League of the Week: Russia / Premjer Liga

Welcomski once again to League of the Week, and before we start, no - this probably won't be the last comrade-like gag in this article because yes - this week we're turning our attention towards Russia.

First of all, a note to the more observant amongst you. It was suggested last week that we feature the American MLS as our next LoTW, but that will now be next week instead. (Apologies if you'd been gearing up all week for that.)

So, what's to know about Russian football and more specifically the Russian Premier League? Well first of all, you have to understand that in both cases, it's dominated by the Moscow-based clubs - Dynamo, Spartak, Lokomotiv, CSKA and FC Moscow. Between them (well, three of them), they've carved up the Role of Honour and taken 14 of the previous 15 titles. Spartak have been the most successful, winning nine times in the ten seasons between 1992 and 2001, while Lokomotiv won in 2002 and 2004 and CSKA won in 2003, 2005 and 2006.

Adding a touch of variation and interest to the proceedings, are Zenit Saint Petersburg, the team from the north-west of Russia who raised a few eyebrows by taking last season's Premier League title. A jolly close run thing it was too as they finished only two points ahead of Spartak, but it was good enough to earn them an automatic place in the Champions League this season where they were generously drawn in the same group as Juventus and Real Madrid. Lovely.

Back at home, Zenit, now led by Dick Advocaat, have struggled to maintain their amazing form of last season and are currently 8th in the sixteen-team league with only nine games left to play. Realistically, the best they can hope for is a UEFA Cup place for 2009/10 and their run-in begins tomorrow with an away tie against the team directly above them in the table, Lokomotiv Moscow.

Currently sitting on top of the pile are another surprise package a-la Zenit - Rubin Kazan. The team located south-east of Moscow have a very healthy nine-point lead ahead of nearest challengers, Dynamo, and have only lost two games out of 22 thus far. Ably assisted by the curious pairing of Sergei Rebrov and Savo Milosevic, they won seven straight games at the start of the season (thereby setting a new league record) and despite losing the plot temporarily, they're back, back, back in fine form once again. This weekend, they're up against FC Moscow, so we think that'll be another three points to add to their total.

As we said, Dynamo are desperately trying to close that rather noticeable gap between them and Rubin, and you can't say they haven't been trying. They're currently on an unbeaten run in the league that stretches back to July 20th (their season runs from March to November, by the way). This Saturday they're off to sixth-placed Krylya Sovetov where they may have to settle for a draw, we feel.

The Russians are particularly fond of an unknown quantity, and the team currently third in the RPL are another. Amkar Perm (insert a hairdressing joke of your own choice here) are situated east of Moscow and have battled their way to within a single point of Dynamo just above them.

And here's something for all you trivia fans out there: geographically-speaking, Amkar are the most Easterly-located team playing top flight football anywhere in Europe. You're impressed, we can tell...

This Saturday, Amkar are off to Saturn - Saturn Ramenskoe, that is. Occasionally known as 'FC Saturn Moscow Oblast' to their friends, their enemies call them by their full name - 'State-Owned Enterprise of the Moscow Region, Football Club Saturn Moscow Region.' Probably best to refer to them by their nickname: 'The Aliens'…

And what of the Moscow giants currently occupying fourth and fifth places in the table - CSKA and Spartak? Well, they finished third and second respectively last season and secured a passage through to this season's UEFA Cup (albeit as a second-best option, as far as Spartak were concerned).

Michael Laudrup's team were pitted up against Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round but were beaten 4-1 at home and away, so they join CSKA in the competition they'll all be calling the Europa League one day. (Not until then, mind you.)

As for CSKA, they’re the Army club that actually won the UEFA Cup back in 2005 and with the likes of current top goalscorer Vagner Love and Russian international defender Yuri Zhirakov in their side, they may well do so again. They've already beaten Croatian side Slaven Belupo 2-1in the First Round first leg earlier this month and should make it through to the group stage when they meet again on October 2nd.

Elsewhere, Spartak aim to build on their 1-0 first leg victory over Banik Ostrava while FC Moscow (fourth last year) will have to come from 2-1 down against Copenhagen if they're to progress with them.

FC Moscow are one of a number of middling clubs that may have to settle for just staying in the top flight this season. Among them are Terek Grozny, runners-up from the Russian First Division last year, currently twelfth in the table and doing somewhat better than the team that came up with them, First Division champions Shinnik Yaroslavl. Shinnik are two points adrift at the bottom of the current RPL table and occupy one of the two relegation places along with FC Khimki in 15th. This Sunday sees Terek playing Khimki while Shinnik play host to Spartak.

And that pretty much covers everything you need to know about the Premier League. We're heading Stateside next week to check out what's happening as the MLS season comes to an end, but for now don't forget that if you have any suggestions for a future League of the Week, leave us a comment or get in touch at our usual email address: info [at] spaotp [dot] com. Until next time, "do svidaniya"...

Russian star looking to complete 'dream' move this Summer

Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin has claimed that a move to Spanish giants Barcelona would be the culmination of everything he has worked for in his career.

After being suspended for Russia's opening two games of Euro 2008, Arshavin has set their campaign alight with a string of impressive performances for one of the tournaments dark-horses which has led Guus Hiddink's side to within one victory of a showdown with either Germany or Turkey in the final.

Arshavin was instrumental in the sides extra-time demolition of Holland in the quarter-finals. During normal time the Zenit St Petersburg playmaker showed brilliance on the ball, dancing round tackle after tackle and sending in delightful crosses for his team-mates which only failed to give Russia the lead due to squandered chances and World class stops from Edwin Van Der Sar in the Dutch goal.

It was in injury time where he really made his mark though. After Ruud Van Nistelrooy had cancelled out Roman Pavlyuchenko's earlier strike taking the game into a further added 30 minutes many must have thought that this would be the time where the Dutch - apparently a fresh vibrant side under Marco Van Basten - would put their foot on the gas and take the game to their Eastern-European counterparts.

This was not to be however as that man Arshavin time and time again dazzled and dashed his way towards the Dutch box, teasing Andre Ooijer who was struggling to cope with the sheer quality which his opponent was delivering throughout.

The breakthrough came after another battle was lost by Ooijer and Arshavin crossed a delicious ball to the back post which deceived Van Der Sar and Dmitri Torbinski poked in from close range.

Arshavin wasn't ready to give up just there and four minutes from time he sealed the game for his side, latching on to a throw-in before firing low past Van Der Sar, sparking wild celebrations on the Russian bench and stands.

After capitulating to Spain - their semi-final opponents - without Arshavin leading their attack, the betting on Russia to go all the way will surely intensify due to his return.

The 27-year-old has already been generating interest from the top European leagues with Chelsea, Arsenal and Barcelona showing signs that an offer could well be winging it's way to Petersburg in the coming months and current manager Dick Advocaat is not surprised one jot.
Advocaat told a press conference,

"He's just turned 27, he's very quick, he has an excellent shot on both legs and besides scoring he can also provide for other players."

The player himself has pointed to just one side which he has his heart set on though. He said,
"Barcelona are my dream. I have supported Barcelona all my life, let's see how the situation unfolds. For now I can't say anything for sure."

Right now though it's all about the Euro's for many players but after the tournament Arshavin and many of the other top talents across the globe will be the focus of football betting over this Summer.

Euro 2008: Guide to Group D

Group D
The Group of Life, if you will. Some say this is the easiest group to qualify from out of all those featuring in Euro 2008, but if you ask any of the team coaches involved, they'll all tell you there are no easy groups in this competition. We'll leave it up to you to decide...

Greece

Qualifying
Very comfortable thanks. Highlights include a 4-0 trouncing of Bosnia plus a 1-0 away win at political rivals Turkey which may have made up for the 4-0 mullering they received at the Turks hands earlier in the campaign but probably didn't. Still, they scored more points during qualifying than anyone else and they are the Champions, so ner.

Current form
Not that of a team you'd call 'Reigning European Champions'. A recent 0-0 draw with Armenia preceded by a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Hungary will give the coach something to be decidedly concerned about. Then again, they did beat Portugal and Finland earlier in the year, so let's not label them as abject failures just yet.

Reasons to be cheerful
It's basically the same team that won four years ago. The Greeks are comfortable with each other and with the wily Otto Rehagel working his magic they may be dark horses for the group - maybe even the tournament.

Reasons to be grumpy
It's basically the same team that won four years ago. Antonis Nicopolidis (left) gets greyer by the day and not in the George Clooney way. Hero of Lisbon Angelos Charisteas plays for a team that were relegated last season and midfielder Giorgos Karagounis reckons their main weakness is that they don't create enough goalscoring chances. Veteran manager Otto Rehagel may have run out of ideas.

Recent friendlies
May 19: Greece 2 Cyprus 0
May 24: Hungary 3 Greece 2
June 1: Armenia 0 Greece 0

SPAOTP's Top Tip For Greatness
Fanis Gekas is a goal machine in the Bundesliga (he was top scorer last season with 20 to his name) and will be mad keen to hurl himself in the general direction of the ball every time it gets near the six yard box. He may even get a haircut.

Russia

Qualifying
Guus Hiddink's men sneaked into the second qualifying spot of Group E by grabbing the single point they needed to force out England and Israel. Drawing 0-0 in both matches against group winners Croatia, Russia's main problem was scoring goals. They netted fewer than the other teams in the top four - just 18 - so it was just as well their defence only conceded seven at the same time.

Current Form
In a word, very good. Though they slipped up away to Romania at the end of March, losing 3-0 in Bucharest, they've since put together a run of three successive wins against Kazakhstan, Serbia and Lithuania. OK, not the most prolific of opponents, but it's better than nothing.

A man of some experience (Part 2)
Just like our old friend Leo Beenhakker of Poland, Russia's Guus Hiddink (right) is a man who's travelled the world seeking new challenges in football management wherever he can find one. So what's the full itinerary for this vastly experienced coach? Let's see...

1982-1984 De Graafschap; 1984-1990 PSV Eindhoven (originally as assistant coach); 1990-1991 Fenerbahçe; 1991-1994 Valencia; 1994-1998 Netherlands; 1998-1999 Real Madrid; 1999-2000 Real Betis; 2000-2002 South Korea; 2002-2006 PSV Eindhoven; 2005-2006 Australia; 2006- Russia.

Recent friendlies
May 23: Russia 6 Kazakhstan 0
May 28: Russia 2 Serbia 1
June 4: Lithuania 1 Russia 4

High expectation
As many people will no longer be aware, Russia have failed to progress beyond the group stage of any major competition since the break up of the former Soviet Union. So what makes them think it can be done this time? Well for a start there's coach Guus Hiddink, a man who's already helped Australia and South Korea get to the knockout stages of the World Cup in 2002 and 2006 respectively.

Then there's the confidence-building win over England during the qualifiers, the fact that the players know each other so well from playing at the many clubs based in Moscow, plus the ability to use pace to great effect to get one over their opponents during a match. Plenty to be going on with there, then...

SPAOTP's Top Tip For Greatness
Dmitri Sychev. The Lokomotiv Moscow striker is known at home as the 'Russian Michael Owen' and not, presumably, because he's injured for 11 months of the year.

His nickname actually derives from the fact that he's quick, has a clinical finish and is very agile, and these qualities have seen him maintain a commendable strike rate wherever he plays. With the national side, he's scored 15 times in 44 appearances and with his current club he's netted 39 in 101 appearances. Just the sort of talent Russia need if they're to secure that elusive second round berth.

Spain

Qualifying
In qualifying, Spain were excellent. Eventually. After an initial 4-0 drubbing of Liechtenstein at home, Spain travelled to Belfast and lost 3-2 to Lawrie Sanchez's men and followed that with a 2-0 away defeat to Sweden.

So far, so bad, but the Spanish team took a good long look at itself and went about the remainder of their campaign with an altogether more co-ordinated approach, winning eight of their last nine games. They finished top of Group F and have gone on to win their four friendlies in the ensuing period. Beat that…

Current form
As just mentioned, Spain are riding a tidal wave of success at the moment. Once the Euro 2008 qualifiers were out of the way, they beat France, Italy and the United States 1-0 and beat Peru 2-1 - all at home. In fact the last defeat the Spanish have experienced was on November 15th 2006 when Romania beat them 1-0 in Cadiz.

Maybe this really is Spain's year to win the Euros, after all?

Recent friendlies
March 26: Spain 1 Italy 0
May 31: Spain 2 Peru 1
June 4: Spain 1 USA 0

Players you might have heard of
Let's put it this way: if you support Liverpool, you'll know the Spanish squad. From Pepe Reina in goal to Alvaro Albeloa in defence, through to Xabi Alonso in midfield, all the way up to Fernando Torres in attack, there's much to be familiar with.

But hey - if you're British and don't support Liverpool, don't worry - you're catered for too! There's also Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas in midfield…

A bit of a character
Coach Luis Aragones is what they used to call 'a bit of a card'. Wherever he goes, controversy follows. First and foremost is his reluctance to pick Raul for the Spain squad at Euro 2008, a decision which has confused and frustrated Fernando Hierro, Bernd Schuster, most of Raul's team mates at Real Madrid, the Spanish press and virtually everyone that knows him.

Resolute in his beliefs, Aragones lashed out at a radio presenter over the issue calling him a "coward and a liar". He's also had a run-in with the Spanish FA over his decision to pick Liverpool's Alvaro Arbeloa even though he was injured, inviting them to "sack me now."

And don't get us started on his motivational techniques. We'll be here all night…

SPAOTP's Top Tip For Greatness
It has to be Fernando Torres. His reputation as a clinical goalscorer has continued at Liverpool where he's already bagged 33 goals in 41 appearances on top of the 91 he scored at Atletico Madrid and the 15 he's scored for the national side.

He's now a national hero and could cement his place in history if he continues that sort of form in taking Spain to the Euro 2008 title this summer.

Sweden

Qualifying
As mentioned earlier, Sweden were in Group F along with Spain and matched them almost game for game and goal for goal. They even managed to beat the Spaniards in the second game of their campaign, although the return visit to Madrid ended in a 3-0 defeat to the home side.

Sweden finished second in the group, just two points behind Spain, and did a good job of suppressing most of their opponents with the possible exception of Northern Ireland who beat them 2-1 in Belfast and drew 1-1 in Solna. Top scorer for the Swedes was Marcus Allback with 6 goals in total.

Current form
Indifferent, to say the least. Since the start of the year, Sweden have lost to the United States, Brazil and Ukraine but beaten Slovenia and Costa Rica. There was also a 0-0 draw with Turkey to consider, but the main concern for Sweden will be their rapidly deteriorating ability to score. In those six games played in 2008, they've found the net just twice. Hardly European Champion material…

Players you might have heard of
A nice selection to put in front of all you Premier League fans. In goal, there's Man City's Andreas Isaksson, in defence we give you Aston Villa's bearded wonder Olof Mellberg and in midfield there's the double threat of Birmingham's Sebastian Larsson and West Ham's Freddie Ljungberg. Last but not least, there's the player that lit up many a Celtic supporter's day - the one, the only Henrik 'I'm Not 37 yet, you know' Larsson'.

Recent friendlies
March 26: Sweden 0 Brazil 1
May 26: Sweden 1 Slovenia 0
June 1: Sweden 0 Ukraine 1

An eventful year
Sweden's path to Euro 2008 has not been what you'd call boring in any way, shape or form. Aside from the undoubted joy at beating Spain in one of their early qualifiers, there was the slight distraction of Christian Wilhelmsson, Olof Mellberg and Zlatan Ibrahimovic being sent home after a prolonged night out on the town. Ibrahimovic subsequently refused to play for the national team in their next three games out of protest for what he deemed an unjust punishment.

There was also the curious saga of Sweden's game against Denmark last June when a Danish supporter ran onto the pitch and punched the referee. UEFA stepped in and awarded the Swedes a 3-0 victory, even though the match had ended 3-3. Just as well for Sweden as they were 3-0 up at one point, prior to a Danish fight back later in the game.

SPAOTP's Top Tip For Greatness
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the man on whose shoulders every Swedes hopes of winning rest. A star of Serie A for four seasons now, Ibrahimovic has been the driving force in helping Internazionale win the league for the last two seasons although he was out injured for the last couple of months of their 2007/08 campaign. Luckily he returned for the last game to score twice and clinch the championship for them. Now THAT's how to make an impact…

About that pitch...

There's been a lot of talk this last few weeks about the plastic pitch that England will be playing on against Russia this afternoon. On the one hand, Steve McLaren is claiming it won't be an issue while the Russian FA are saying England are whimpering about it too much. Such a lot of fuss over a playing surface, but justifiably so in my opinion.

Now before I start, I'm not making excuses. Really I'm not. I just feel that any team who is used to playing on a pitch where the bounce of the ball is different to what you normally get on grass is bound to get some sort of advantage. That's not to say that I'm expecting Russia to beat England - last month's match at Wembley should ally a lot of people's fears of that - but the plastic pitch at Moscow's Luzhniki stadium will surely be a noticeable factor today.

Frankly, I'm not quite sure why the pitch even exists when it comes to full international matches. Yes, this is Russia we're talking about, a country where snow is often prevalent in substantially deep, crisp and even proportions, so an all-weather surface would appear to be a practical solution.

Surely, though, an even better one would be to install under-soil heating? Have they heard of that over in Russia? If not, perhaps someone should tell them it's all the rage in the civilised world…

It seems the synthetic surface has split popular opinion as to its virtuosity. Several players who've had experience of playing on identical pitches claim that it has more give, thereby meaning more stress on the joints such as the knees and ankles. Others, including FIFA who have tested and passed the pitch fit to play on in Moscow, say it's absolutely fine and is even preferential to play on than natural grass.

We're reliably informed that the surface, made by FieldTurf, is not the kind you'd have found at Queen's Park Rangers or Luton Town twenty-odd years ago. It's much more refined than that and just as well. I've got experience of playing regularly on a pitch that's akin to the QPR sort and while it's acceptable enough in dry conditions, it's absolutely horrendous to play on when it's wet. Should a team-mate decide to play a long, high ball upfield to you, forget allowing it to bounce first before bringing it under control. It'll skid off the plastic and end up in the next postal code.

Still, never mind. I've just checked the weather forecast for Moscow and it's not going to rain. Apparently they're due to have low cloud with some mist. Might be an idea to keep your fingers crossed that the Luzhniki pitch is up to the job, then, just to be on the safe side...