Zenit St Petersburg lifted the UEFA Cup last night, after a well deserved 2-0 victory over Scottish side Glasgow Rangers.

In front of tens of thousands of Russian fans who had travelled to Manchester for the game, Zenit were clearly the better side. But, although dominating the early exchanges, Zenit were unable to pierce Rangers’ well organised defence - the bedrock of their UEFA Cup campaign so far - during the first half.

But on 72 minutes, a wonderful goal from Igor Denisov, who burst through the Rangers defence, turned the final decisively in Zenit’s favour.

Rangers tried to push for the extra goal, but all of their desperate attacks were repulsed by Zenit and even a Rangers penalty claim was turned down by the referee.

Konstantin Zyrinaov sealed victory, and the title, for Zenit wth a cool side-foot into the net four minutes into stoppage time.

Russia is, as you would imagine, ecstatic - the victory was important enough that Prime Minister Putin called manager Dick Advocaat after the match to congratulate him. (No word, though, of whether new President Dmitry Medvedev, who is apparently a Zenit supporter, made a congratulatory call).

Victory in the UEFA Cup will be a wonderful boost for football in Russia, and for St Petersburg in particular. They’ll be especially pleased that CSKA Moscow, who won this tournament back in 2005 can no longer lord it over them.  Although they will worry slightly that victory will attract the attention of Europe’s biggest clubs, who will be keen to poach Zenit’s best players, and their world renowned coach Dick Advocaat.

The only downside to the match was the news that one Russian fan was stabbed by Rangers fans during the match. He’s reported to be in stable condition, and out of danger, but this can only heighten tension ahead of the Champions League FInal in Moscow next week. Two English teams will be playing in Moscow, but there will be a segment of Russian fans who want revenge, and who may not make the distinction between English and Scottish fans.

Georgia ground out a hard fought (literally, at times) 18-12 victory over Russia in Krasnoyarsk in the Rugby Union European Nations Cup title decider.

Although each team still has one game to play, Georgia have now pulled two points clear of Russia. Georgia’s stronger record in head to head matches between the two teams ensures that they will be crowned European Nations Cup champions for 2008.

A match report and video highlights of the game are below.

Bruising encounter

On a snow covered Krasnoyarsk pitch, the Georgian Lelos roared into an early lead.

Otar Barkalaia was rather fortunate to score under the posts after just 7 minutes but, after converting his own try and following up with a penalty on the 20 minute mark he had almost single-handedly given Georgia a 10-0 lead.

Russia, as seems traditional, ground their way back into the game with four penalties from the boot of Yuri Kushnariov. His fourth kick after 68 minutes brought Russia back to within a point of the Lelos. With the momentum and in front of their passionate home crowd, it would have been hard to bet against the Bears at this point.

But David Katcharava had other ideas. Picking up a quick pass from Lasha Malaghuradze, the winger flew past the Russian defence from 15 yards out to score the winning points.

Russia, roared on by their home crowd, threw everything at Georgia in the last few minutes, but despite battering the Georgian try line, they were unable to quite push their way over.

By all accounts, the match was an ill-tempered one. Two massive brawls scarred the game. A free for all late in the second half led to both number 6s being sin-binned. (Although, according to the Georgian Rugby Union reporter, both players then sat side by side in the sin bin, wrapped in blankets and chatting amiably). And, Georgia’s winning try led to a second brawl and a trip to the sin bin for Georgian prop Goderdzi Shvelidze.

For your voyeuristic entertainment, here’s the first brawl in all its glory:

Looking forward

Regardless of the result, the match has provided a tremendous boost for Russian rugby. The match itself was covered live on NTV-Sports, and will have introduced the game to many new fans.

And, after a strong Nations Cup campaign which has seen the Bears rise to 16th in the world rankings, Russia will be looking forward to a series of further high profile matches over the summer.

IRB Nations Cup, June

Most importantly, Russia will be playing in the IRB Nations Cup tournament in Romania this June. The annual tournament was set up in 2006 to give tier 2 nations the opportunity to test themselves against a higher level of competition than they would normally meet in regional competition.

Russia avoided Georgia in the group draw, and will open the tournaments with matches against Italy A, Romania and Uraguay. Georgia, on the other hand, face the much tougher proposition of matches against Uraguay, the Emerging Springboks (South Africa B) and Italy B.

The top 4 teams from the group stages will progress to the Semi-Finals and, from the fixture list, it looks as though Russia have a pretty good shot.

IRB Sevens tournaments

Russia have also had a fairly good season in Sevens, the lighter form of the game. They won the Bowl tournament in the Hong Kong Sevens a few weeks ago, coming from behind to beat Zimbabwe 19-14.

They’ll be looking to build on this success in the upcoming tournaments in Scotland (where, incidentally, Moldova will be playing for the first time) and England.

Russia’s Rugby Union team have climbed back to the summit of the European Nations Cup table, after a hard fought 12-8 victory over Romania.

The win, secured only with two last-gasp penalties, sets up an thrilling winner takes all fight for the title next month, as Russia host old rivals Georgia.

Romania, traditionally a European rugby powerhouse, were never going to be an easy opponent. Lying third in the table, they trailed Russia and Georgia by just one point at the beginning of the match.

But, in front of 3,000 screaming fans at Krasnodar’s Stadium Junost, Russia kept their nerve and came from behind to edge past a determined and well drilled Romanian team.

Last gasp victory

After taking almost the entire game to grind out a 6-3 lead, Russia looked well placed to run down the clock and secure victory. But the Romanian players clearly hadn’t read the script.

With just 12 minutes left to play, a magnificent drive by Romania’s forwards put replacement Valentin Ursache in position to score from a maul. The conversion was missed but the try was enough to take Romania into a narrow 8-6 lead.

Suddenly finding themselves behind, and with the game almost over, the Russians finally kicked into high gear. Romania managed to resist Russia’s relentless attacking play for 8 more minutes, but two penalties in the last four minutes from Yuriy Kushnarev, Russia’s fly-half, gave Russia a last gasp victory.

Russia vs Georgia – winner takes all title fight

Russia now find themselves top of the European Nations Cup table, three points clear of old rivals Georgia.

Georgia have a game in hand and if, as expected, they beat Spain, the Lelos will go back to the top of the table on points difference to set up a thrilling climax to the European Nations Cup tournament on 12 April.

Russia, who lost 31-13 to Georgia in Tblisi last year will be the slight underdogs. Although Russia have risen to 16th in the world rankings - their highest ever - they are still two places behind the experienced Georgians. And Georgia, as some regular commenters will recall, came within a whisker of dumping Ireland out of this summer’s Rugby World Cup.

But with three consecutive wins under their belt, and thousands of home fans behind them, I wouldn’t bet against the Russian Bears winning their first major title.

Check back in a few weeks for a full match report…

(Image Credit: Russian Rugby Union).

Russia managed to avoid being paired again with England inthe 2010 Word Cup draw. Instead, they’ve drawn Germany, another giant of European football, who are likely to provide far tougher opposition than either England, Croatia or Israel.

Former German World Cup winning coach and captain Franz Beckenbauer certainly isn’t all that worried by the Russian threat:

“We have no reason at all to be unhappy about this group. There are more difficult groups and there are easier groups. We’re in the middle somewhere,” he told Premiere television. “Russia will be the most difficult, but they only made it into the Euro finals because of the incompetence of England. I think Russia should be beatable. Without being arrogant, you’d have to say we’re the clear favourite in this group.”

Looking on the bright side, though, the other teams in Russia’s World Cup qualifying group aren’t particularly intimidating, and Russia should be able to comfortably secure second place, and a play-off match against another second place finisher for a place in the World Cup itself.

Here’s the draw for Group 4 in full:

Germany
Russia
Finland
Wales
Azerbaijan
Liechtenstein

England, by the way, have been drawn in a post-Soviet paradise of a group. As well as being drawn against Croatia and Andorra (again), they’ve daunting away trips to Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan to look forward to.

Well, well. After Russia slipped up in Israel, we all thought it was over. Surely there was no way England could slip up in their last game against Croatia, no hope left for a demoralised Russia.

After all, England were playing at Wembley, their newly refurbished spiritual home, and they only needed to a draw to secure qualification for Euro 2008.

Shame Croatia didn’t read the script. They stomped all over a woeful England on their home turf, winning 3-2 and condemning Steve McLaren’s men to a summer of watching footie on the telly, and McLaren himself to a summer of soul-searching and job hunting.

I’d like to praise the inspired way that Russia won their last game in Andorra (a must win game for Russia at the time). Sadly though, the mighty Russian team didn’t really turn up last night either, only managing to scrape a 1-0 win against Andorra, the group’s whipping boys.

Russia, it has to be said, booked their place in the finals pretty much by default. On last night’s performances, neither England nor Russia deserved a spot in the finals. And a team that can only scrape past Andorra doesn’t really deserve to be in the finals - certainly not when there are quality teams like - um - Israel out there, who were unbeaten in their qualifying matches against Russia.

Kudos to Andorra, though, 0-1 was by far their best result of the tournament.

Can you tell I’m an Englishman, by the way? And that I’m a little bit bitter?

Still, I can’t complain too much. While my compatriots are morosely watching the England-less Euro 2008 finals, I’ll at least be able to support my second team!

Go Russia!

Israel beat Russia 2-1 on Saturday, a result which leaves Russia’s hopes of qualifying for football’s Euro 2008 hanging by a slender thread and proves comprehensively that Israel are the most honest team in European football.

Russia had gone into the game with high hopes of sealing qualification, thanks to a stunning 2-1 home victory over rivals England last month, but defeat this weekend means that Russia can only pray that Engand lose their final match against Croatia on Wednesday.

The result proved a shock to many pundits, especially those anti-Russian doom-mongers in the British sporting press who had spent the past few weeks merrily circulating rumours that the Israel team had suspiciously close ties to Russia, and were bound to throw the game. Implied, but never quite claimed outright, was that Russian would bribe the Israel team to ensure the right result.

However, as the London Times was quite happy to acknowledge yesterday, the rumour mill actually proved an inspiration to Israel, prompting the Times to dole out some patronising praise and to cheekily claim some of the credit for Israel’s victory:

It was an inconsistent performance from an inexperienced Israel team - the same could be said of Russia – but it was commendable how the home side fought to the end. They were spurred, undoubtedly, by the speculation in the English media that they would roll over; by the talk that they were far too chummy with Russia. Glad to be of assistance, Steve.

I particularly liked the way that corruption allegations have been rephrased as “talk that they were far too chummy with Russia.” But, who was doing the talking? Would you ever guess from the above report that it was the Times themselves who reported the claims Israel would throw the Russia game?

However, so keen were Israel to prove their innocence, they not only went on to win the game, but have refused some massive prizes, including a Mercedes car offered to goalscorer Omer Golan promised by an internet betting site. The Telegraph reports:

“A Mercedes would be nice, a present for my dad,” he said. The Israeli Football Association, however, stated that Golan would not be able to accept the gift because it was deemed to be “beyond the bounds of sportsmanship”.

“Only the Israel FA can give incentives to the players. Certainly they cannot be given by any interested third party and obviously this applies when the offer comes from a fan of a team which has a direct interest in the result,” they said in a statement.

To give you an idea of the relative value of the Mercedes to Golan: his salary is approximately $200,000 per year - the car is worth $100,000.

Romanian supporters have come up with a novel way of boosting their team’s chances in the upcoming Russia-Romania rugby match - they’ve stolen the Russian team’s rugby boots!

BBC News reports:

“After training, the Russian players left their boots and part of their gear in the hotel’s reception,” the FRR (Romanian Rugby Federation) said in a statement.

“During a sudden power cut, nine pairs of boots, other types of sport shoes and some gear disappeared,” it said.

The Romanian Rugby Federation did come to their opponents aid though, by offering them free replacement boots.

And apparently, rumours that the Russian team (or nine members of the team, at least) had to practice in their socks are apparently unfounded.

Following England’s announcement that it will definitely bid to host the 2018 football World Cup, rumours are flying that England’s World Cup bid could be subject to a deal with Russia.

Russia are also thought to be considering a bid for the World Cup in 2018 and, while the consensus is that England would probably put together the stronger bid, the English Football Association fear that the Russian bid could take away valuable votes from England, handing the world cup to the US or China instead.

So what better way around this problem than for the two nations to forge a gentlemans agreement? If Russia withdraws from the 2018 World Cup race, then England would support a Russian bid to host the 2016 European Championship.

From the perspective of both Russia and England, this deal seems like a great idea. England get the clear run they need at the World Cup, and Russia, which realistically would have trouble coping with the logistical demands of the World Cup at the moment, gets to host a tournament in which to showcase its rapidly improving infrastructure and which could prove a valuable stepping stone to a future World Cup bid, perhaps in 2026.

Of course, the English FA are flatly denying that they are considering a deal with Russia - an FA spokesman told the Sun:

“We reject any suggestion there is a pact.”

And Russia would be advised to tread with care anyway when doing deals with the English - if they look back through their history books they’ll discover that the not always honourable English FA made a gentlemans agreement to support a German World Cup bid in 2006, following German support for the English Euro 96 bid. England, of course, reneged on the deal, offering their support elsewhere at the last minute.

The Germans had the last laugh though, as they won the right to host the 2006 World Cup without English support, so perhaps the Russians should instead see the prospect of a broken gentlemens agreement with England as a good omen…

The editorial note at the end of this Chessbase article about Garry Kasparov the politician amused me.

Every time Kasparov appears on a major news show, we receive numerous letters pointing this out. And every time we publish a report on the subject, like the current one, we get a number of letters castigating us for doing so. Politics, we are told, do not belong on a chess news page. Kasparov, so the admonition, is an amateur who should have stuck to chess. Some have far more drastic opinions on the former world champion, most are radically anti-Kasparov, pro-Putin, or both (we are talking about a dozen or so negative letters per report). We regret that Kasparov’s US media blitz is so traumatizing for a few of our readers, but we need to keep reporting on the subject. Guys, you promised to visit chess sites that sanitize their news, filter out politics and/or Kasparov. Why do you keep coming back?

I know, I know. I’m easily amused.

I’m fascinated by this London Times article which reports on a number of alleged conspiracy theories surrounding Russia’s upcoming Euro 2008 match against Israel.

If the wooly - and completely unsourced - theories in the article are to be believed, someone Russian (possibly someone related to the team, possibly someone related to Roman Abramovich) is going to bribe the Israeli team to throw the game.

Wednesday was a bad night for England but a good one for conspiracy theorists. After Moscow’s plastic surface, will Tel Aviv’s Ramat Gan Stadium prove English football’s grassy knoll, their qualification hopes shot to bits amid mysterious circumstances? Russia visit Israel on November 17 and victory for Guus Hiddink’s side would all but seal their place at Euro 2008, at England’s expense.

The article is based almost entirely on rumours - none of which are actually attributed to someone. Ominously, the central theme of their article seems to be that Roman Abramovich is Jewish, has ties to Israel - he funds a $4 million tournament there every year and, last month he unexpectedly hired a previously little known Israeli to coach his multi-million pound team at Chelsea.

The only actual quotes in the article come from Israeli football officials, keen to quash these mysterious rumours.

I’m sure there are rumours floating about, but I’m amazed that Russia’s PR over recent months has become so bad that even a (supposedly) reputable newspaper such as the Times feels it is appropriate to print them uncritically. Whatever jobs Putin takes on over the next few months, few will be as challenging as the massive PR job needed to salvage Russia’s reputation.

Russia stormed back from a goal down to beat England 2-1 in their Euro 2008 qualifying match. 

England went ahead courtesy of an early Wayne Rooney goal and, with just over twenty minutes to play, had looked to be in control of the game and well on their way to the European Championships.  But, in an inspired move, coach Gus Hiddink brought Roman Pavluchenko onto the pitch - he went on to score both of Russia’s goals.

The result leaves Russia in control of their destiny - they need only to win their next two games against Israel and the not very mighty Andorra.  England, on the other hand, can only realistically qualify if they win their last match and Russia slip up.

England coach Steve McLaren has refused to blame England’s defeat on Russia’s decision to cover the pitch with artificial turf.  Instead, he went down the time honoured route of blaming the referee instead:

“The pitch had nothing to do with it,” he said. “It was lively. They had more preparation, but I’m not making that an excuse.”

“…I’ve just seen the penalty again. It’s an absolute disgrace. It’s outside the box. The linesman didn’t give it. It was the referee [who awarded the penalty] from quite some distance [away]. Things like that turn games.” 

The BBC on the other hand, have no doubts. Engand’s defeat can be blamed on Russian gamesmanship:

McClaren will have been peturbed to see the synthetic surface being heavily watered before kick-off, a move clearly designed to make conditions more favourable for Hiddink’s side.

It’s days like this that I try to forget I’m an Englishman.

Update: For the England v Russia result, check out my match report.

Russia play England next week in a crucial qualifying match for the 2008 European Championships - and already the arguments have begun over Russia’s artificial football pitch.

Usually artficial turf is banned in international matches, but occasionally UEFA make an exception and allows countries with extreme weather conditions - and Russia certainly qualifies on that count - to use an astroturf pitch. 

But the England camp are crying foul - or, perhaps, calling out chicken (ahem) - claiming that the only reason Russia won’t play on real grass is because they are afraid they’ll lose to an England team who trounced Russia 3-0 in London just a matter of weeks ago:

Michael Davis, spokesman for the Fieldturf company, said: 

“After the defeat, they said that they will play on the existing surface,” Davis said. “The Russians had agreed there would be a new surface, but the result at Wembley changed that.

“Some of the Russia players will have played on that surface before, knowing that the England players haven’t.”

Still, according to Goal.com, England have a contingency plan:

they are scheduled to train at the only pitch in the country that boasts an exact replica of the Moscow pitch, that of The Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College in Altrincham. 

I must confess, Altrincham wasn’t top of the list of places I thought I’d find an exact replica of the Luzhniki Olympic Stadium but, you learn something new every day, as they say.

Anyway - moving on - Russia’s fans are desparate to watch the England game, fake pitch or not.  UEFA report that, despite pouring rain, 70,000 people formed a queue almost a mile long for the chance to buy one of 6,500 tickets still available for the game.

Update: Shamefully, I neglected to link to Ger O’Brien’s excellent article - Last Chance Saloon for Russia at Luzhniki - over at Sean’s Russia Blog.  What can I say?  I’m still slowly catching up on my blog reading…

According to Xinhua, more than 100 women took part in a high heeled sprint in St Petersburg at the weekend.  The minimum (minimum!) height of the heels was cool 9 centimetres.

 

 

The winner got to take home a cool 50,000 roubles. Which buys an awful lot of high heeled shoes…

President Putin’s speech to the Olympic Committee in Guatemala is widely credited as being one of the key factors that tipped the Winter Olympic vote in Sochi’s favour.

And now, you can see the speech in its entirety (plus some dodgy introductory music), courtesy of Russia Today:

I have to say, I was very impressed by the way in which Putin delivered his speech in English.

Although Putin is known for his excellent language skills, as far as I know, he’s never given a speech in English before on the world stage. On the evidence of this speech, he should use English more when speaking to the press. It would do the power of good to Russia’s international image.

Congratulations to Sochi which was awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics after a nailbiting vote last night.

Sochi secured 51 votes at a meeting of International Olympic Committee (IOC) delegates in Guatemala, beating its South Korean rival by just four votes.

As well as the facilities on offer, Vladimir Putin’s contribution was thought by many to be vital to the victory, after addressing the Olympic delegates in three languages - English, French and Spanish. According to the BBC:

It is believed to be the first time the Russian leader has been heard speaking English at a public ceremony.

I suspect that the people of Sochi are especially pleased by their victory. As well as all the business possibilities opened up by their victory, the mayor of Sochi has declared today a public holiday!

You can visit the official website of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, or the unofficial Sochi Winter Olympics Blog to discover more. At the moment, I’d recommend visiting the blog, as the official site seems to have collapsed under the strain.