Published: 16 November, 2009, 16:53
Edited: 17 November, 2009, 10:19
Guus Hiddink says Russia will rely on their attacking skills on Wednesday. The Dutchman's team take a 2-1 advantage going into the second leg of their World Cup playoffs against Slovenia.
Russia were well on top of Slovenia for most of the first leg, but a very late goal from the visitors left the Slovenians with a real chance of qualifying for the World Cup.
The Russians are optimistic heading into the return match, however.
“Our mood – and we talked about it this morning – is of good quality, because we are still in the elite. We have to rely on our capacity to score goals, which we did almost in all games that we played internationally. So it is of big importance, but the players are aware of what we have to do,” Guus Hiddink told journalists on Monday.
The final training session before flying to Slovenia was a light one for those who started on Saturday. Andrey Arshavin and co. left the pitch just after a 20-minute warm-up.
Guus Hiddink insisted that he is not going to change the line-up significantly.
“All players have recovered, there are no injuries, so there won’t be many changes,” said Hiddink.
Meanwhile, Slovenia have a reputation of being a solid team at home.
Inspired by their famous fans, the team from the Balkans won four times and drew once in Maribor during the group stage.
Slovenia will have to overturn a one goal deficit, and Hiddink expects them to change their usual defensive tactics.
“They were defeated, and I cannot imagine they will only defend in their home game,” Hiddink believes.
With a home win behind them, Russia enter Wednesday's game as slight favourites, but they certainly don't take their World Cup chance for granted. Slovenia have already shown that, when backed into a corner, they should not be underestimated.