The real owls undermine the bear and threaten to kill him, indeed they are convinced of it, on the eve of a historic challenge in St. Petersburg on the second day of the European Championship. It's just football, but on the icy border between Finland and Russia the memory of a past of contrasts, fears, war, between the Eurasian giant and the small subarctic nation has never melted. The climax is that it is the Finns, absolute rookies in an international tournament, who arrive at the match with full sail, while the Russian national team is almost at the last resort after the knockout against Belgium. "Tomorrow we want to win", announces Finland coach Markku Kanerva, who also has the draw option to reach the second round, while for his colleague, Stanislav Cherchesov, three points are the only way to avoid the pillory.if not elimination, "Now the situation is clear, after Belgium everything is clearer", declared Cherchesov on the eve of the abyss and under the pressure of criticism. The match against Belgium also left its mark physically on the Russians, with the injury of Zenit defender Yuri Zhirkov. "I'm afraid I lost him for the rest of the tournament," said the coach. Munich midfielder Aleksandr Golovin also had to train "without forcing", said the coach, while defender Fyodor Kudryashov, injured in preparation, returned to work with the group. The powerful defender Georgiy Dzhikiya gave some signs of reaction: "The criticisms? Russia is a great country, everyone has the right to express their opinion,but we have also received many support messages. We have two games to face and we can make up for it. "
A Russia on the corner worries the Finland coach a little, aware that "their disappointment will make them more aggressive and focused from the start, and will test our mental strength". The risk for Finland is a relaxation after the surprise victory over Denmark, but Kanerva invited "to forget about it and concentrate on tomorrow's match, which we want to win and make the dream continue".
"We will continue to focus on a rigorous defense, as we did against Denmark, but tomorrow we will also have to develop the attacking game - he stressed -. My plan is to shoot harder to try to score more", he continued, not without irony. , recalling that Pohjanpalo's goal was the result of the only conclusion towards the Danish goal of thewhole game.
The precedent is not in favor of Finland, whose only victory over Russia / USSR dates back to the 1912 Olympics. From 1992 onwards, Russia has won all four games played, with a record of 15 goals scored and one conceded. History teaches us, but never like this time it could take another turn.
