Russia’s players are not in the best possible physical condition ahead of Euro 2012, but their fitness is at a satisfactory level, team physiotherapist Robert Ouderland said Wednesday.
Russia have had to cope with the withdrawal of defenders Vasily Berezutsky with injury and Roman Shishkin due to illness, but stretched their unbeaten record to 14 games with a 3-0 victory over Italy on Friday.
“You can rate the team’s condition at eight or nine points [out of ten],” Ouderland said on the Russian Football Union website.
“I think that’s a great place to start for such an important and major tournament as the Euros.”
In the run-up to the tournament Russia has been working with fitness coach Raymond Verheijen, a former assistant coach of Wales who has been part of the the Netherlands, Russia and South Korea coaching set-ups in the past.
Verheijen’s methods focus on keeping players fresh, and this worked well for Russia’s win against Italy, Ouderland said.
“That’s exactly what our work with Verheijen involves,” Ouderland said, referring to the Italy game.
“Being fresher, being more mobile and a more effective challenger to the opponent on the pitch, that’s the goal of the Russian national team.”
Ouderland combines his work for Russia with a role at Dutch team FC Twente, where he is part of former England coach Steve McClaren's backroom staff.
Russia start their Euro 2012 campaign against the Czech Republic on Friday, before further group stage games against co-hosts Poland on Tuesday and finally Greece on June 16.
Two other warm-up friendlies saw Advocaat’s team achieve a 1-1 draw with Uruguay and play out a goalless stalemate against Lithuania last month before beating Italy.
