed. In the first game - I will start Sennikov in the centre-back position. I hope Ignashevich will be back for the second game though. He has been extra-ordinary lately and have also earned himself a move to Newcastle United. He's Russians defence soul and I hope we can do without him againist Austria.

Your preperation have been very detailed. Have you also made some research about the other teams?

I've done my homework and they are all very good teams with loads of quality players. I can't give my information away though.

You will play the first two games before the other game in your group. That gives opponents and advantage. Are you worried about it?

No. When we win, they can't have advantage.

Have you ever been to Switzerland and Austria?

No. I've flown over them and drove through them, but never really stopped there for longer time, but I don't have time to admire the Alps there. I've got a job to do. I may go there once I promise myself an vacation, but in winter, because I would love to go skiing there.

Where do you want to reach in the championship?

We want to go as far as possible. Like every other teams. We have set an sights of atleast getting into quarterfinals. I now hang the questions over to Mr. Mutko here. Thank you!

2nd of June 2008

So we rushed off from Russia with 2 planes. The coaching staff, players and wives and childrens. All were there. We had an whole hotels bronned by FA.

retired_puly1364

8th of June 2008

So we played our first match. The trainings had gone well in the highes of Switzerland and for our first game & second game, we had set ourselves in at Bern. We went to the game by bus. The stadium named "Wankdorg" was totally ful with nearly 40 000 people coming to see us and Denmark. It was 22 degrees out there. What a great day! Though, what's funny is that Austria won't play at home, but in Switzerland. There were a lot of red-white flags and fans around there though.

European Championship Group D, Game 1
Russia 1:1 Austria (25. Alexandr Krezhakov - 30. Reinhard Bürger)

Russia Akinfeev; Yevseev, Sennikov, V. Berezutskiy, A. Berezutskiy; Smertin; Gerk, Zhirkov; Arshavin, Sychev (63. Karyaka); Kerzhakov

I was so angry after the match. A mistake from a guy who I least excepted it from cost us an valuable point. Akinfeev was totally in wrong place, without no reason and Bürger's long range shot went into a goal without Akinfeev even nearly touching it. But ofcourse we should have won this match even with goal let in. Bad display in front of the goal.

13th of June 2008

Our second match was againist strong Czech team, who's key players have slowly started to retire and new one's are not that good anymore. But the likes of Cech and Rosicky were still in and their hopes very high for the tournament. We played at full Wankendor stadium again with hot 27 degrees out there.

European Championship Group D, Game 2
Czech Republic 1:1 Russia (84. Alexandr Kerzhakov)
*Authors note: I forgot to mark down Czech goalscorer.

Russia Akinfeev; Yevseev, Ignashevich, V. Berezutskiy, A. Berezutskiy; Smertin; Gerk (56. Bystrov), Zhirkov; Arshavin (67. Izmailov), Karyaka (56. Sychev); Kerzhakov

Kerzhakov again on scoresheet. An nice draw and we showed some great playing over the time and even should've used more chances. Similiar case to Austria game. Denmark got their ticket to the next round by beating Austria 1:0. Talking about our game - it was mad house. So hot, I drank around 2 bottles of water since I had an busy day on the sidelines. We have to win the last game and we're through. Though, againist Denmark it will be tough.

retired_puly1364

Damn, I managed to miswrite "WANKDORF STADIUM" two times.

retired_puly1364

18th of June 2008

So it was make or break today for us. Win = through, loss = packing bags. A similiar situation to the qualification. The displays had been worth being here and we proved the critics wrong already, but now we had to make that important result againist Denmark in Linz. Stadion an der Gugl, as I managed to write to my note-book was full with 21 000 people watching two teams playing wonderful football in an nice 19 degrees weather. Okay for both sides. I made no suprise moves in the squad. Though some subs of the Czech game got in.

European Championship Group D, Game 3
Denmark 0:2 Russia (46. Daniel Jensen - 3. Vladimir Bystrov, 45. Yury Zhirkov)

Russia Akinfeev; Yevseev, Ignashevich, V. Berezutskiy, A. Berezutskiy; Smertin; Bystrov, Zhirkov; Arshavin, Sychev (62. Karyaka); Kerzhakov (62. Pravosud)

I won the game with a tactical move which closed down our defence after the Jensen goal. Akinfeev saved us million of times before, but since I made few changes, the defence started to move more better on the pitch and we could raise some tempo again, though it is hard during the game. Anyway, we're through! Czech had a 1:1 with Austria. Denmark won the group with 6, we without losing a game were second with 5. Our next round opponent, no else than the big favourite of the tournament, a team that didn't leave us a chance to win againist them in qualifyiers. Yes, Italy! Damn luck I said. Why didn't we win againist Austria I asked from myself!? It would have given us an equal opponent to us.

The final standings in the groups:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | France | | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 9 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Norway | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 4 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Germany | | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 2 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Spain | | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 1 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | England | | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 9 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Sweden | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 4 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Iceland | | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 2 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Holland | | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | -6 | 1 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Italy | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Finland | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Portugal | | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 3 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Switzerland | | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 2 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Denmark | | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 6 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Russia | | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 5 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Czech Republic | | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 2 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Austria | | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 2 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>

21st of June 2008

Our EC campaign was set to end on that day as we met the probable winner - Italy in Austria. Ernst-Happel-Stadion was selled out with 61976 people watching the game. 22 degrees out there and hot temper players - it was set to be an hard match for referee Mark Clattenburg. I told the players before the match: "You've got nothing to lose and you know it. Just give your best and enjoy playing."

European Championship, Quarterfinal
Italy 1:0 Russia (36. Vincenzo Iaquinta)

Russia Akinfeev; Yevseev, Ignashevich, V. Berezutskiy, A. Berezutskiy; Smertin; Bystrov (49. Gerk) , Zhirkov; Arshavin, Sychev (49. Karyaka); Kerzhakov

I hate to play againist Italy. Iaquinta again bet us. We had our chances, but I'm so angry that Kerzhakov just had to have his off-day. It costed us a lot - we would've got an extra-time with one goal we should have scored. Team created around 5 or more chances. That should be enough to score. Anyway, we did not get foward, but the tournament should be considered as an success. Can't wait for the World Cup!

retired_puly1364

22nd of June 2008