I could have use 'We meet again' but I decided not. Out of the match pairings so far, Russia and Spain are the only ones facing each other again after Spain handed Russia a lesson in the group stage with a 4-1 win (plus a David Villa's hat-trick too). Hang on, Russia's playmaker Andrei Arshavin was suspended for that actually.
If anyone think it will be the same Russia 'La Fura Roja' are facing in the Austria capital of Vienna, the Spain camp are unanimous in a 'No'. Much has changed since the two last crossed swords. Spain continue their unbeaten streak, Russia are on a revival and this time, Andrei Arshavin is back. 4-1 is history and time to concentrate on revived Russia under coach Guus Hiddink. Back then after Russia have beaten favourites Holland in the quarter-finals, I recalled back the times when Russia almost could not make it to this tournament in my thoughts on the Holland-Russia match. Hiddink is realistic that it could have been England taking their place now, and not his side. If not for what happened on the final day of qualifying. Talk about a reversal of fortunes.
Spain coach Luis Aragones may have been branded as crazy in the past (he had even clashed with the Spanish media one too many times) but, the soon-to-be 70-year-old (his birthday is in July) could be on the verge of something great if his side are to face Germany in the final. He and his boys have managed to banish a whole host of demons after they beat Italy on penalties. The curse of exiting in the quarter-finals (the 1984 European Championships was the last time they went beyond the quarter-final only to lose to France in the final), the curse of losing on penalties (given it always ended in tears for them in the past), the curse of exiting a major tournament on June 22 (they beat Italy on the same day when Fate told them they are supposed to lose given they had exited at that date in the past before), the curse of not being able to beat their bogey team Italy in a competitive match in 88 years (friendly matches don't count).
Aragones may be a little superstitious when it comes to the colour of yellow (in fact, Spain will wear that colour given Russia will be wearing red so as to not confuse with Spain's traditional home jersey colour) but then he has a reason for it (this goes back to history in Spain on why the colour yellow is cursed), the guys on the national team are not fazed at what colour they are going to wear (in fact, Spain's Villarreal players wear yellow jerseys and Marcos Senna have no issue with it given he plays for Villarreal).
For Russia coach Dutchman Guus Hiddink (who does have club coaching stints in Spain three times but all ended in not-so-happy circumstances), Russia's progress at the tournament had surprised him and he told his side to enjoy themselves when they face Spain. And insisting his side will not roll over this time round. Russia playmaker and Zenit St. Petersburg's Andrei Arshavin may have been stealing the headlines since his return from suspension (he even like a move to the club he had supported as a boy, Spanish giants Barcelona and what better way to do so than to put on the same performance like he did against Holland but this time...it's against Spain) but according to his national coach, he can handle the attention. Hiddink also too time out to pay a tribute to his counterpart Luis Aragones on being 'a big man' in international football in view of Aragones's past coaching experience with various Spanish clubs (but in regards to Aragones had signed a pre-contract with Turkish side Fenerbache which was mentioned in that link, Aragones denied it ever happened).
So while the momentum may be with Russia currently, Spain will be trying to take advantage of their opponents' natural attacking instincts and hit them on the break. For Spain, all they want is to continue to shed the burden of history and what got them here - Belief, team spirit and dash of luck work. Whenever people think about perennial underachievers in football, Spain comes to mind immediately.
Finally on the players themselves. Spain's Xavi has warned their semi-final opponents Russia that he and his teammates are out 'to make history'. For the tournament's current top goal-scorer David Villa, he is not surprised by Russia's successful run to the semi-finals. Villarreal striker Santi Cazorla is quickly becoming the revealation in Spain's run to the semi-finals and his more-famous teammates are all rushing to sing his praises. So if there is a reason why Russia's Roman Pavlyuchenko is what the audiences has been seeing so far, it's because he had been ordered to lose weight by his national coach or if not, he is not joining the squad for the tournament.
Before I get to the team news, how AFP view the respective coaches and key players. Alright, to things proper. For Russia, Denis Kolodin, Dmitri Torbinski are suspended for this one. Striker Ivan Saenko (the only one in the Russian national team who play his club football abroad...he plays for Nuremberg in the Bundesliga) is doubtful. For Spain, Marcos Senna is questionable. Other than that, the question is that will coach Luis Aragones start the decisive penalty-taker in the quarter-final match against Italy, Cesc Fabregas. Or still put him on the bench?
Spain coach Luis Aragones has insisted on the eve of his side's crucial semi-final match that he has no need to change his winning side. Germany awaits the winner of this match. The last of the semi-final which see two teams playing attacking football.
