Russia look to improve after beating Italy

Poland Beating Italy 3-0 in a final pre-tournament friendly was not good enough for Russia coach Dick Advocaat. After last Friday’s match, the Dutchman scanned video of the match looking for ways his team could improve. “The good thing is, hopefully it gives us confidence we can score three times against a team like Italy with all its individual stars,” Advocaat said. “On the other hand, I saw the game yesterday again and I saw ... things we have to improve. Otherwise we can have problems against teams like Czech, Poland and Greece.” Four years ago, the Russians made a surprising run to the semi-finals of the 2008 European Championship. And Advocaat’s perfectionism makes them an outsider at Euro 2012. But he said Russia has to tighten up in defence “because we gave away too many chances against Italy.”Russia, who won the first ever European Championship in 1960 as the Soviet Union, open their Group A campaign on Friday against the Czech Republic in Wroclaw. The team then returns to Warsaw to play co-hosts Poland and 2004 champions Greece. Advocaat’s team is built around a core of players who played at Euro 2008 under another Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink, and were overpowered 3-0 by eventual champions Spain in the semi-finals. Stars such as Andrey Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko shone four years ago and immediately cashed in on their success with moves to Arsenal and Tottenham, respectively. In London, they gained experience playing club football at the highest level, but failed to consistently emulate their Euro 2008 successes. Both have since returned to play in Russia, Pavlyuchenko to Lokomotiv Moscow and Arshavin on loan to former club Zenit St. Petersburg. Advocaat has enough quality in his squad that neither Arshavin nor Pavlyuchenko are certain to start Friday’s opener. Zenit midfielder Roman Shirokov scored twice against Italy to reinforce his claim on a spot in the starting lineup. The outspoken Shirokov was in the Russia squad four years ago in Austria and Switzerland but was dropped after the team’s opening loss to Spain. Advocaat can also call on Fulham striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, who is hoping to make his mark in Poland and Ukraine after missing out on selection four years ago because of injury. “The majority of players are still there. That can be an advantage,” Advocaat said. “The frame of the team is still there. Four years older, but also four years more experience.”from gulf news.