Russia Euro 2008 Sports Betting Preview

Euro 2008 odds makers rank Russia as outsiders to win the competition but with the experience of Guus Hiddink at the helm, do not right the Russian challenge off just yet.

The collapse of the old Soviet Union removed one of the giant figures of European football from the Great Stage. The USSR won the first European Championships in 1960 and was a losing finalist in three competitions, the last in 1988 when they fell to the Marco Van Basten inspired Dutch. Russia has seen her years of turmoil since, but the appointment of Dutch super coach Guus Hiddink has turned the Russian fortunes around.

Hiddick, appointed in 2006, put his faith in youth and his young team – the oldest, Konstantin Zyrianov, is only thirty years old – proved worthy of trust, although there was more than one fraught moment along the way. A loss to Israel in Tel Aviv looked to have put paid to the Russian hopes, but England’s loss at Wembley to Croatia put the Russians back on track for a finals appearance.

Russia’s blips in qualifying make it difficult to have full faith in them as potential winners, but Hiddick’s extraordinary record would suggest that the Russians will play to their absolute limits even if Euro 2008 odds makers have them as long shot outsiders. How far that will carry them is difficult to measure but, if Russia does not win the tournament herself, she may have a major role to play as a spoiler for someone else’s chances.