"We have to fear most of all Guus Hiddink," Jurijs Andrejevs said. "He is the most dangerous player."
Hiddink, 59, who signed a two-year contract worth 4 million euros earlier this year, will take charge of his first game with the Russian team in the friendly against neighboring Latvia at Moscow's Lokomotiv Stadium.
"Hiddink can surprise and he has already surprised the world, although it would be probably hard to do so on only the third day of his work with the Russian team," Andrejevs said. "But he will surprise. The only question is when."
Latvia's coach said he watched closely Hiddink's work at this summer's World Cup in Germany and added it would be hard to determine what tactics the Dutch coach would use with the Russians.
"Hiddink will probably want to try more than one way of playing, maybe two or three," Andrejevs said.
On Monday Hiddink, who has also coached South Korea and Australia, said his main task in work with the Russian team was to see it qualified for the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland and the game against Latvia was a start for him.
Russia's national team failed to qualify for this year's World Cup in Germany in a campaign that saw a new nadir when the team was thrashed 7-1 by Portugal in October 2004. Although performances subsequently improved after Yury Syomin, one of the country's most respected managers, took over from Georgy Yartsev, it was not enough to save him and he resigned after the last qualifier.
