Euro 2008: Russia will play with England

The Russia-England match is now referred to as “the match of the year”. Losing points in this confrontation will deprive the Russians of their chances of qualifying for Euro 2008. In case of victory over the British, the opponent will have troubles. If England does not get a ticket to the European Championship, it will already be a sensation.

Over seven hundred thousand people expressed a desire to watch the game live - these are only those who applied for tickets. The stadium seats 80 and a half thousand. And it is guaranteed that it will be filled.

The last time we experienced such excitement at the national team level was eight years ago, when Russia was supposed to beat Ukraine in the decisive Euro 2000 qualifying match. The then Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation V. Putin gathered that evening in the locker room to congratulate our football players on their success, but in the end he had to find words of consolation. A ridiculous mistake by Alexander Filimonov a few minutes before the final whistle negated all the efforts of Oleg Romantsev’s team, which by that time had gained rapid momentum

There is nothing left from that team: Romantsev is fishing, Filimonov is playing somewhere in Cyprus. The rest of the players now feel too old for the national team, some have given up football altogether. Even the leadership of the RFU has changed - now this department is headed by Vitaly Mutko, who replaced Vyacheslav Koloskov.

Mutko, according to him, is doing everything possible to develop domestic football. To do this, he called on the Dutchman Guus Hiddink as the head coach of the national team. Recently, his contract was extended, which means Hiddink will work in the national team until 2010. More precisely, he must work - if the national team continues to fail, they could theoretically show him the door before the end of his contract.

But this is unlikely, since Russia under his leadership is playing more or less normally and still retains a chance (small, admittedly) of qualifying for the European Championship. The position of the contenders in Group E is as follows: 1. Croatia – 26 points, 2. England – 23, 3. Russia – 18. Our team still has a game in hand. In the qualifying tournament, Guus Hiddink's team suffered only one defeat - just from the British in London (0:3).

“I have a good energy, a desire to fight,” Hiddink said in an interview with Sport Express. - There is a wealth of experience in difficult games, of which I would highlight the two-round battle between Australia and Uruguay for the right to play in the 2006 World Cup. This experience helps us to concentrate extremely and, together with our coaching staff, lead the team to the match fully armed. And on Wednesday evening it will be time for the players. We will be able to make certain adjustments with the help of substitutions, but the team as a whole and each player in particular will have to show everything they are capable of. The interest of the Russian public in the match is enormous, Luzhniki will be filled to capacity - and we will have to thank the public with incredible dedication. This is the responsibility of every player on our team to the fans. In front of people from the street. We owe it to them to give them a fantastic evening!”