RUS 3-0 LIE: Russia Get on Germany’s Tail

September 8th, 2009 | by: nick | Comments(7)

Hello all Russia fans. I know I’m late but I will just get a few words out about last saturdays game. As you all know Russia defeated Liechtenstein at the Petrovsky Stadium in St. Petersburg last Saturday. In a short sentence Russia basically tore Liechtenstein apart.

In my opinion this was a dress rehearsal for the crucial qualifier against Wales in Cardiff. I do believe the Russian team functioned brilliantly without Yuri Zhirkov and Andrei Arshavin. The latest details suggest Arshavin will be match fit while Zhirkov is still a doubt. One interesting aspect of the game was Bilyaletdinov playing as a left back in place of Zhirkov. Since Euro 2008, I have wondered what happened to the A. Berezutski, Kolodin, Ignashevich, V. Berezutski/Anyukov back line? This lineup worked really well in the Euro 2008 qualifiers and I think Hiddink revert to it incase Zhirkov is unavailable and use Bilyaletdinov is a more attacking position.

Anyway I’ll make this a short blog and stay on the look out for a preview ahead of Wednesday’s qualifier against Wales.