Hiddink will help Russia

The victory of the Turkish national team will help Russia remain in the second pot of the draw for the 2012 European Championship

Russia's position in the EURO 2012 draw depends on the matches of the Turkish national team

Reuters The first play-offs for Euro 2012 will take place on Friday. The results of the confrontation between the national teams of Turkey and Croatia largely determine the position of Russia in the draw for the final part of the European Championship. The national teams of Estonia and Montenegro will try to make it to the European Championship for the first time, and the team of Bosnia and Herzegovina will try to take revenge on Portugal for their defeat in the play-offs for the 2010 World Cup.

The first play-off matches of the 2012 European Championship will take place on Friday. The Turkish national team will host Croatia. The Estonia team, which has the opportunity to get to the Euro for the first time, will play at home against the Irish. The national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina will host the Portuguese team, and the Czechs will play Montenegro at home.

Türkiye - Croatia
November 11, 23.05
Istanbul, Turk Telekom Arena
Judge: Brech (Germany)
“Russia-2” – 23.00
Quotes of BC "Fon" for Thursday: 2.30—3.15—3.10

For Russian fans, the upcoming confrontation will be interesting not only because the Turkish national team is headed by our “old friend” Guus Hiddink .

The results of the two matches directly determine which of the baskets the Russian team will fall into during the draw for the final part of Euro 2012.

When drawing lots for the group stage, the November UEFA ranking will be taken into account, which will include the results of the play-offs, but friendly games will not be taken into account. At the moment, the Russian team is in sixth place, and the only team that, under certain conditions, can overtake Russia is the Croatian team. To do this, the Balkans need to win two matches, which will allow them to advance not only Russia, but also England, which is in fifth place. If Guus Hiddink's team manages to win or draw at least one match, the Russians will remain in their place and will be in the second pot at the Euro 2012 draw.

The Croatian national team will have two representatives of the RFPL - Stipe Pletikosa from Rostov and Tomislav Dujmovic from Dynamo.

The last time the opponents met was in the quarter finals of Euro 2008, when luck favored the Turkish team in the penalty shootout. The head coach of the Croatian national team said that the upcoming matches will be an excellent opportunity to take revenge on the Turks for that defeat.

“For three years we waited and dreamed of revenge,” the official UEFA website reports Bilic as saying. — We all remember the defeat in the quarterfinals of Euro 2008. Yes, the Turks are a formidable opponent, but we are stronger. It will not be easy, because the Turkish national team is probably the most dangerous opponent we could face, but I believe that the advantage in football skill is on our side. We are stronger, and therefore we must win and qualify for the Euro.”

“We faced a strong opponent. We remember Croatia from Euro 2008,” said Oguz Cetin, assistant head coach of the Turkish national team. — We have a meeting with a team whose playing style is similar to ours. Croats have a good reputation in Europe. We will need to prepare thoroughly, given that we have two matches ahead. The Turkish Super League has a very busy schedule until the end of October, and most likely the national team will meet on Sunday, November 6th. Some people consider holding the first match on their own field an unfavorable condition, but I am not one of them. The result of the first meeting is significant, and therefore we will prepare for this game properly.”

Estonia - Ireland
November 11, 23.45
Tallinn, "A. Le Coq Arena"
Judge: Kossoi (Hungary)
Bookmaker Fon quotes for Thursday: 3.25—3.10—2.25

The Estonian national team's participation in the Euro 2012 play-offs became the main sensation of the qualifying tournament for the European Championship. Estonians could become the second Baltic country after Latvia to take part in the continental championship. Ireland, whose luck ran out during the play-offs at the 2010 World Cup, is eager to take part in the Euro.

The most representatives of the Russian championship have been called up to the Estonia national team - Dmitry Kruglov (Rostov), Konstantin Vasiliev (Amkar), Alexander Dmitriev (Ural), Vladimir Voskoboynikov (Khimki).

In Ireland, the attention of Russian fans will be focused on Spartak Moscow midfielder Aiden McGeady, who will lead his team to Euro 2012.

Estonia national team goalkeeper Sergei Pareiko shared his opinion about the Irish national team. “Many people say that you need to play short passing against them, rely on fast combination football. Both Russia and Armenia noted that the Irish often cannot keep up with more technical and faster players,” Pareiko told the official UEFA website.

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Portugal
November 11, 23.00
Zenica, Bilino Pole
Referee: Webb (England)
“Sport-1” – 22.55
Bookmaker Fon quotes for Thursday: 3.35—3.10—2.2

The rivals already met in similar matches two years ago, when a ticket to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was at stake. And then success accompanied the European Brazilians. Surely the Bosnians are eager to take revenge for their two-year defeat. Bosnian fans will also support their players, who have already launched a psychological attack on the Portuguese from the very airport. When Real Madrid football player Cristiano Ronaldo appeared in the arrival hall, several dozen fans began chanting: “Messi, Messi!” The Portuguese reacted calmly to the chant.

The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) has once again asked UEFA to take action regarding the poor condition of the turf at the Bilino Pole stadium in Zenica, where the first play-off match of the 2012 European Championship between the national teams of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Portugal is scheduled to take place on November 11.

The Bosnians played all four home matches of the qualifying round in 2011 at this arena, winning four of them.

UEFA refused to move the match to another stadium, but the FPF sporting director again expressed his dissatisfaction with the condition of the pitch: “The condition of the pitch is even worse than it was during the first inspection, which took place immediately after the play-off draw. We expressed our opinion to UEFA that the host side is not making enough efforts to ensure that the match takes place in favorable conditions."

Portuguese Zenit midfielder Miguel Danny , who is worried about an injured knee, will definitely not take part in the play-offs. "I'm upset. “I really wanted to help the team in such important matches,” Danny told Abola.pt. “Unfortunately, I’m not ready to play at full strength right now.”

But another Portuguese from Zenit, Bruno Alves, can take the field. The Bosnian team may feature Zvezdan Misimovic (Dynamo) and Elvir Rahimic (CSKA).

Czech Republic - Montenegro
November 11, 23.15
Prague, Letna
Referee: Atkinson (England)
Quotes of BC "Fon" on Thursday: 1.68—3.40—5.30

The Montenegro team, which took part in the European Championship qualifying tournament for the first time, achieved significant success by making it to the play-offs. Her opponent, the Czech team, which has lost its shine after the change of generations, will try to rehabilitate itself for past failures.

Montenegro national team striker Mirko Vucinic shared his opinion on the upcoming confrontation. “It is unlikely that we will ever be so close to success again. A unique chance - now or never. We must prepare for these matches as if they were the last in our careers. A good result in an away match would be, for example, 1:1. The most important thing is to score. Our attack can cause problems for the Czech defense. I have no doubt that the Czechs are very strong, but in these two matches everything will depend on us. If we unleash our potential to 100 percent and fight one for all and all for one, then we will have every chance of achieving historic success,” Vucinic told the official UEFA website.

Chelsea and Czech Republic goalkeeper Petr Cech , who broke his nose in the English Championship match against Blackburn, took part in his national team's training session on Thursday. The goalkeeper entered the field wearing a special mask and worked without restrictions. However, according to the Czech coaching and medical staff, this does not mean that the player will be allowed to play in the first match of the playoff round of the European Championship qualifying tournament against Montenegro.

In the upcoming matches, players from Moscow and Nalchik “Spartak” may meet on the field - Marek Suchy in the Czech team and Miodrag Djudovic and Milan Jovanovic in the national team from the Balkan Peninsula.

News about the main football tournament of the continent, the position of teams in the qualifying group standings and much more can be found on the Euro 2012 page .

Hiddink will help Russia - Gazeta.Ru