Comments on: GRE 0-1 RUS: Russia Dethrones Reiging Champions Greece

By: Ivan

Ivan — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:22:23 +0000

РОССИЯ!!! ВПЕРЁД!!!

By: Hind

Hind — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:24:28 +0000

Well as a fan of attacking football I must say I’m extremely satisfied with the result. It’s good that there will be sufficient time now for Arshavin to make an impact on the tournament, with the match against Sweden now vitally important for both sides. He was the stand out player in a superb Zenit side this season and it would have been a real shame for him to miss out on his chance to shine on the biggest stage, just as it has been for Pogrebnyak. Missing out on the UEFA Cup final was a huge blow and for that to be followed by missing the European Championships, well, I’ll be wishing him all the best of luck in the future. That said, his replacement, and probably partner were he featuring, Pavlyuchenko was impressive. Were his finishing last night as good as the rest of his game then the performance would have been one of the most memorable in recent years.

By: exile

exile — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:40:38 +0000

What is there to say? Both teams fucked up royally in their first game, and now at best one of them will be able to progress, albeit still feeling fragile from their Spanish battering.

It’s a real shame. Russia came here to play beautiful but it all started to fall apart. First Arshavin was suspended for the first 2 games from a ridiculous red-card against Spain’s proxy (Andorra), then Kerzhakov (their leading scorer in qualifying) was dropped from the squad, and the hit-man poised to replace him as #1, Pogrebniak bowed out of the tourney with a knee injury.

As for Greece, they qualified with the most points out of any team, and being defending champs were out to at the very least defend their pride, show it wasn’t the flute (that everyone seems to claim it was) the first time around.

For Russia it was a defensive error by Kolodin turned costly thanks to a sloppy marking by Shirokov. For Greece it was simply a moment of brilliance by Ibrahimovich.

This sport is cruel, particularly its tournaments, and luck plays a big part to any successful squad. Don’t think about it too much, despite what others might read into it, or the media might claim.