d**k Advocaat's men looking to begin their European voyage with a win; the Narodak will look for inspiration from their veteran stars
Russia will take on Czech Republic in the opening day of the Euro 2012 at Stadio Miejski on Friday, June 8th, 2012 at 19:45 GMT.
Both teams come into this game on the back of contrasting results in their warm up matches. Russia cruised to a comprehensive 3-0 win over former World Champions, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hungary-c2920
in their previous warm-up match.
The two teams have met only once previously, as they shared the spoils in a 3-3 draw back in Euro 1996.
Russia
The win over Italy was their only sweet result of the three freindly games they played ahead of the tournament. The other two matches ended as a stalemate against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lithuania-c2944, respectively.
d**k Advocaat, the manager, is delighted with the way his side has finished the series of friendly matches. However, the 64-year-old has played down Russia’s chances of winning the competition after accepting the fact that http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Germany-c2904,
Spain and Netherland are the favourites to win the European tournament.
Russia had a fantastic Euro 2008, where they made it to the semi-finals only to be knocked out of the competiton by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011.
Czech Republic
Michal Bílek’s side have dropped down in international rankings after failing to qualify for the last World Cup. However, the Narodak's recent international form has been quite decent, having won three of their last five matches.
Czech are favourites to qualify for the knockout stages along with Russia, but their poor form in the previous major tournaments suggest otherwise.
Team News
Russia
The 2008 European semi-finalists are sweating on the fitness of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Igor-Akinfeev-c16676 is still on the road to recovery
and will undergo a late fitness test ahead of the game.
Advocaat is rumoured to play the promising attacking midfielder http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aleksandr-Kerzhakov-c4569.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Konstantin-Zyryanov-c21312. Advocaat, meanwhile, is still unsure over the goalkeeper selection.
Expected starting line-up: Malafeev, Berezutsky, Ignashevich, Granat, Zhirkov, Zyryanov, Shirokov, Denisov, Semshov, Dzagoev, Kerzhakov
Czech Republic
The Narodak are sweating on the fitness of Milan Baros, as the 30-year-old striker has reportedly ruptured a groin muscle. Should the former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 star fails to pass the fitness test, Bílek is likely to call upon CSKA Moscow’s
Tomas Necid back into first team.
Tomas Rosicky, the captain, will also undergo a late fitness ahead of the game after failing to resume training due to a muscle injury.
Expected starting line-up: Cech, Hubník, Kadlec, Selassie, Suchy, Rosicky, Plasil, Pilař, Necid, Rezek, Baros
Players to Watch:
Aleksandr Kerzhakov (Russia)
The former Dynamo Moscow forward is enjoying great form at the moment. The 28-year-old played a helping hand in Zenit’s successful Russian Premier League campaign after scoring 23 goals from 32 appearances.
The UEFA Cup winner, also scored in the friendly match against Italy at http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Switzerland-c3016. Kerzhakov will be looking to continue his brilliant goal-scoring form in Europe, as Advocaat is rumoured to deploy him in the starting line-up
against Czech.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Petr-Cech-c29837 (Czech Republic)
The prolific goalkeeper is regarded amongst the best shot-stoppers in the world. The 30-year-old, who was named the best goalkeeper at Euro 2004, is set to make up for his shocking performance in the last group stage game
of Euro 2008 against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Turkey-c3026.
The Narodak failed to retain a two-goal lead after conceding three goals in the second half against the Crescent-stars.
However, Cech is in right state of mind at the moment after helping http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 to win the UEFA Champions League last month.
Prediction
Both teams are in thrilling form after playing in a host of friendly matches. But given the fact that Advocaat’s men have a decent track record in Europe, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Russia-c2991 are expected to win. Verdict: 2-1
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