Russia plan next campaign

Russia's reign as UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship holders is over - but for coach Valentin Grishin and the pick of his squad here in Switzerland, the summer campaigning is far from finished.

Second goal
Germany ended Russia's grip on the trophy with four answered second-half goals in yesterday's semi-final in Berne, the third straight year the teams had met in the last four. But in less than a month's time Russia will host the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, and Grishin is looking forward to reuniting the squad that became 2005 U19 champions in Hungary, bringing back players too old for the U19 age group including goalkeeper Elvira Todua, and midfielders Oxana Titova, Olga Petrova and Victoria Afanasova.

Vital trio
"I think the performance will be quite different in the World Cup - because we will have four important players back, the team will be much stronger," Grishin said. "Of course home advantage will be a factor." Also crucial will be the input of record-breaking striker Elena Danilova - once more the leading scorer in these finals with seven goals - fellow forward Elena Terekhova and marauding winger Elena Morozova, the attacking trio who have spearheaded Grishin's side this summer and last. "Those three are the leading players in our team, but of course they did have some support from the players who did not take part [in the European Championship] this month like Titova, Petrova and Afanasova."

Fatigue
Grishin's charges began their group campaign with a 4-1 defeat by France, and after coming from behind to beat hosts Switzerland 2-1 and seeing off the Netherlands 5-1 with Danilova scoring a competition record four, there was a second heavy loss against the Germans. Both reverses came on exceptionally hot evenings, and Grishin admitted fatigue was a factor: "It is very tiring for the players, as besides this tournament they play for the senior national team, their clubs - some of them in the UEFA Women's Cup early next month - so it is very difficult especially for players of this age."

Russian revival
Still, not only were the girls semi-finalists for the third successive year having never previously qualified, but Russia's junior boys won the UEFA European U17 Championship in May. It is some return considering that, before last summer, Russia were without a trophy since the fall of the Soviet Union. A key factor is the football school system, whereby the nation's most talented boys and girls are spotted at an early age and taken to be educated and trained in the big cities - Danilova and Terekhova were first paired when they were ten, for example. "The football schools are very good right now and the Football Union of Russia lends its support to children from those schools," Grishin explained.