Euro 2012 - Russia v Czech Republic

Russia, so impressive for many when going to the semi-finals four years ago to be knocked out by eventual winners Spain, will fancy their chances of doing the same again when taking on Czechoslovakia in the second game of the tournament. Dick Advoccat’s side topped their qualifying group by two points with Ireland in second place, but let in just four goals against them and bounced back from a home defeat to Slovakia to land four of their next 5 games.  Many of the squad are members of the team that were so impressive when winning four years ago, and they should come here confident after winning the Premier League with Zenit (seven players, including striker Aleksander Kerzakhov), and all of them know Dick Advoccat well from his Uefa Cup win with the same side. Russia enter this tournament off a 14 match unbeaten run thanks to that, with a 3-0 win against Italy turning heads (even if just for a friendly where the hosts missed several chances) and hopefully providing plenty of confidence for the front three to take into their opener.

The Czechs had one of the worst qualifying campaigns of any side who made it to the finals, coming a remote second to Spain, collecting just 13 points (two of them thanks a cheap penalty against Scotland, who were similarly toothless in the away leg) before drawing the only second-placed side with an inferior record (Montenegero) in the play-offs. They  ost more qualifying matches (three) than any other side that qualified for Euro 2012, while Excluding the play-offs the Czech Republic scored only 12 goals during qualifying (including three penalties) - the fewest of all the qualifying nations.

Left back Michael Kadlec was top scorer in qualifying with four goals, but three of them were penalties, which says a lot for the attacking quality of a side that’s still reliant on Milan Baros – who could manage only 8 goals for Galastaray this season  - for most of their goals. Tomas Rosicsky was on fire for Arsenal in certain games towards the end of the season, and Bordeaux’s Jaroslav Plasil is well capable of creating chances if getting the ball, although this Russia side tends to dominate possession as seen through their qualifiers.

With Igor Akinfeev, right-back Aleksandr Anyukov and striker Roman Pavlyuchenko all emerged from their final training session unscathed following knocks, Russia should also be in prime form for their opening encounter and the fact they won their first game at the last tournament (when taking 9 points from the group stages) is a sign of great encouragement, and the 6/4 on Russia makes great appeal. However with Russia already backed for the Group stages and also backed to win all of their games, there can be more value found in their price. Russia have kept clean sheets in 6 of their last 7 competitive matches, which makes the win to nil option tempting. With 9/4 too short for my liking, the 1 and 2-0 correct scores will do for me, given how many of Russia’s games went unders in the qualifying stages.

Advice

1 pt 1-0 Russia (6/1 188Bet)

1 pt 2-0 Russia (10/1 Ladbrokes)