In a far from convincing style, Russia squeezed past Azerbaijan 2-0 in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium. While the victory provides the heralded Russian side important points in their World Cup quest, it surely must raise into question the impact of Guus Hiddink's double duties with Chelsea.With a hearty crowd of over 70,000 in song behind their hero's the Russian attack force of Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin pushed forward. Yet the duo, who know play their trade in England for Tottenham and Arsenal respectively, were far from convincing as they made a foul mess of early chances. Facing a vastly superiour pedigree, Berti Vogts's Azerbaijan put their efforts towards defending and for the most part did quite well as Russia were unable to link up with the attacking flourish of the 2008 Euro's. After Andrei Arshavin modest attempt was cast straight to the visiting three minutes in and Roman Pavlyuchenko completely duffed an effort just before the half-hour mark questions began to rise up around Luzhniki. Finally at the
thirty-third minute Russia took the lead Roman Pavlyuchenko free-kick from just outside the box made its way around the wall and was completely misplayed by the Azerbaijan 'keeper Farhad Veliyev. After the break, while Russia continued to knock on the door the final touch was absent and worst yet, the instinct to devour the opposition was absent. After a uneasy threat by the upstarts, Russia grabbed its insurance goal with twenty minutes left on the clock as Roman Pavlyuchenko played through Zenit Saint Petersburg's Konstantin Zyryanov for a text book finish. Up by two goals, Russia hunted for additional marks but once again, finishing was out of sych and were unable to do so. A late chance Azerbaijan by former CSKA Moskva man Vagif Dzavadov rang off the post and the match concluded with a 2-0 victory.As the dust settles on this match there will be a number of questions that need to be answered. Whilst it is quite possible the rust of the Russia off-season is still not off, this was far from the work of a side ready to win South Africa. Guus Hiddink and company return to action next Wednesday against Liechtenstein.
Photo Credit: Helix World Media
