European Championship 2008 - Russia
The Russian Football team have a great record of qualifying for the finals of the Euro Championships and the World Cup but have great difficulty getting beyond the group stages.
Most people will consider Russia lucky to have made it to these finals, with England hitting the self destruct button in their final match leaving the door open to Russia to walk through, which they did with a great big thank you to Steve G's men.
Russia really made it through following their victory against England on the plastic pitch and apart for ten minutes in this game they were very much second best.
Russia have been drawn against Greece and Spain who they failed to get by in the same competition in Greece four years ago and they are 4/1 outsiders to win Group D with Sweden the other team in the Group.
Guss Hiddick is the coach of the Russian team and he is a quality coach but he will have to perform miracles to make any impact on the Euro 2008 Championships.
Player To Watch - Diniyar Bilyaletdinov
Euro 2008 could be the tournament that makes Diniyar Bilyaletdinov or he could already be on his way to one of the big clubs in London with a number of the leading Premier League clubs about to fight for his services.
The Lokomotiv Moscow player had a key role in Russia's victory over England last month and has already caught the eye of Chelsea.
Arsenal are ready to battle for the signiture of the Russian star, in January. It has been said the highest amount the London rivals will go up to is £20 million.
| No. |
Player |
Date of Birth |
Caps |
Goals |
Position |
| Euro 2008 Squad |
| 1 |
Igor Akinfeev |
08/04/1986 (22) |
20 |
0 |
Goalkeeper |
| 16 |
Vyacheslav Malafeev |
04/04/1979 (29) |
15 |
0 |
Goalkeeper |
| 12 |
Vladimir Gabulov |
19/10/1983 (24) |
5 |
0 |
Goalkeeper |
| 4 |
Sergei Ignashevich |
14/07/1979 (28) |
36 |
3 |
Defender |
| 22 |
Alexander Anyukov |
28/09/1982 (25) |
32 |
1 |
Defender |
| 5 |
Aleksei Berezutski |
20/06/1982 (25) |
31 |
0 |
Defender |
| 2 |
Vasili Berezutski |
20/06/1982 (25) |
28 |
1 |
Defender |
| 8 |
Denis Kolodin |
11/01/1982 (26) |
12 |
0 |
Defender |
| 14 |
Roman Shirokov |
06/07/1981 (26) |
3 |
0 |
Defender |
| 3 |
Renat Yanbayev |
07/04/1984 (24) |
1 |
0 |
Defender |
| 11 |
Sergei Semak |
26/02/1976 (32) |
45 |
4 |
Midfielder |
| 20 |
Igor Semshov |
06/04/1978 (30) |
26 |
0 |
Midfielder |
| 15 |
Diniyar Bilyaletdinov |
27/02/1985 (23) |
22 |
2 |
Midfielder |
| 18 |
Yuri Zhirkov |
20/08/1983 (24) |
19 |
0 |
Midfielder |
| 23 |
Vladimir Bystrov |
31/01/1984 (24) |
19 |
3 |
Midfielder |
| 17 |
Konstantin Zyryanov |
05/10/1977 (30) |
11 |
1 |
Midfielder |
| 7 |
Dmitri Torbinski |
28/04/1984 (24) |
10 |
1 |
Midfielder |
| 9 |
Ivan Saenko |
17/10/1983 (24) |
7 |
0 |
Midfielder |
| 21 |
Dmitri Sychev |
26/10/1983 (24) |
40 |
15 |
Forward |
| 10 |
Andrei Arshavin |
29/03/1981 (27) |
33 |
10 |
Forward |
| 19 |
Roman Paylyuchenko |
15/12/1981 (26) |
16 |
5 |
Forward |
| 13 |
Pavel Pogrebnyak |
08/11/1983 (24) |
9 |
4 |
Forward |
| 6 |
Roman Adamov |
21/06/1982 (25) |
1 |
0 |
Forward |
DATE
HOME TEAM
SCORE
AWAY TEAM
EURO 2008 QUALIFICATION GROUP E RESULTS
21 November 2007
Andorra
Russia
17 November 2007
Israel
Russia
17 October 2007
Russia
England
12 September 2007
England
Russia
08 September 2007
Russia
Macedonia
06 June 2007
Croatia
Russia
02 June 2007
Russia
Andorra
24 March 2007
Estonia
Russia
15 November 2006
Macedonia
Russia
11 October 2006
Russia
Estonia
07 October 2006
Russia
Israel
06 September 2006
Russia
Croatia
| |
TEAM |
PLD |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
GD |
PTS |
| EURO 2008 QUALIFICATION GROUP E TABLE |
| 1 |
Croatia |
12 |
9 |
2 |
1 |
28 |
8 |
20 |
29 |
| 2 |
Russia |
12 |
7 |
3 |
2 |
18 |
7 |
11 |
24 |
| 3 |
England |
12 |
7 |
2 |
3 |
24 |
7 |
17 |
23 |
| 4 |
Israel |
12 |
7 |
2 |
3 |
20 |
12 |
8 |
23 |
| 5 |
Macedonia |
12 |
4 |
2 |
6 |
12 |
12 |
0 |
14 |
| 6 |
Estonia |
12 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
5 |
21 |
-16 |
7 |
| 7 |
Andorra |
12 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
2 |
42 |
-40 |
0 |
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