Not much news from the Russian camp; Romantsev was saying all the right things about Tunisia to members of the Russian media, feigning righteous indignation at media types who are dismissing Tunisia out of hand before the first game starts. My guess is he is not so much in awe of Tunisia as he is concerned at the rather poor form of his squad in the last 4-5 matches (France friendly excluded, of course), and realizes with this team it is best not to take ANYONE lightly.
Speculation is that Romantsev will abandon the "lone striker" 4-5-1 he has favored in the past and will start both Beschastnikh and Sychev up front against Tunisia. Still no definitive word on Mostovoi; he appears healthy enough to play, but my guess is that Romantsev will keep him on the bench for Tunisia.
Finally, an interesting piece of news that the Russian media has been reporting with obvious glee- the head of the Russian soccer federation, Vyacheslav Koloskov, has apparently lobbied successfully against the English referee Graham Poll, who was scheduled to work the JPN-RUS game. Apparently he will be replaced in that match by the German, Markus Merk. Fans of the Russian team wil remember Poll as the referee who awarded Slovenia a late game penalty in the qualifying group for contact which (after viewing the clip at least 20 times, I still can't see; it was a horrid call and it proved to be the game winner, of course. Needless to say, Poll is not well-liked by members of the Russian squad and/or the Russian Football Union.
Speculation is that Romantsev will abandon the "lone striker" 4-5-1 he has favored in the past and will start both Beschastnikh and Sychev up front against Tunisia. Still no definitive word on Mostovoi; he appears healthy enough to play, but my guess is that Romantsev will keep him on the bench for Tunisia.
Finally, an interesting piece of news that the Russian media has been reporting with obvious glee- the head of the Russian soccer federation, Vyacheslav Koloskov, has apparently lobbied successfully against the English referee Graham Poll, who was scheduled to work the JPN-RUS game. Apparently he will be replaced in that match by the German, Markus Merk. Fans of the Russian team wil remember Poll as the referee who awarded Slovenia a late game penalty in the qualifying group for contact which (after viewing the clip at least 20 times, I still can't see; it was a horrid call and it proved to be the game winner, of course. Needless to say, Poll is not well-liked by members of the Russian squad and/or the Russian Football Union.
