I don’t know why Hiddink used Kolodin and Shirokov to replace the twins and Ignashevich. Plus Anyukov, the twins and Ignashevich created a strong denfense during the qualifying round. Did they injured, banned or return home after a quarrel with the Hollander, like the retired Mostovoi’s actions in 1994 and 2004(Russia often faced this kind of scandal)? Can anyone tell me the truth?

Some people said the twins and Ignashevich are too slow to handle the Spanish strickers. I don’t agree with this opinion. I think they could freeze the Spanish star strickers because of their defense skill, experience and cooperation.

At last, the inexprienced Kolodin and Shirokov were totally outwitted by the two Spanish strickers. The weak defense also worried the midfielders. They did not dare to attack freely.

Russia did not show its real power in this match.

I think some merits of the team deserve our praise.

First, the players could see the two side-backs of Spain were not so capable, they did attack form the two sides and produce some dangerous scene.

Second, Russia produced some dangerous long-range shots, though they hit the bar and post.

Third, without good cover, goalkeeper Akinfeev could still performed very well.

To conclude, though without Arshavin and Pogrebnyak, Russia’s offensive still performed quite well at the first half. So, when Hiddink restores the defense line, I think Russia could beat the weak defending champion, Greece easily and at least get a draw when facing Sweden.

HEY RUSSIA, see you in the second round!

I’d like to see a little bit more aggressiveness though from the entire team — I think it would make a whole lot of difference..and I agree with the poster about the lethargic defending of Shirokov..

Better luck against Greece and Sweden…

Title: THIS is why you don’t convert mid-fielder’s to center-backs……..

Thank you very much Shirokov! You were by far Spain’s man-of-the-match…

While everyone seems to be praising a ‘fantastic’ performance by the Spanish duo and Xavi being for Spain what Arshavin should of been Russia… what it all came down to was the Zenit central defender playing like it was a practice match rather than Euro 08.

The first goal was completely his fault, giving it away to Xavi on a clumsy long-distance pass and despite being caught out of position gingerly jogging back to the box while watching Kolodin struggling in a one on one situation with Torres instead of tracking Villa.

One would think that such a soft goal would wake a player up, however he continued to lazily drift around the pitch and be caught out of position.

You could see what Hiddink was thinking; Spain are not a tall team by any stretch and despite Sergei Ignashevich and the twins being far more proven, the quick Shirokov & Kolodin are better suited to handle Torres & Villa. Even with all the errors Kolodin had today, he fared better than Berezutsky would have, particularly since some could be attributed to the rain.

No, the blaim for Russia’s dreadful defensive performance today in fact falls solely on the lazy and spoiled Zenit liability known as Roman Shirokov.

Goal #2 came after a horrendous corner kick from Russia. As Spain kick-started their counter-attack, I counted seven Russian players rushing back to defend. Out of those seven, where was Shirokov? He was walking around in no-man’s land on the other-side of the pitch! In fact it was the lone striker Pavlyuchenko playing center-back, along-side Anyukov, who thanks to the absence of any other defenders was caught out, having to cover a large area of the pitch and not being able to commit solely to marking Villa nor playing him off-side.

And finally Goal #3 was probably Shirokov’s biggest failure, underestimating a man with two goals already, as a complete amateur. Without a doubt a tremendous move by Villa to bring the ball back, however it was pure sloppiness from Shirokov to give Villa a look at the goal for two full seconds from 10 yards out while stranding his keeper Akinfeev to cover the entire length of the goal.

How Guss Hiddink did not replace him with Ignashevich at half-time I will never understand. I don’t care if it is harsh on a player, he had to send him a message, play like that and you won’t be playing in this tournament.

Spain’s fourth and final goal, was a complete group failure, a result of the loss of will. Being off-side it shouldn’t of counted, but the game was long over by then anyway.

If Guss dares to play this man again, I can’t wait to see how he does against the likes of Henrik Larson & Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

(picture)
[img]http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/6590/1907617qa7.jpg[/img]

*if I was Anyukov or Akinfeev, I would punch this lazy disgrace of a teammate in the face