Soccer: Putin urges Russian coach to deliver success

KOBE - Oleg Romantsev cares little for popular opinion, but there is one voice the Russian coach must answer when his side open their cup campaign against Tunisia tonight.

"We are waiting for you to win," Russian President Vladimir Putin said recently when he succeeded - many others have failed - in getting to meet Romantsev.

The brusque and secretive coach, who combines his national duties with club Spartak Moscow, appears to revel in a game of brinkmanship with the media which will come to a head at these finals.

While Russia succeed he is untouchable, but failure to qualify from group H - against the unfancied Africans, Japan and Belgium - will spell disaster for his future.

The "Group of Life", as the weak section has been dubbed, has raised hopes in Russia that they will finally rediscover some of the glories enjoyed previously.

Since finishing fourth in the 1966 finals and reaching the 1970 quarter-finals and the second round in 1986 as the Soviet Union, Russia's World Cup record is unenviable.

A first-round exit in 1994 and failure to qualify in 1998 have increased the pressure on Romantsev to find a solution.

On paper, he has a number of talented players who should prove too strong for struggling Tunisia.

Viktor Onopko, Alexander Mostovoi and Valery Karpin are expected to form the backbone of Russia's side in Kobe.

Mostovoi, the 33-year-old playmaker, will learn today whether he is to play after recovering from a thigh injury. If not, the golden boy of the Russian game, Marat Izmailov, 19, could come in.

In attack, Vladimir Beschastnykh, whose goals propelled Russia through qualifying, needs to end his run of indifferent form.



Goals have been rare indeed for Tunisia, who could not muster one during an awful African Nations Cup campaign early this year.

Unsurprisingly, then, hopes for Tunisia - who became the first African nation to win a World Cup finals match when they beat Mexico in 1978 - will rest on the shoulders of strikers Ziad Jaziri and Adel Sellimi.

- REUTERS

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