"VAN" (Sports Desk) :: All players of the Russian national football team are physically prepared for the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup qualifying away match against Scotland, Stanislav Cherchesov, the head coach of the Russian team, said on Thursday.
The match between the national teams of Russia and Scotland will be played at the 51,866-seat capacity Hampden Park stadium in Glasgow on the night of September 6.
"We had several days to prepare," Cherchesov told a news conference in Glasgow. "Everything is in line with the schedule, the players are healthy."
"Tomorrow will not be an ordinary match, it is not that we are playing every day against Scotland, we are totally aware of who our opponent is and are closely following the tournament’s chart," he continued. "I should say that tomorrow’s match will be for six points."
"No matter how the match is played, there are still five matches remain to be played and the maximum of 18 points can be booked," Cherchesov said.
Asked how a possible defeat from Scotland might change the current situation in the group’s standings, Cherchesov said: "We would like not to go into calculations."
The Russian squad is currently 2nd in its Group I with nine points after playing four matches - against Belgium on March 21 (losing 1-3), Kazakhstan on March 24 (winning 4-0), San Marino on June 8 (winning 9-0) and Cyprus (1-0). Scotland is currently 4th in the group with six points. The group is led by Belgium with 12 points, while Kazakhstan is 4th with six points, Cyprus is 5th with three points and San Marino at the bottom with zero points.
"The teams will have equal chances," the coach stated. "The Scotts will be obviously enjoying the support of their spectators, but we are ready for this."
The press office of the Scottish Football Association announced to TASS last week that around 35,000 spectators were expected at the match adding that "The match will not be sold out."
"We have also learnt from our past experience that it would be not easy for new players to instantly show what they are capable of on the field and it would be not easy for them to blend into the team," the Russian football head coach said. "We are closely watching after young players [Zelimkhan] Bakayev and [Nikolai] Komlichenko."
The national football team from Russia is also scheduled to play next month the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan on September 9 in Russia’s Kaliningrad.
The matches of the 2020 Euro Cup will be held at stadiums in 12 different cities across Europe, namely in London (England), Munich (Germany), Rome (Italy), Baku (Azerbaijan), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Bucharest (Romania), Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Dublin (Ireland), Bilbao (Spain), Budapest (Hungary), Glasgow (Scotland) and Copenhagen (Denmark).
A total of 24 national football teams will be playing in the final tournament of the 2020 Euro Cup. All 55 UEFA national member teams, including 12 teams from the hosting countries, will have to play qualifying matches to vie for the berth in the final 24-team lineup of the quadrennial European football championship.
It is possible that some of the national teams from the hosting countries of the 2020 Euro Cup will not be playing on home soil in case they fail to clear the qualifying stage.
Credit :: TASS
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