Ireland face Russia tomorrow at the Aviva Stadium in a vital qualification match, and despite having one fortieth of their population, Ireland have nothing to fear.
By Conor Hogan
1. Russia’s bad performances
Dick Advocaat’s men began their campaign with a very unimpressive 2-0 victory over Andorra – a team ranked second last out of all European footballing nations. The second match was even worse; losing at home to Slovakia, thanks to a goal from Miroslav Stoch.
Russia’s current run of bad form goes back a long time. Their last four competitive results in 2009 were a 1-0 home loss to Germany, a 1-1 draw against Azerbaijan and a 2-2 away goals loss to Slovenia over two legs. Their friendly results have hardly been inspiring either, and have included a 1-1 draw against Hungary.
2. Ireland’s recent form
Friendlies aren’t always the best judge of where a team is at, but it cannot be disputed that Ireland are on a good run. After only managing victories against Georgia and Cyprus in the World Cup qualifiers, Ireland have now won four out of their last five matches, including a 2-1 win over Paraguay – a team who made the quarter-finals at South Africa.
3. Ireland’s home record
In World Cup and European qualifiers, Ireland are undefeated in 13 home group matches. You would have to go the whole way back to 7 September 2005 to find a loss – Thierry Henry scoring the winner in a match in Lansdowne Road.
The Aviva Stadium has been a fortress for Ireland in our one competitive game so far
It should also be noted that Ireland have a 100% competitive record at the Aviva Stadium, and that the only team we have ever lost to there is Argentina. Admittedly it only opened in May.
4. Russian injuries
Striker Roman Pavlyuchenko came off at half time during Tottenham’s 2-1 victory against Aston Villa with an injury, and has now pulled out of the Ireland v Russia game. Meanwhile, Zenit St. Petersburg striker Aleksandr Bukharov, who scored 16 times in 23 games for Rubin Kazan last season, is also very doubtful.
The Russians will more than likely start with Stuttgart’s Pavel Pogrebnyak, who has scored four goals in the Bundesliga this season, with the out-of-form Andrei Arshavin as a second striker. Alternatively, Bukharov’s Zenit strike-partner Aleksandr Kerzhakov might play.
5. Aiden McGeady
Since making the move to Russia, the ex-Celtic man has been in flying form, helping his club Spartak Moscow to climb the League table. His pace and trickery has caused defences no end of trouble.
“Managers would drum it into them to double up on me whenever I got the ball, which after a while was quite frustrating,†he said of his time in Scotland in a recent interview.
“But I am an unknown in Russia at the moment and I am enjoying it. It’s on the continent and it’s a different style of football.â€
The Glasgow-born Ireland international is already a crowd favourite at his club, and has averaged an assist a game.
Duff’s injury might even aid the Irish, as Ireland’s most in-form player doesn’t even make the team normally, with Trapattoni preferring the solid Liam Lawrence and Duff on the flanks.
To see how he did this week with Spartak, along with the contributions of other Irish footballers playing abroad, click here.
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