Yuri Zhirkov focused on Russia's match against Finland

With CSKA Moskva's Yuri Zhirkov quickly emerging as one of Russia's brightest young stars, the faithful around Luzhniki fret whether they'll be chanting “Zhirkov” for much longer. The play-maker extraordinaire has been linked to Roman Abramovich's Chelsea and most recently, Barcelona.

Hopeful that he'll continue to grace CSKA's lineup but the deeply patriotic Russian international might not be so inclined to make the move unless he is confident of a spot in the starting eleven. Speaking to Russian media giant Sports Express he noted that with regards to a possible move to London, "I know no more about it that any other people." Equally young Mr Zhirkov is very focused on CSKA's Champions League efforts, noting that his side will be in the Champions League this year.

However at present his focus is squarely on Russia's World Cup qualifying match against Finland next Wednesday stating, "now I am preparing for the coming match in Finland and try not filling my head with other things."

Qatar match preview

As Takeshi Okada leads his Blue Samurai forces against Qatar he knows with both squads tied two points behind Australia a victory is an absolute must to avoid the disaster of not qualifying for the World Cup. However without a victory over Qatar in the past and with so much on the line, they have a massive task.

Takeshi Okada said of the match:

"We are well prepared for this match. I am happy with the way we have approached this match. I am extremely happy to find the weather so much to our liking. In fact, I am quite surprised that it is so pleasant."

The Blue Samurai are troubled with a number of injuries including Celtics Shunsuke Nakamura who is questionable.

Takeshi Okada would not reveal his lineup only to say:

"We will see how things go in our last training session. I will decide on the playing 11 after the final training session on Tuesday evening."

Many consider this match as the definitive point for Takeshi Okada's career heading up Japan as without a win he will feel enormous pressure to step down.

Enjoy the match and I will be providing regular updates throughout.

a poor turn as Serbia devastates Austria

There are times when it is best to be phrase things very simply and without "sugar-coating." Simply stated for Austrian Football it has been a horrible week which saw the club set-back first with a nightmare inducing draw against the Faroe Islands only to be followed up with today's 3-1 destruction by Serbia in Vienna. Karel Brückner must immediately deal with the obvious flaws in performance but as I alluded to in the match preview, confidence is extremely shaken and might be the greatest problem.

Radomir Antić's White Eagles came out with a predatorial instinct and ran Austria off their home grounds with CSKA Moscow's Miloš Krasić jumping on the score-sheet fourteen minutes into the match. Only four minutes later Milan Jovanović doubled the margin and at the twenty-four minute mark Ivan Obradović FK Partizan made it 3-0. To the jeers and whistles of the home crowd the match was effectively over and played out as such. With ten minutes remaining Marc Janko scored a consolation goal to bring the match to its final 3-1 result.

Karel Brückner must re-group and put together a plan to get the squad back on-track as well as deal with obviously bruised confidence. Austria's next encounter is a friendly against Turkey next month before returning to qualifiers this spring against Romania.

Austria
Alexander Manninger,György Garics,Sebastian Prödl,Martin Stranzl (Ronald Gercaliu 17'),Emanuel Pogatetz,Paul Scharner,Rene Aufhauser (Jürgen Säumel 60'),Andreas Ivanschitz,Christian Fuchs,Marc Janko,Erwin Hoffer (Marko Arnautovic 46')

Serbia
Vladimir Stojković,Branislav Ivanović,Nemanja Vidić,Aleksandar Luković,Ivan Obradović,Nenad Milijas (Zdravko Kuzmanović 62'),Dejan Stanković (Boško Janković 76'),Miloš Krasić,Milan Jovanović,Nikola Žigić,Marko Pantelić (Zoran Tošić 63')