RUS 6-0 AND: Goal Storm Puts Russia Through

October 16th, 2011 | by: nick | Comments(6)

After a 6-0 win at home to Andorra on Tuesday, Russia qualified for their third European Championship in succession. Russia finished the campaign with 23 points from seven wins, two draws and a loss. The Republic of Ireland earned second place after a nervy 2-1 win over Armenia in Dublin. We will now wait for the draw to see how the groups will play out. Much will depend on the play-offs next month because Russia could wind up having to face sides like Spain, Germany, or the Netherlands in the pots above them and teams like Denmark, France, and Sweden in the pot below them. If Estonia, Montenegro, or Bosnia end up in the tournament, Russia have the prospect of facing an easier draw.

There isn’t much to say about this game other than Russia were heavy favorites to win the match and qualify directly from Group B. Anything less would have been a total shock to the footballing world. The overall performance showed Russia were focused and prepared for the match and Dick Advocaat did his job to stamp out complacency and overconfidence. Five different players scored six goals with relative ease meeting very little resistance from the Andorrans. The lineup had a few changes with Shishkin in for Anyukov and Aleksei Berezutski for Zhirkov. One player of note was Denis Glushakov who started in the attacking midfield spot for the suspended Zyrianov. He was on hand to score the fifth goal but was also instrumental in most of the plays. Dzagoev was obviously the hero of the night after scoring three goals in his last two caps.

Russia 6-0 Andorra
Goals: Dzagoev 5, 44, Ignashevich 26, Pavlyuchenko 30, Glushakov 59, Bilyaletdinov 78