RF Football » UEFA World Cup Qualifying Group 4

Russian Football Now Podcast, Episode #7: Previewing Germany’s Trip to Russia

Richard Farley — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:47:45 +0000

Chris Riordan and myself, on the seventh episode of Russian Football Now’s podcast, spend our hour talking about Germany’s impending trip to Moscow. The German national team, with a point on Saturday against Russia, all-but-qualifies for South Africa. With a win over Germany, Russia does the same. In UEFA’s Group 4, where this showdown has been in the cards since Matchday 3, the anticipation is almost over.

As you’ll hear form Chris and Richard, the match has all the drama, stakes, and tactical intrigue you’d want from a football match.

You can get this episode at Russian Football Now, from my iTunes stream, or from the inline player, below:

[podcast]http://pointoneohradio.com/pods/rfn_episode07_20091007.mp3[/podcast]

Huge Russia-Germany Preview at Russian Football Now

Richard Farley — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:16:15 +0000

It is the big match-up on Saturday, with one of the world’s top teams all-but-securing a pass to South Africa while the other gets relegated to the UEFA playoff and one step closer to (what would be a shocking) exclusion from next year’s World Cup.

Over at Russian Football Now I have a very long, very detailed preview of the match. Do you want to know about the differences in Germany’s 4-4-2 and 4-5-1 (sometimes called a 4-3-3 over the last two months)? Or, maybe you’re interested in the virtues of Arshavin’s deployment on the left as opposed to as a traditional number ten?

This preview is not for the faint of heart. If you like those moments when I stumble because I’m so excited about the game’s minutia, this article is for you, sans the stumbling.

Hiddink must start by assessing his team, determining if he would be making an undo sacrifice with one of the formations. Do either of the two formations, independent of what Loew does, give him an appreciably better chance of winning? it’s possible he will decide playing Arshavin as the supporting striker is clearly his team’s best formation; however, an argument can be made that Russian’s 4-4-2 is just as effective. If Hiddink does not believe that argument, we will see the hybrid 4-5-1.

If, however, Hiddink believes in both formations, he needs to evaluate what Loew is likely to do. If Loew goes with a 4-4-2, Russia should go 4-5-1, use their superior speed and skill in the midfield to control possession and tempo, exploit the greater space in midfield, and get to the suspect German back line. In this scenario, you could see Aleksandr Kerzhakov or Pavel Pograbnyak supported by Arshavin, with Vladimir Bystrov, Konstantin Zyryanov, Sergei Semak, and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov in the midfield.

You can read the whole article here, at Russian Football Now, and more broadly, please let me know if there is an audience for this level of analysis (which really isn’t particularly deep, it’s just that most outlets don’t have a tolerance for it). Jonathan Wilson from the Guardian does this often, and I wish there were other outlets for it.

UEFA World Cup Qualifying – Group 4 Wrap Up

Richard Farley — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:56:48 +0000

This is a series of nine, short posts that will be synthesized into one article for World Soccer Reader.

Team	GP	Pts
Germany	7	19
Russia	7	18
Finland	7	13

Group 4

I’ve included Finland in the table not because they are a threat to Russia or Germany but to show how top-heavy the group is. Finland’s 13 points in seven matches is a perfectly respectable total that would have them in the middle of the playoff spot’s race if they weren’t in this group. Unfortunately for them, two of the top six nations in the world are in this group, and the only drama remaining is who will qualify automatically for South Africa.

Provided Germany and Russia hold serve from here on out, that will be decided October 10 in Moscow. Germany did no play this weekend, but Russia did their part with a comfortable 3-0 home win over Liechtenstein. Roman Pavlyuchenko had a brace from the spot as Russia, playing without three of their best players, won comfortably.

Russia also experimented with a three man back line, owing to star defenders Yuri Zhirkov and Denis Kolodin being out with injuries. As neither are expected to return on Wednesday, we may see a similar formation in Cardiff against Wales.