Capello's Russia

[Jordinho]

Their captain, Roman Shirokov, has withdrawn with injury and been replaced by Pavel Mogilevets.

 

[milo]

Russia have such a poor record in the WC since the end of Soviet Union. They had failed to get past the group stage in 1994 and 2002. And this Russian team just does not fills you with much confidence either. But if they do finish behind South Korea and fail to progress to the next stage, they might as well give up the right to host the 2018 WC and forget about football completely. All the Asian teams have been very poor in recent times. Both Japan and South Korea struggled badly in the qualifiers. It will be utter humiliation for Russia if they don't beat South Korea and finish ahead of them.

Frankly, that should be happening on human rights grounds and for the same reasons that questions are being asked about 2022.

 

[Spurs7891]

Frankly, that should be happening on human rights grounds and for the same reasons that questions are being asked about 2022.

Politics and sports should not mix. If you talk about human rights, no country will be fit to host the WC as all the countries are breaking the human rights in some way.

 

[Hidden]

Not sure having all the players from the domestic league is a good thing. It only shows the lack of quality players in Russia now.

Not only lack of quality. It is also explained by other two factors:
1. RPL has a limit (necessarily: 4 players with russian passport on the pitch during previous season; 5 players next season, which, however, is still being discussed).
2. Nowadays Russian players earn very good money (mainly because of factor №1) and their salaries can be compared to salaries of ordinary players from English top-6 clubs.

So clubs aren't interested much in their outcome from the league. As well as players, until best offers are received, but they aren't, because of players' lack of quality

Whatever happened to Alan Dzagoev ? He was being touted as a future star and linked with all the big teams in Europe including Spurs only a few years ago. But he is still playing in Russia and nothing much is being heard about him now.

Still promising and shows glimpsess of top-class. Still has problems with behaviour and nerves on the pitch.

All the Asian teams have been very poor in recent times

I don't agree. Japan is not so poor as you describe. Surely they have all chances to pass group stage and reach last-16.
South Korea, however, is weaker and we've won against them half year ago in a friendly game.
I reckon Algeria will deliver us more problems.

Politics and sports should not mix. If you talk about human rights, no country will be fit to host the WC as all the countries are breaking the human rights in some way.

I agree. Too many undeserved critics and bad words in Russia's adress.
I always understood upset of other countries, who wanted to host one of two upcoming world cups (especially England, which football culture is a model for the rest of the world). I also agree with the opinion that Russia used some instruments to affect FIFA's final decision (figures of Putin, Abramovich defenitely took part in it). But to put Qatar and Russia in a row of criticism is ludicrous.

Regions where WC will be held in Russia, have perfect or nearly perfect weather conditions for football in June. Qatar? The probability of winter WC is already being discussed.
Hole country of Qatar is only 4.6 times bigger than... Moscow. It's ridiculous when you talk not only about football but about world festival of cultures. What will you see in Qatar except modern skyscrapers, hotels and desert and what will you be able to see in Russia, which regions, where world cup will take place, are like different countries?
Russia (as USSR successor) has solid football history and built stadiums will be used many years after the World Cup will be finished. Qatar has no history and most of their stadiums will be dismantled. Many things prove that Qatar's WC is just a toy for mega-rich sheikhs.
Human rights? I remember only 2 death cases by accident during Kazan-Arena and Otkritie-Arena constructions. How many hundreds of people have already died in Qatar? Despite prejudices and western media bullsh*t, black people or gays aren't killed on the streets. We still have some problems with stadium racism (mainly in St.Petersburg and Moscow), but the situation is much better than during 00-s and the work is still going. Not many countries fully resolved the issue. Just think about Italy, France, Spain...

I have never been a huge fan of government's decision to host a WC, because we still have many social problems to spend money on, but as soon as it was decided, I reckoned it will be a great feast and an opportunity for lots of people to know the country and its culture. Winter Olympics have already proved many doubters wrong.