ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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The Russian national football team played at the 2004 European Championship for the second time in its recent history. In the qualifying tournament, the Russian team took the 2nd place in their group, and in the play-offs defeated the team of Wales and reached the final part of the European championship.

In the final part, the team fell into group A to the Portuguese (hosts of the tournament), the Spanish and Greeks. The team managed to win only one victory with a score of 2-1 over the Greeks, who won the championship in the end; the Spaniards and the Portuguese lost with a score of 0: 1 and 0: 2, respectively. The Russian national team not only showed an unsatisfactory result, but also became the roughest team in the tournament, earning 15 yellow and 2 red cards: in total, five players of the Russian national team were disqualified for the next matches (including the matches of the qualifying tournament for the 2006 World Cup).

Preparations for the tournament

Autumn 2002: start of qualifying
With the new coach Valery Gazzayev, the national team managed to draw with Sweden 1: 1 in August and as a result began the qualifying cycle shockingly, on September 7, 2002 in the opening match in Moscow, defeating Ireland with a score of 4: 2. Goals in that match were scored by Andrei Karjaka, Vladimir Beschastnykh and Alexander Kerzhakov, another ball became an auto goal for the Irish. The October game with Georgia was interrupted in the first half due to a power outage at the stadium, as a result of which the match was postponed to spring. However, in the subsequent match against Albania, held on October 16 in Volgograd, the Russians did not miss the thread of the game and won 4:1 - Alexander Kerzhakov, Sergey Semak (take) and Viktor Onopko scored.

Spring 2003: Point losses away
The Cyprus Football Association Cup held in February 2003 seemed to strengthen the position of the Russian national team. But on March 29, in Shkoder, the national team sensationally lost to the Albanians without chances 1: 3 (Andrey Karjaka, who compared the score, could not correct the situation), and on April 30, in the rescheduled match with Georgia, also unconsciously lost 0: 1. Not only the prospects of participation in Euro 2004, but also the work of Valery Gazzaev in the national team were threatened.

Summer 2003: Gazzaev resigns
On June 7, 2003, Russia's plans to enter Euro 2004 were miraculously not canceled: losing 0-2 to Switzerland, Russia managed to save the match thanks to a double of Sergei Ignashevich. However, the defeat on August 20 in the match with Israel with a score of 1: 2 (scored only by Sergey Semak) forced Gazzaev to resign after a series of four matches without victories. Gazzaev's successor was Georgy Yartsev.

Autumn 2003: victory in play-offs
Yartsev, taking the team in an emergency situation, managed to rectify the situation and eventually brought Russia to second place: first, Russia took one point in Dublin from the Irish (a draw 1: 1, scored by Sergei Ignashevich), and then defeated Switzerland first (4: 1, a hat-trick by Dmitry Bulykin), and then Georgia 3: 1, which, however, allowed Russia to finish only in second place. In the play-offs, the team went to Wales: if a zero draw was recorded at home, then the Yar team was visiting