Russia to complete EURO treble

Russia to complete EURO treble

How did they perform in UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying?

• Guus Hiddink's maiden campaign as coach could hardly have had a more dramatic ending as Russia snatched second place in Group E at the death.
• After opening with home draws against Croatia and Israel, Russia won five of their next six games. Aleksandr Kerzhakov struck a hat-trick in a 4-0 home victory against Andorra and the only game of that sequence they did not win was a goalless draw in Croatia.
• Russia played back-to-back games against England in autumn 2007, losing 3-0 at Wembley but then staging a dramatic recovery in Moscow, where substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko scored twice in five second-half minutes – the first a penalty – to cancel out Wayne Rooney's opener.
• That result left Russia second in the section, needing six points from their final games in Israel and Andorra to be sure of qualifying.
• Hiddink said it was "simply impossible" to lose in Israel, against opponents already out of the running, but lose they did, their 2-1 defeat putting England back in pole position to qualify.
• However, the drama continued on the final day, with England unexpectedly losing 3-2 at home against group winners Croatia, allowing a ten-man Russia to seal their progress with a 1-0 win in Andorra, earned by Dmitri Sychev's goal.

How did they perform in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification round?

• Russia finished in third place in their seven-team group behind Portugal and Slovakia following six victories, five draws and a defeat from their 12-match campaign. They ended seven points behind the first-placed Portuguese and an inferior goal difference denied them a second place finish ahead of Slovakia after both teams ended on 23 points.
• They dropped their first points of the competition in their opening match in Moscow against Slovakia after Robert Vittek's 87th-minute equaliser cancelled Dmitri Bulykin's opener on the quarter-hour.
• A subsequent 4-0 away victory against Luxembourg seemed to have steadied the ship thanks to a second-half Dmitri Sychev (56, 68 and 86) hat-trick, but only four days later, the Russians were on the receiving end of a 7-1 defeat away against Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo and Petit both scoring twice at the José Alvalade stadium.
• It was to be Russia's only defeat of the campaign, but their away form remained inconsistent as they struggled to a 2-1 win in Liechtenstein before drawing away against Estonia (1-1) and Latvia (1-1) with Andrei Arshavin scoring in both games.
• Home victories against Estonia (4-0), Latvia (2-0) and Liechtenstein (2-0) still kept them in contention with three matches remaining, but they could not defeat Portugal (0-0) in Moscow, their plight not helped by Aleksei Smertin's dismissal on the stroke of half-time following a second bookable offence.
• Luxembourg were defeated 5-1 in Moscow in their penultimate match, but needing victory away against Slovakia in their final game, Russia were held to a scoreless stalemate and thus beaten to second spot by their opponents.

How did they perform in UEFA EURO 2004™?

• Russia finished second to Switzerland in their UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifying round campaign to ultimately book their place at the finals via the play-offs, but their involvement in Portugal would be for the minimum three games as they failed to negotiate a route beyond the group stage.
• The Russians recorded four wins and two draws from their eight matches, with all of their victories coming on home soil to the tune of 15 goals scored and five conceded. On the receiving end were group rivals the Republic of Ireland (4-2), Albania (4-1), Switzerland (4-1) and Georgia (3-1).
• Although the Russians endured some poor performances on the road, they managed to secure draws against their main rivals, Switzerland (2-2) and the Republic of Ireland.
• Russia faced Wales in a two-legged play-off for a place in the UEFA EURO 2004™ finals in Portugal, winning 1-0 on aggregate. Although they were held to a scoreless draw in Moscow's Lokomotiv stadium in the opening match, Russia scored the only goal of the return leg at Cardiff's Millennium stadium with Vadim Evseev on target after 21 minutes.
• Having lost against both Spain (1-0) and Portugal (2-0) in their opening two games at the final tournament, Russia were already eliminated from the competition prior to taking the field against Greece in their final match. Pride, however, was restored with a 2-1 victory at the Algarve stadium in Faro-Loulé thanks to goals from Dmitri Kirichenko (3) and Dmitri Bulykin (17).

What is their best performance in the UEFA European Championship?

• Russia's best performance since competing as an independent state came at UEFA EURO 2004™ although their best qualification round came in the run up to EURO '96™. From ten matches, Russia collected 26 points to claim first position from a group featuring Finland, Greece, Scotland, the Faroe Islands and San Marino. Their involvement in EURO '96™ was less memorable with one point from three games, a 3-3 draw against the Czech Republic after earlier losing their opening two games to Italy (2-1) and Germany (3-0).

Key facts

• Prior to UEFA EURO '96™, Russia participated as part of the Commonwealth of Independent States during the 1992 UEFA European Championship having previously played as a member of the Soviet Union from the competition's inception in 1958. The Soviet Union appeared in the first four final rounds of the UEFA European Championship, winning the inaugural competition in 1960. They would end up as losing finalists in 1964, 1972 and 1988.

All-time record

• Up until the end of qualifying for UEFA EURO 2008™, Russia had appeared in the UEFA European Championships on four occasions, and had played 48 matches. In that time, they had won 27, drawn ten and lost eleven of those fixtures with 100 goals scored and 48 conceded.
• Russia's first international since the dissolution of the Soviet Union came on 16 August 1992 when they defeated Mexico 2-0. Previously, Russia had played international matches as an independent state between 1912 and 1914.