Russia fly to Euro 2012 on a high after Italy win

Posted Monday, June 04, 2012 by YAHOO Sport

Russia coach Dick Advocaat said his team were brimming with confidence as they flew out to Euro 2012 on Sunday with a big friendly win over Italy in their pocket and the luck of a relatively easy group draw.

The Euro 2008 semi-finalists recorded their first post-Soviet win over Italy in Zurich on Friday - a 3:0 drubbing that made amends for a lacklustre draw with Lithuania in their previous warm up for the June 8 tournament kick-off.

The 64-year-old Advocaat said his coaching experience from four previous big event finals told him that Russia were entering the European football showpiece at their peak.

"We are on the upswing. We are improving from game to game," Advocaat said of his veteran squad.

"The Italy result fills us with confidence. These friendlies were very important," the Dutch coach said.

Russia will be furious if they fail to progress from a group that besides their opening match foes the Czech Republic also includes co-hosts Poland and Greece.

The team is almost identical to the one that showed charismatic flair in their shock defeat of the Netherlands in the 2008 quarter finals -- a win that showed Russia playing an attacking style of football missing for many years.

Russia will be captained by 2008 star Andrei Arshavin and feature a backbone of players from the championship winning Zenit Saint Petersburg side that has been playing competitively in Europe for much of the past decade.

Advocaat said he had "eight or nine" players in mind who would feature for Russia regularly in the opening matches.

"But I cannot name the 11 who will come out on the pitch (against the Czech Republic) on June 8," he said.

Russia will play the hosts in Warsaw on June 12 and conclude the group stage with a match against Greece on June 16.