Euro 2008: Net of Europe

Tomorrow for the champion An amazing thing: the Russians optimistically look at the prospects of the performance of our team at Euro 2008. From the group, according to almost all the experts with whom Newsweek spoke, our team will definitely come out, but more and no more. The same task of the minimum was set by the President of the RFU and the Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko - in a conversation with the Newsweek correspondent, he traditionally extended optimism, not paying attention to the details.

• We are no weaker than the Swedes and Greeks, ”Mutko said about our rivals in the group - and what do you know about them?

• Yes, the main thing is to know the coach!

At the euro starting on June 7, Russians are true for the first time in recent years - good positions. The exit from the group in the playoffs, which experts predict, has not been such an happiness for 20 years. During this time, pessimism was the main feature of Russian football - both fans and the players themselves: the potential of our team has long ceased to be the subject of a serious analysis, remaining only the subject for bitter jokes.

The Dutch coach of the Russian national team GUS Hiddink is just a specialist in the removal of medium -sized teams (for example, Australia and Korea) from a group round. Russia, which has gained a record number of victories in game sports in the international arena over the past year, will be enough to finally bring Russian fans and athletes from many years of depression. This is good - often pessimism and prevented talented players from showing his best game.

“To leave the group” - fans and experts repeat these words in Russia as a mantra. It was easier to do this at the World Cup, not Europe: the mundial is less balanced, among three rivals in the group there are always African and Asian teams, which means there is a chance. Two years ago, the Ukrainians managed to use and go to the playoffs of the World Cup, having won two victories in the group - over more than modest Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. There will be no teams of this level on the euro, so even the promised success of the Russian team is not guaranteed. And according to the estimates of bookmakers, five teams claim to be absolutely victory by about the same coefficients: France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Portugal.

Favorites

The Germans are absolute favorites. Two years ago, at the “home” world championship, they, according to many experts, showed their best football in recent years. True, immediately after the championship, the team lost its main treasure - the coach of Jurgen Klinsmann (he left the national team for a calm life in America).

The Spaniards before the start of each large tournament are considered favorites - thanks to the most star composition (this time, for example, due to acute competition, even the captain of the Madrid Real Madrid, Raul) did not get into the composition). The French with Italians two years ago in the final played the World Cup, but both teams have since grown great.

The Portuguese have almost not changed during this time. Only their leader Cristiano Ronaldo has changed - from a naughty genius of two years ago, followed by the coach of Manchester United Alex, he turned into an unconditionally best player in the world of this season.

Newsweek, like two years ago, conducted a survey of 11 experts before the start of the European Championship. They gave forecasts first to the group tournament, then on the playoffs. At the exit, we received an average opinion, very similar to the coefficients of bookmakers: in the final of our virtual, the Germans beat the Italians.

The effect of surprise

There is one nuance: bookmaker coefficients, as well as the average opinion of our survey, exclude surprise. But it is at European championships that in recent years, breakthroughs of “dark horses” of European football most often occur - this tradition has almost not been interrupted since 1992, when Denmark became the winner. Four years ago, the Greece team won at the continental championship.

Leonid Slutsky, the head coach of the Samara “Wings of the Soviets”, giving the forecast for group D, it was Grekov who put it in the first place - the only one of all experts (the remaining 10 relied on the Spaniards). Greek football players four years after the victory did not turn into European football stars, but they still had a coach - Otto Rehagel. “He has already shown once that he could make the best team from not the most star players in a short time, why not repeat success,” says Slutsky.

Another pronounced “coaching” team, according to Slutsky, is Croatia, also composed of not the brightest stars of European football. “But the Croats now have the brightest coach throughout Europe,” Slutsky believes.

Glory to Bilich played in England for a long time. There, according to him, the Croatian football player was called the “world record holder among defenders by the number of brains” - Bilich has a higher legal education. At the end of the gaming career, he “sawed” the guitar in the “metal” rock band. In the first year of work with the national team, he turned the team into the most organized and daring opponent in Eastern Europe. By the beginning of the Euro 2008, Glorin wrote with his group the anthem of the national team - in his favorite style, of course. But already at the end of the tournament, according to Slutsky, Bilich will say goodbye to their native team - the fashion coach is actively lured into large European clubs.

Slutsky considers Bilich the standard of a modern coach: he knows how to become an authority for his young players. Slutsky says that he also works in this direction, although, as he himself admits, it is difficult to keep up with young people. “I am trying to delve into new gadgets, I am watching what is fashionable in clothes,” the coach says. Recently, Slutsky even bought an iPhone - the pride of every third young Russian football player.

Most of our experts - seven people - made a bet on the fact that the Croats, led by the fashionable rocker coach, will be the first in the group, even ahead of the Germans. In the semifinals, according to the average forecast of experts, they will meet again - and here more experienced and titled Germans will already win.

Some believe that the role of the "dark horse" can be played by the Swiss (four experts brought the hosts of the championship from the group).

The main thing is mutual assistance

The Austrians who share the Swiss champion -2008 are the only absolutely hopeless outsiders. Stanislav Cherchesov, Spartak coach, who played and worked in Austria for a long time, the only experts gave them not the last place in the group - it seems that not at all for football reasons.

Austrians do not need a loud victory, which they expected from the Portuguese four years ago and from the Germans in 2006. In Austria, they do not even believe in the exit of the national team from the group. Austria sets tasks of a different nature: to finally hold the European Championship, which will pay off. Unlike the world championship, which collects a record among sports events, the euro often completely leaves the country at a loss. Portugal earned only € 400 million during the tournament, and spent about € 4 billion on training - many new stadiums were built in the country. This investment did not justify itself. The stadiums did not begin to profit even four years after the euro: the attendance of the National Championship increased slightly, its popularity in Europe did not grow at all.

The organizing committees of Austria and Switzerland hope that they will be able to recoup the invested money in the short term, during the championship and a couple of years after it. For example, only € 750 million was spent on infrastructure - roads, airports and stadiums; Austria and Switzerland build only 3 small stadiums with a capacity of 30,000 spectators for two. Yes, and the old Austrian arenas reconstructed to the tournament do not amaze in size. Only a little more than 1 million tickets will be sold to the Euro matches - less than four years ago in Portugal. The Austrian Organizing Committee is trying to position the tournament as a calm and almost family holiday - "while men will go to football, their wives with children will visit Austria's sights." For the first time in 24 years, the British will not play in the euro for the first time in the euro - with their most numerous roads and the most turbulent fans.

Accepting countries, according to their own forecasts, should help out more than $ 700 million in the championship for two. And UEFA - the organizer of the tournament - hopes to receive $ 1.2 billion in June (one and a half times more than in the same Portugal in 2004).

Club contributions

Among the costs of UEFA for the first time in the history of world football - deductions to clubs who own the rights to players protruding to the euro for their national teams. The amount is modest - € 4000 per player per day, which he spends in the national team. In total, UEFA will spend € 43.5 million on this.

It is not the amount that is important - the principle is important: for the first time in history, European top commands forced UEFA to recognize the players with the main aciates of the clubs. For the first time, it was recognized that it was clubs, not the team - the main place of the work of the football player. UEFA decision is the result of a long struggle, begun by a group of leading top clubs G14. But the last straw, as often happens in the dispute of large players in the market, was not a story at all: in 2004, the modest Belgian Club “Charlerua” lost his player Abdelmaje of Oulmers eight months after he was injured in the match for the macroocco national team. For the Belgians, who paid all eight months of sick leave, it was a serious blow.

Evgeny Giner, President of CSKA and a supporter of the innovation, in an interview with Newsweek admitted that the law is fair: “It cannot be - a person leaves for a month, and the club pays a salary plus premium in the national team.” Five players set off from CSKA to the euro - the club will receive at least $ 240,000 for them and, according to Newsweek, fully compensates for the amount paid to players as a salary.

High court

FIFA and UEFA are also trying to also change football at each major tournament of teams - primarily through judges. The new rules, however, have not been introduced for 11 years - the last amendments were forbidden by goalkeepers to pick up the ball in their hands after the player of their team. Officials are trying to make the game more quick, spectacular and honest - through the emphasis of judges on certain rules (judges receive written instructions). High -level international competitions are a good platform for demonstrating to players and fans, what is good and what is bad. So, at the World Cup in the United States in 1994, they gave red cards for the tackles from behind. At the last World Cup, unsportsmanlike behavior and injury simulation were strictly punishable.

In the current draw, they will also fight the simulation, as well as with a rough game in the fight of players in the air. “Five to ten years ago, there were fewer such incidents in football, because the players were not as close to each other as now,” commented on Newsweek recommendations to judges Pierluji Collin, the brightest judge of recent years, which had already completed his career.

New changes occur due to the fact that the speed of the game is changing: now, according to Collin, it has become more difficult to play - you need to instantly make decisions. “My first reaction is when I watch old matches: what is it, my TV is broken? - says the former judge. "Why don't they run?" It is more difficult for judges to keep up with the players, they make more mistakes - especially if the rummaged player also simulates a violation of the rules. Therefore, the euro will very strictly punish the “diving” (depicting a fall) players.

This innovation should protect judges - in the last major tournament, in Germany, they made a record number of mistakes. In two matches of the tournament, judges completely abolished fair goals because they did not see whether they crossed the ball of the gate line or not (they did not keep up with the episode). “The judicial mistake is part of the football,” Igor Egorov justified himself and his colleagues in an interview with Newsweek. “Without them, it would be uninteresting to watch the game.”

FIFA counts differently. The problem of arbitrators that do not keep up with the development of football can be solved only technically. Back in 2005, development began on the invention of the ball with the built -in chip, which would help to automatically fix the gate. But the novelty, planned first on the 2006 mundial, and then postponed to Euro 2008, did not go through tests. At the youth world championship in Canada in winter, the ball crashed several times. Now the start of the ball is planned in the 2009–2010 season, which means that Igor Egorov will watch matches of the European Championship will be interesting.

Victory price

According to experts, the Russians got a completely passable group: Swedes, Greeks and Spaniards. The Spaniards, according to the bookmakers, look absolute favorites, the other three teams have approximately the same chances of access to the next round. All 11 experts put Russians in an honorable second place. And almost everyone predicted that Russia would fly out in the quarter -finals. “Such a result can be considered success,” said Sergey Kapkov, head of the National Academy of Football, in an interview with Newsweek.

A similar “success” can radically change their attitude towards Russian players in the international labor market. The level of football players is customary to evaluate the results of the national team and the status of the clubs in which they play. Our entire team is almost completely equipped with the players of the national championship - of course, not the top clubs in Europe. But this does not reflect the level of players, the football agent Alexei Safonov is convinced: many do not leave the Russian championship only because few in Europe can compete with the level of salaries with the teams of the Russian Premier League. The player, moving to the club of about the same level, but the European one should be sacrificed - to halve his salary appetites. “But potentially in our national team there are two players of top clubs - Zhirkov and Akinfeev - and another 5-6 players who, under the combination of circumstances, could become the leaders of the middle European clubs,” says Safonov. The agent is convinced that the European Championship will open a way for a wide flow of Russian players to Europe. Zhirkov and Akinfeev are underestimated in the European market (many in Europe simply do not see the Russian championship). But with a successful performance by the CSKA team, according to the agent, to help out the sale of these players to € 30 million. Surely Zenit will leave Zenit after the euro and Andrei Arshavin; The club, according to Safonov, will be able to help out from its sale also up to € 15 million.

For good luck

“There has not been such a favorable atmosphere around the national team recently. Of course, the optimism of fans affects players. The national team is played by 5 or 6 Zenitites - of course, after winning the UEFA Cup, they go to the field with a completely different mood. These are confident people, ”says Boris Stukalov, head coach of the Russian youth team. “But the main thing is the optimism and the positive mood of the coach, almost everything depends on him.”

A month before the start of the tournament, Hiddink was “amputated” by the national team, it seems that the last rudiment, preserved since the great football depression of the 90s: the Berezutski brothers who performed in the defense center did not get into the team - not the most technical, but diligent players who had played the basis of the national team for a long time. Berezutsky will go to the championship, but, obviously, in the role of reserve - a month before the tournament Hiddink unexpectedly radically changed the tactical model of the game of the national team. So it was in all the previous Hus projects - both in Australia and Korea at the training camp a month before the tournament, the Dutch coach began to put a new model of the game.

The Russians switched from playing with three central defenders to a very mobile scheme with four defenders and one forward. “It is logical to do this to the coach, whose disposal is the largest number of good midfielders,” said Slutsky. Another advantage of such a scheme is that it is easy to change during the game, the coach notes: each of the five midfielders can, if necessary, sink closer to the defense line, and play under the attackers.

“But the main factor in Hiddinka is psychology,” Boris Stukalov is convinced. Hiddink, according to Stukalov, was the first of all the mentors of the Russian teams to become an indisputable authority for the players.

According to Andrei Tikhonov, the midfielder of the “wings of the Soviets”, the fact is also in luck. “Honestly, before arriving in Russia, Hiddinka, I never thought about whether a lucky coach of a particular team or not. And Hiddink is some kind of absolute, constant fart. Therefore, from the players of the national team, even in some informal conversations, I have never heard anything bad about the Dutch. ”

Hiddink was not always a successful coach: in his work at the club level, for example, in 20 years he only once won the Champions League. And as a trainer of the Native national team of Holland, he could not even reach the finals of large tournaments with her.

Real glory came to Hiddinka only six years ago in not the football South Korea itself. Hiddink brought the national team to the semi -finals of the 2002 World Cup - Koreans still explain that incredible success to Hiddinka's incomprehensible luck and his talents by a psychologist. In Korea, after the Dutchman departure, several books were published that explain the phenomenon of the coach: how he managed to break the main complex in the minds of Korean football players. Koreans are beautiful hardworking football players, but only under Hiddink did they learn to be real stars on the field: take the game on themselves, feel free to go on the attack, etc.

Hiddink has not yet taken the Russians from the group, but it seems that he has almost coped with the main national complex. Traditionally, gloomy Russians first believe in the success of our team in a large football tournament. The good -natured grandfather Hiddink calls from the screens of TVs with a hilarious accent: “Pain for the Fighting”. This is ridiculous, but no one is laughing at the team.

You will appreciate the beauty of the game

In modern football, not only a good game is valued, but also artistry. Newsweek publishes a list of five football players-Euro 2008 participants, known for a good game in all meanings of this word

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

A recognized genius of acting, which can convince any arbitrator that the rules are violated against it. In the match of the 1/8 finals of the World Portugal-Holland World Cup, the Portuguese Constant appeals to Valentin Ivanov were removed from the rut: in 90 minutes he removed four players. After that, the Russian judicial corps defended Ivanov and said that at least five had to be removed.

Marco Materezzi (Italy)

The Italian defender became truly famous after the Frenchman Zinedin Zidan butted him in the final of the World Cup. A picture fall - and Zidan is removed from the field, and the French team loses the match. A year after that game, Materezzsi publishes the book “What I really told Zidan”, which is scattered by many thousands of circulations in dozens of languages, including in Russian.

Aryen Robben (Netherlands)

The current midfielder of Madrid Real Madrid was distinguished by outstanding acting abilities, while still a football player of Chelsea. He was most clearly opened in the match of the championship of England between Liverpool and Chelsea in 2006. The goalkeeper of Liverpool Jose Rein pushed the Dutchman a little, after which he fell to the ground. The goalkeeper of Liverpool, remote after this incident, advised filmmakers to pay attention to Robben: he was sure that the Dutchman would easily receive Oscars for the best male role.

Fabio Grosso (Italy)

His picture fall in the penalty area during the 1/8 finals of the 2006 championship was remembered for a long time by Gus Hiddink: it cost the Australian national team, with which the Dutchman worked at that time, places in the 1/4 finals. The Italians “dried” the game throughout the match, and in the 5th added minute they realized a penalty that the Spanish referee Luis Medina Kantaleho gave them for the acrobatic sketch by Fabio Grosso.

Vladimir Bystrov (Russia)

The brightest of the Russians. In almost every match, you can see this football player sitting near someone else's penalty and spreading hands to the sides. In the Russian championship, such tricks often lead to the purpose of the penalty or even a penalty. In Europe, the attitude to the tricks of Bystrov is different: the judges simply ignore them. Unrestrained is a characteristic feature of this football player. So, in 2005, during the match of the youth teams of Russia and Denmark, Bystrov got into a fight with rivals, for which he was immediately removed. Four more players of the Russian team followed him.

Dear diary

GUS Hiddink and 6 out of 24 players of the Russian national team keep online diaries. There is a hope that the records will also be updated during Euro 2008.

GUS Hiddink, head coach - http://www.sports.ru/blog/hiddink/

Igor Akinfeev, goalkeeper - http://akinfeev.livejournal.com/

Sergey Semak, captain of the national team, midfielder-http: //semak-s.livejournal.com/

Diyar Bilyaletdinov, midfielder - http://www.sports.ru/blog/bill/

Igor Semshov, midfielder- http://semshov-i.livejournal.com/

Dmitry Sychev, striker- http://d-sychev.livejournal.com/

Golden Hus

Hus Hiddink earned a reputation as a talisman that brings happiness. The Russian Football Union, inviting the Dutchman to train the national team, obviously counted on an unprecedented success that the team of Australia and South Korea achieved under his leadership. There, a football mentor for many became just an idol.

South Korea: Hiddinka Stadium

“Hi Dong Gu” (“invincible”) - Hiddink received such a nickname after the South Korean team at the 2002 World Cup reached the semifinals, beat the Spaniards. The Kwangje stadium, where this significant event occurred, received the name of the coach. In addition, Hiddink became an honorary citizen of the country, received a villa on the island of Chistjudo, the right to drink beer for free in any institution and fly the first class on Korean Air.

Holland: Hiddinka Street

The same Koreans in the mass order went to the pilgrimage to the hero’s homeland - to the town of Barsseveld. Enterprising Dutch organized Hiddink Tour with a visit to the coach’s home, where a commemorative plate was installed, and an exhibition of things related to Hiddin and called “Guuzum”. Now this “museum” has already closed, since the excitement was asleep, but the Hiddinka street exists.

Australia: Mark with a portrait of Hiddinka

When in 2006, the Australian team led by Hus Hiddinka for the first time in 32 years made his way to the final part of the World Cup, football fans proposed to perpetuate his name in the name of Sydney or Melbourne streets and reward him with citizenship. However, more restrained than the Koreans, the Australians nevertheless limited themselves to the release of collection stamps depicting 8 of their best players and their mentor.

Newsweek prognosis

Newsweek, like two years ago, gathered a conditional team of 11 Russian football experts to determine the main favorites of the European Championship. At first, each of them called his own version of the distribution of places in groups. For the first place, the team received 4 points, for the second - 3, for the third - 2, for the fourth - 1. The final place of the team took place from the amount of points (with the equality of points, a team that received more than the first places was held), quarter -finalists were determined, according to the tournament grid. In the future, in the resulting pairs, each of the experts chose the winner. CSKA President Yevgeny Giner at the stage of the quarterfinals refused to vote for two of the four resulting pairs, and also did not evaluate one of the semifinal matches: his forecast did not coincide with the collective opinion of experts. However, the voice of the President of the army would not have influenced the predicted outcome of these matches

Group a

Portugal 42; Czech Republic 28; Switzerland 23; Türkiye 17

Navosha, Rozanov, Fedorov, Cherchesov: Portugal, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Turkey

Tikhonov, Safonov: Portugal, Czech Republic, Turkey, Switzerland

Slutsky: Portugal, Turkey, Czech Republic, Switzerland

Stukalov: Czech Republic, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey

Giner: Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey, Switzerland

Kapkov: Portugal, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Turkey

Egorov: Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, Czech Republic

Group b

Croatia 39; Germany 37; Poland 22; Austria 12

Navosha, Fedorov, Stukalov, Tikhonov, Egorov, Slutsky: Croatia, Germany, Poland, Austria

Giner, Kapkov, Safonov: Germany, Croatia, Poland, Austria

Rozanov: Germany, Poland, Croatia, Austria

Cherchesov: Croatia, Germany, Austria, Poland

Group C.

Italy 36; France 29; Holland 29; Romania 16

Cherchesov, Safonov, Giner: France, Italy, Holland, Romania

Navosha, Stukalov: Holland, Italy, France, Romania

Tikhonov, Slutsky: Italy, Holland, France, Romania

Rozanov: France, Romania, Italy, Holland

Fedorov: Italy, Romania, Holland, France

Kapkov: Holland, Italy, Romania, France

Egorov: Italy, France, Holland, Romania

Group D

Spain 42; Russia 33; Sweden 19; Greece 16

Navosha, Rozanov, Fedorov, Cherchesov, Safonov, Stukalov, Giner, Egorov: Spain, Russia, Sweden, Greece

Tikhonov, Kapkov: Spain, Russia, Greece, Sweden

Slutsky: Greece, Russia, Sweden, Spain

¼ finals

Portugal 5; Germany 6

For Portugal: Stukalov, Navosha, Tikhonov, Slutsky, Egorov

Croatia 8; Czech Republic 3

For the Czech Republic: Stukalov, Safonov, Rozanov

Italy 9; Russia 1

For Russia: Stukalov. Giner refused

Spain 6; France 4

For France: Slutsky, Egorov, Safonov, Fedorov. Giner refused

Semifinals

Germany 7; Croatia 4

For Croatia: Egorov, Safonov, Cherchesov, Tikhonov

Italy 7; Spain 3

For Spain: Stukalov, Navosha, Rosanov. Giner refused

Final

Germany 6; Italy 5

For Italy: Cherchesov, Tikhonov, Giner, Kapkov, Egorov

Newsweek expert team :

Evgeny Giner, President of the PFC CSKA

Sergey Kapkov, head of the National Academy of Football

Stanislav Cherchesov, head coach of Spartak

Leonid Slutsky, head coach of the “Wings of the Soviets”

Andrey Tikhonov, football player "Wings of the Soviets"

Yuri Rozanov, football commentator

Dmitry Fedorov, journalist, writer

Dmitry Navosha, head of the portal Sports.ru

Alexey Safonov, football agent

Igor Egorov, football judge

Boris Stukalov, head coach of the Russian youth team