Russia on the rise
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Article summary
With women's youth football making significant strides in their country, Russia are ready to impress in Hungary.
Article body
Impressive year
European U19 semi-finalists in Finland a year ago, Russia went on to reach the last eight of the FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship following a 4-1 win against European champions Spain. They will host the global tournament next year, meaning they need not worry about qualifying via their performance in Hungary.
French reunion
Still, they should prove a serious obstacle to their opponents' ambitions, starting on Wednesday against 2003 winners France - whom they pipped to the last four in 2004 despite conceding a last-gasp equaliser to draw with Les Bleues - and continuing against Scotland and England.
Winning run
Russia won all six of their qualifiers with the joint-best record, beating Kazakhstan, Latvia, Romania,, Serbia and Montenegro and Austria and scoring 33 goals into the bargain. They did not concede until the 65th minute of their last match with Austria, by which time they had struck a tournament total of 32.
Morale high
That morale is high is unsurprising. Defender Anna Kozhnikova said: "We think we are capable of getting through to the semi-finals."
Warm-up games
Before departing from their training camp near Moscow, Valentin Grishin's side played two friendlies against senior women's teams, losing 3-1 to Nadezhda Noginsk but defeating Chertanovo Moskva 5-0.
