”Second, the artificial pitch.”

“And the third reason is that Russia displays more attractive football than Germany. Russia passes more, which make their football more effective.”

Semin, who currently coaches Lokomotiv Moscow, spent last year with Dynamo Kiev, winning the Ukrainian league and reaching the UEFA Cup semi-finals. The 62-year-old was the boss of the Russian national team in 2005.

Meanwhile, the captain of the German side disagrees with Semin. Michael Ballack has his own reasons why Germany will get the result they want in Moscow.

“We are devoting all our focus, energy and commitment to the match. We can't let the artificial pitch be an excuse for us – we'll just have to adapt to the conditions. Russia have got a strong team and they have got results in the past, so we will have to be at our very best if we are to get something out of our trip to Moscow. We're confident that we will qualify directly for the World Cup, because we're totally motivated for this match, well prepared and we know that we can get the right result,” Michael Ballack told FIFA.com.

Russia sits second in second in Group 4 with 21 points, just a point behind the Germans, with two games remaining.

The teams already played each other in Germany on October 11, 2008, with hosts Germany taking a narrow 2-1 win.

The first team in the group gets an automatic qualification for South Africa, while the runners up would have to face a second placed team from another group in the playoffs.