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Running the preview in chronological order was the natural way to compile the players, although Group A is the polar opposite of a “group of death”.

Nevertheless here are my five players who could stand out in Group A.

Alan Dzagoev – Russia

Dzagoev currently plays his domestic football for CSKA Moscow. The little attacking midfielder has already played just under 100 games for CSKA and is still only 21.

Dzaoev has the pace and vision to sit in behind Pavlyuchenko and create the goals to see Russia into the Quarter Finals.

If Dzaoev plays to his potential expect a host of top European clubs to be in line for his signature.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos – Greece

One of many Papadopoulos’ in and around the Greek team. This one Kyriakos is a strong defender who is equally adept in playing as a holding midfielder. Kyriakos signed for Schalke last Summer from Olympiakos

Currently not yet a permanent fixture in the Greek squad but should he be called up he will be one to look out for.

Petr Cech – Czech Republic

An easy option I know, but in a group where games will be tight you need a goalkeeper you can rely on and Cech is a great keeper.

Not in the best of form this season for Chelsea but a lot of that lies to the poor defensive displays from André Villas-Boas’ men.

If Czech Republic are to progress from the group they will need their big players like Cech, Milan Baros and Tomas Rosicky to stand up and be counted.

Robert Lewandowski – Poland

The Borussia Dortmund forward, still only 23, is a goalscorer. I would put my mortgage on Lewandowski being Poland’s top scorer in the tournament.

Quick, strong and a cool finisher, the Polish forward has a cracking record in international football.

A goal every three games can’t be argued with.

Igor Akinfeev – Russia

Any Football Manager player will know the Russian ‘keeper. Whether you bought him, tried to lure him to your club or sworn at him when he has had a blinder against your side, Akinfeev had a FM reputation.

Akinfeev is a brilliant shot-stopper and commands his box well. In a group Russia should really win, they have a good backbone of the side in Akinfeev, Vasali Berezutskiy, Yuri Zhirkov and Andrei Arshavin and should they all perform they will no doubt be in the Quarter-Finals.

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Full Highlights

Russia 1-0 Andorra (Dzagoev)

Russia 2-0 Andorra (Arshavin)

Russia 3-0 Andorra (Pavlyuchenko)

Russia 4-0 Andorra (Dzagoev)

Russia 5-0 Andorra (Glushakov)

Russia 6-0 Andorra (Bilyaletdinov)

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For the full 90 minutes, Russia battered the Irish team, launching wave after wave of unrelenting pressure, and yet, they failed to come away with all three points. Despite only collecting two points from a possible six, Ireland are in a far better position than they could have imagined. Armenia’s shock thrashing of Slovakia in Zilina has left the Irish in second place with two games remaining, a point clear of both sides, and in pole position to qualify from Group B.

The most important thing to remember from an Irish point of view, is that it is in their own hands. Win their final two games against Andorra and Armenia, and they will have at least a play-off spot. There are various different permutations which could see Ireland top the group and gain automatic qualification, or even end up as low as fourth place. For example, should Slovakia bounce back from the Armenia result and defeat the Russians, Ireland would top the group with two wins. If Russia win, Ireland need only four points to secure a play-off spot.

Quite how Ireland have found themselves in this position is nothing short of a miracle. The Russian players, management and supporters must have left the Luzhniki Stadium last night lost for words. Russia had 26 attempts on goal last night in comparison to two for Ireland, and they somehow failed to find the back of the net. Shay Given, and in particular Richard Dunne were outstanding. Given made two vital saves in the first half, and blocked Konstantin Zyryanov’s point blank header late on, to give Ireland a record seventh successive clean sheet, and most importantly, a point. Dunne’s performance was simply phenomenal. His goalline clearance moments after being beaten by Yuri Zhirkov epitomised his never-say-die attitude. He was unlucky to be booked for a legitimate challenge on Zhirkov, which left him with cuts on his face, and a suspension for the Andorra game. Still, given the way things panned out- better to be banned for Andorra than to miss the Armenia game.

Not that Ireland shouldn’t be delighted with the combination of a point and the result in Zilina, but the team performance was atrocious. To say they were completely outplayed in an understatement- Ireland didn’t play full stop. Giovanni Trapattoni deserves and Oscar for keeping a straight face when he assured the media before the match that his team would be playing to win. Time and again the Russians made inroads down the flanks, particularly down the left hand side where Stephen Ward was supposed to be. Yet, too often he simply wasn’t there. It is hard to assume how much of Ward’s terrible positioning was down to his own lack of awareness, and how much was down to him following Trapattoni’s instructions. However, one couldn’t help but think that if he was playing as Trapattoni wanted him to, surely the Italian would have realised that he was a liability, and either changed the system or the player. If Kevin Kilbane is available for the Andorra game, he should slot straight back in.

Aiden McGeady deserves a huge amount of praise for his energetic performance, and was often the man who found himself in the left-back position. In fact, Ireland’s defensive line was so narrow that at times it was as if they were playing four central defenders, with McGeady and Damien Duff operating as wing-backs. Russia’s right-hand side consisting of Aleksandr Anyukov and Andrei Arshavin gave Ireland all sorts of problems. Keith Andrews and Glenn Whelan were overrun in the midfield, and given how deep Ireland’s defensive line was, Russia had a massive amount of possession in opposition territory. This sort of play simply isn’t good enough. It’s becoming a recurring theme but when you look back to how the Irish played that night in Paris, with a team containing no less than seven of the players that played last night, you can see that Ireland don’t need to play football like they did against Russia.

It has to be assumed that the tactics will be different against the weaker Andorra and Armenia teams. Ireland obviously can’t afford to take the Armenians lightly given how well they’ve done in this qualifying campaign, yet a different approach to the one taken in Moscow is necessary. Trapattoni has to trust that his players, and believe that they are the better team. After all, they beat Armenia in Yerevan in the opening qualification match, they lie a full 40 places above the Armenians in the current FIFA world rankings, and while the majority of the Irish team plays in the Premiership, Armenia consists of a group of players that ply their trade in leagues outside of the top six in Europe.

With Ireland’s hopes of qualifying for Euro 2012 in their own hands now, it is simply a matter of hoping that the team can deliver against inferior oppostion. A little help from the Slovaks would also be welcome.

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Smart volley for his opener.

Nice move finished by Tottenham striker.

Penalty to secure his first international hat-trick.

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Russia Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has personally given his support to FIFA president Sepp Blatter in the upcoming elections.

The 75-year-old visited Moscow last week to gather support ahead of the FIFA Congress on June 1.

Blatter is being challenged for his role by Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam.

The Russian Football Association believes they have always had a good relationship with Blatter.

The Swiss national is said to be a ‘good friend and ally’ of the former Communist state and played a huge role in awarding the 2018 World Cup to Russia, defeating England along the way.

“It is to Blatter’s great credit that Russia won the right to host the World Cup,” Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, who is also a member of FIFA’s executive board, was quoted as saying by local media.

Russia was given the rights because it was thought it would expand the borders of the game throughout the world.

Blatter was not so keen to see Qatar awarded the 2022 tournament but Bin Hammam was very influential in his home country making a successful bid.

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1st Half Highlights

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The World Cup in 2022 will be held in the winter, this is an almost unstoppable fact at this point and one has to wonder why and indeed how, this has come to pass.

Let’s get this straight. We were told during the bidding process that Qatar had made special plans to deal with the incredible heat that players would have to play in during the summer, they had in place air conditioned stadia and other facilities that would help resolve fears about playing the World Cup in searing heat.

However now, after they had won the bid, it seems that another plan has been drawn up and the way in which FIFA members are all backing the calls for a move to a winter World Cup just stinks to high heaven. It seems clear that many were well aware that this changing of a 80 year old system was in the cards and the other nations bidding to host the tournament have ever right to feel they have been treated with incredibly disrespect by the governing body.

Honourable Intentions?

Sepp Blatter would have you believe that his intention to open the game up to new markets is not a purely financial one but is in fact part of his dream of build up the football brand across the world, and the word ‘legacy’ will no doubt be sprinkled through any interview with the FIFA president. But may I ask a simple question.

Why do we need to open up new markets for the game? What is the purpose? If it is entirely financial, a way to expand revenue streams, then why do they then not just say so, instead of attempting to fool us into thinking their motives are just and worthy. Let’s look at the decision to hand the World Cup to Qatar.

It seems increasingly obvious that the tiny Arab state is not able to host the tournament in the manner in which it had led everyone to believe. Not only is the issue of dealing with the intense heat now being made to look like a stitch up but it is also looking like the World Cup in 2022 will be split up across the entire region and that games will probably also take place in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Now this would all be well and good, but was not part of their bid.

A World Cup based in any of the other bidding countries would not have deviated from their original intentions and yet still Qatar won the bid, how?

UEFA as bad as FIFA?

Shockingly UEFA seem to be in on the act. President Michel Platini openly stated he would back the calls for a winter World Cup, he did so as the figurehead of an organization that had not discussed or voted on their feelings on the matter and that to me seems hugely inappropriate.

Some will talk of Russia’s winning of the 2018 World Cup as problematic but at least no one can argue that the nation loves the sport and has a rich footballing history. Could Qatar of their neighbouring countries claim the same? Of course not. However it was one thing to elect to hand the World Cup to Qatar, quite another to then re-write their bid so it suits them, basically negating the entire need for a bidding process in the first instance.

FIFA members almost on mass are now trumpeting the call for a winter World Cup and they will talk about it as though it was inevitable and unavoidable and they do so without regard for what the supporters of the game want.

Bidding Process

When announcing and congratulating the winners of the 2018 and 2022 bids Sepp Blatter was keen to hark on about the need and desire to open the World Cup to new regions and new markets. However this does somewhat make a mockery of the bidding process.

Basically such statements meant that all those bidding from established footballing nations had little or no chance of winning their bids, so therefore means they all wasted time, money and effort.

Scheduling nightmare

The idea of a winter World Cup is sheer madness and quite how FIFA intend to appease European clubs will be interesting. You see a World Cup would mean that there would have to be at least a six week chunk of the season set aside for it. Four weeks for the tournament itself and let’s say at least two weeks preparation. The talk is of the tournament taking place in mid January. So how the hell do you go about planning that into the fixture calendar.

Basically the season will have to be extended at either end but to do so would then also impact on the following or previous seasons. For instance. If the season switched from August-May to August-July, then the following season would have to start later and the knock on effect would then be felt for the following season etc….

It seems unlikely that club football will simply bow down to FIFA and perhaps this will lead to a re-think because at present the idea of a winter World Cup is currently being forced through in a manner that is oh so typical of the organization.

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So today is the day we find out once again that England has not won the right to hold an upcoming World Cup. If you believe the bookies, we’re second favourites to get it behind Russia. Maybe all the snow is trying to give us a sign?!

If you look at it realistically, there’s no way Russia should be able to compete with us. Russia is bloody enormous, fans of the successful team would need to travel several thousand miles by the end of the tournament, and currently Russia is proposing just one high speed rail link. However that would connect just 6 of the host venues, leaving the majority of places a pain in the neck to get to. England on the other hand already has a good transport network in place, with all major cities, and potential World Cup venues, reachable in a handful of hours.

Also, the minimum capacity for a World Cup stadium is 40,000. Russia currently has just one stadium that big whereas we already have 10. Sheffield Wednesday have 39,800 and they’re in League One! You need a stadium with a capacity of 80,000 to host the final which Russia has not got anything close to, whereas we have Wembley. England were put on standby to host this year’s tournament and if we needed to we could host a World Cup tomorrow. But maybe that’s why we haven’t had much luck with bids in recent years.

FIFA seems to consider two things when they decide on a host.

Firstly, it seems they like to give the tournament to countries who haven’t hosted before. Look at South Africa and Japan/Korea in recent times. These aren’t nations which you consider to be massive footballing countries, but giving them the tournament allows football to reach every corner of the earth.

Second, FIFA often talk about a World Cup needing to leave behind a legacy for its host country. This is where I think we don’t help ourselves in a weird way. The fact that we already have everything in place to host the tournament means we wouldn’t need to build anything specifically for the World Cup, bar improvements to a few stadiums. There would be nothing ‘new’ to remind the world that the greatest sporting event on the planet had been staged here. Whereas if you give it to Russia, they need to upgrade their transport and at least build 8 or 9 brand new stadia. That’s a pretty decent legacy. If you also consider all the money that would be brought into the country through tourism then it makes even more sense.

Of course, this stupid business over the BBC’s Panorama programme isn’t helping either, which I don’t understand. This programme needed to be made. It doesn’t matter who made it or when it gets shown. The fact that there is corruption within football’s top organisation is wrong and it needs to be made public knowledge. The alternative of course is to rub shoulders with and satisfy the voters. Give them what they want and they might just help you out in return. It isn’t right, but sadly it’s been proven that this is how football works at the highest level. Lord Triesman didn’t do us any favours either did he!

At the end of the day, I fear for our chances once again. Even with knight-in-waiting Becks leading the way I just can’t see us winning this thing. It makes perfect sense to give the 2018 World Cup to England. I’d love it and as a football fan I can’t think of anything better. Let’s hope the voters see sense today, and we can watch our heroes crumble under the expectation on our own soil!

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