Of the 90 minutes of the Russia-Croatia match, fans could only like five. In the first third of the second half, the Russian team staged a massive assault, initiated by Andrey Arshavin, Pavel Pogrebnyak and Igor Semshov. On the whole, the game turned out to be inexpressive, and 0-0 - its quite logical outcome.
The Russian team entered a new cycle. To understand how new it will be and whether it makes sense to add an appraisal adjective to the definition, say, “radically new”, it takes time. But the cycle has become a new one anyway. Behind independent football Russia there are seven two-year qualifying campaigns - from the North American Mundial 94 to his youngest German counterpart. Three of the seven tournaments ended successfully: Russia traveled to the United States, followed by Euro 96 in England, and finally two years ago at another continental forum in Portugal. For all this time, the rivals of the Russian teams, which were led by Oleg Romantsev, Anatoly Byshovets, Boris Ignatiev, Valery Gazzayev, Georgy Yartsev and Yuri Semin, only once turned out to be a team with rich victorious experience: we argued with the then champions for a ticket to Euro 2000 peace of the French. This time, for the first time, Russian football players had the opportunity to play in the qualification group with two teams with the title of World Championship winners - England and Croatia. By the way, the new coach of the Croatian national team Slaven Bilic as a player had the most direct relation to her bronze achievement.
However, this is not the only "first time". The main football team of Russia was headed by a foreign coach, and from the "majority" list. The titles of the Dutchman Guus Hiddink are not the time to recall, the main thing is that his invitation was a demonstration of serious intentions. In any case, this is exactly how the invitation should be treated, given the global situation. So, the particular complexity of the task in the qualifying cycle is not the basis for excuses and generally lowering the bar. If Russia does not go to Euro-08, it will be bad, disastrously bad. This will be three out of eight, and if the cycles ´94 and ´96 are discarded as belonging to the post-Soviet era, then one out of six. We will probably find within ourselves the strength to forgive Hiddink. But we cannot escape despair. If even with him ... Here is the price of success in a group tournament.
And the success in the group stage - and we realized that right after last year's draw for the qualifying round - is almost a direct result of the results of matches with Croatia. Yesterday and the return, which will take place in the spring in the Balkans.
On the almost full “Locomotive” (empty seats, and even that were a little, were only in the guest sector), the Russians did not at all try to break the opponent’s resistance with a start onslaught. On the contrary, the Hiddink wards gave the initiative to the Croats, relying only on moving the only striker - Roman Pavlyuchenko - and on long-range strikes, which, firstly, were very few, and secondly, they were extremely inaccurate. The guests controlled the ball effortlessly without encountering any opposition either in their half or in the central zone. But the hosts almost did not allow them to the penalty. Only at the very beginning of the match Ivan Klasnich struck from a dangerous distance, and at the end of the first half-hour of the game Eduardo organized an attack on the left, and Igor Akinfeev had to fall at the feet of Milan Rapaich to ward off the threat. The Russians created their only acute moment before the break by the efforts of Arshavin, but Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, who responded to the transfer from St. Petersburg, missed the target.
At the beginning of the second half they added in offensive activity - but not the hosts, but the guests. Rapaich struck from the penalty kick into the cross, Akinfeev parried a long-range shot by Niko Kranchar, and in both cases the Croats almost lacked luck in finishing off. Changed the nature of the game, the substitution of Pogrebnyak and the transfer of Arshavin to the attack line. Within five minutes, the Russians created three scoring chances, but immediately rebuilt and the Croats. The speeds increased sharply, however, as it turned out, not for long, especially since the wet, viscous field simply did not allow playing quickly without errors. Klasnich missed the last chance to score - the ball struck the bar after it hit from a turn. And in the end, the craving for caution nevertheless prevailed again - nobody wanted to lose the opening match of the cycle. The team completed its first tournament match under the leadership of Hiddink with a score of 0-0.
Mikhail MELNIKOV, Alexander SHMURNOV