Andorra-Russia
Football : International : EURO 2012 Qualifiers, Group B
Friday, 03rd September 2010. Kickoff 18:30 CET

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The Russian National team starts its quest for tickets to the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine under new manager Dick Advocaat.

The Dutch 62 year old coach did so well to betray Belgium Football Federation and escape immediately once his old friend Sergey Fursenko got into the driving seat of RFF.

Some year earlier Advocaat pulled off the same trick on Australians. In August 2007 "The Little General" had signed a deal to become manager of the Australian National Team, however, when his employers Zenit offered him a new 4$ million contract extension in November Advocaat reneged on the deal with Australia.

This Multi-million dollar agreement with Russian Football Federation (although believed to be less than his predecessor’s, Hiddink) only added more controversy to his portrait. Obviously the Dutchman has signed, arguably, his last "big" contract linking him with Russia for 4 years.

Engagement with Advocaat had mostly a negative reception in the country amongst supporters. Not only do they fear that the former Zenit manager will be biased in his selection, but also believe the 62 year old doesn't have what it takes to bring Russian National team to the next level. After missing out on World Cup 2010, there will be no excuses for Advocaat if he fails to qualify for Euro'12.

Group B is considered to be a very favorable draw for Russia with none of the European giants making the list. The Republic of Ireland and Slovakia are the main rivals with Macedonia being traditionally an uncomfortable opponent. Advocaatss meRussia have a quite comfortable schedule with easy trip to Andorra and then a home match vs. Slovakia three days later.

Russian squad is composed of the same players who failed to beat Slovenia in WC play-offs. 23 year old Alan Kasaev from Rubin Kazan is the only new entry. Alexandr Kerzhakov (Zenit St Petersburg) and Yury Zhirkov (Chelsea FC) are unavailable due to respective 2-match and 1 match bans.

Where Andorra is concerned, the European minnows are drawn with Russia for a second consecutive qualifying campaign. During the qualifying campaign for Euro 2008 the Andorrans lost on both occasions against Russia. The young football federation has recorded just 3 victories thus far in their short history, all 3 of them registered on home soil.

Betting advice

It is very difficult to find the right angle in this one-sided affair. I think betting on "correct score" market is the only valuable option here.

With the match vs. Slovakia just around the corner, I doubt, Russians will pull off a big margin win here. So the 2-0 and 3-0 options both deserve a try with medium stakes.

The Statistics :

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Correct Score Russia win 3-0 @ 5.50 with Bet365;
Take Correct Sscore Russia win 2-0 @ 7.50 with Bet365;