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ZAUGG: RUSSIA WILL BE A TOP OF THE GROUP
Hans-Peter Zaugg gave an interview to Sport Express
ahead of tomorrow World Cup-2011 qualifier against Liechtenstein.
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Hans-Peter Zaugg Photo nemzetisport.hu
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Sport Express correspondent took an interview with the head
coach of Russia's closest challengers Liechtenstein. The World Cup-2010
qualifier will be held tomorrow in Vaduz.
"This game will be no less difficult than our match against Germany",
admitted the Swiss specialist, who works with Liechtenstein. "Level
of the Russian team is comparable with the class of Bundesteam, so we
will apply all our efforts to concede not many goals".
"Taking into account that we play at home, we will try to spend as
much time in attack as possible, but I think that it will be no less difficult
as in the game against Germany. Russia has many top players, who can lead
their team to victory by their own".
"On Saturday Liechtenstein team suffered a frustrating 0-4 loss to
Germany in Leipzig. It goes without saying that they deserved this win.
We conceded two goals before going to the locker rooms and Germany extended
their lead in the second half. Bundesteam led the game 4-0 by the 50th
minute of the match, while we could have conceded more goals. But I would
like to praise my players, who didn't give us fighting in this difficult
situation and tried to escape a more crushing defeat. We would have been
glad to attack more, but I was almost impossible".
"But even this result is rather good for us, as we wanted to concede
as few goals as possible in away match against Germany. Liechtenstein
suffered a 0-6 loss at home stands having our strongest lineup, while
in Leipzig we faced some selection problems".
"I was forced to change our defence line, but I suppose they showed
their best, especially taking into consideration that three out of four
defenders were amateurs".
"I think that our fixture with Russia won't differ much from our
game against Germany. The biggest difference is that no so many people
will come to the stadium in Vaduz".
"I watched videotapes of all Russia's matches in the World Cup qualifying
campaign and I mentioned that Russian team is not comparable with my team
at all, but we will try to defend our goal as good as possible".
"Russian team is perfectly prepared physically. It's absolutely clear
now that Russia or Germany will finish atop of the standings in our qualifying
group. In any case these two teams will occupy the first two places in
the group".
"I watched Russia at the European championship and I really think
that Guus Hiddink's team can win the group. I believe that Russia's chances
to finish the race atop of the standings are 55:45 against Germany, but
the fight will be very tense".
"To my mind everything will be decided in Russia vs. Germany face-to-face
battle and I suppose that Russia will celebrate a victory at home".
"I met with Guus Hiddink for the first time at the European tournament
in 1996. We wet each other not long ago at the congress for coaches in
Vienna, we talked a lot about football matters. Hiddink also helped me
find a DVD-disk, which I was searching for".
"I've been to Moscow many times, this is a fantastic city and I liked
it very much. As for my professional impressions, I understood that Russia
have many talented players".
Sport
Express Daily, 31 Mar 2009
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