Russia have the quality to reach the final of Euro 2012, the country’s under-21 coach Nikolai Pisarev, a candidate to replace senior coach Dick Advocaat after the tournament, said Sunday.
Russia stretched an unbeaten run to 14 games in their three warm-up games for Euro 2012, after a 1-1 draw with Uruguay, a goalless draw against Lithuania and a 3-0 victory over Italy.
Russia starts its campaign against the Czech Republic on Friday, before group stage games against Poland and Greece.
“I expect and I believe that the Russian national team will manage to complete its task of qualifying from the group stage and reaching the final. We are strong enough,” Pisarev wrote in his blog on the Russian Football Union website.
Advocaat is stepping down after the tournament and Pisarev, under-21s coach since 2010, has been the subject of heated speculation in the Russian media as to whether he will become the first Russian to coach the national side since Yuri Syomin was fired in 2006.
Former Spartak Moscow forward Pisarev has not coached a club at senior level, although he served on the coach staff of Krylya Sovetov and Uralan Elista in 2002 and 2003, when both were Russian Premier League sides.
Other rumored candidates include Rubin Kazan coach Kurban Berdyev and former Russia and CSKA Moscow coach Valery Gazzaev.
Zenit St. Petersburg have said they will not release coach Luciano Spalletti if he is offered the Russia post.
