Russia's young goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev plans to use Euro 2008 to establish himself again as his country's number one.
Keeper aiming to return as country's number one
Russia's young goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev plans to use Euro 2008 to establish himself again as his country's number one.
The CSKA Moscow star is banging on the door to get his place back after spending most of last year on the sidelines with a cruciate knee ligament injury.
And although his return to Guus Hiddink's squad in March coincided with a 3-0 friendly thrashing by Romania, the 22-year-old whose career was being closely monitored by Arsenal is adamant: "We must show at these championships that Russian players are no wimps.
"We have a strong team with players who are capable of serious success in Austria and Switzerland. And I include myself in that."
Akinfeev is annoyed that doubters have called Russia lucky to scrape through their qualifying group, pulling off a somewhat hollow-sounding 1-0 win over unfancied Andorra when given a lifeline by England's failure against Croatia.
Akinfeev tore cruciate ligaments playing for CSKA against FC Rostov in May last year and did not return to action until November as the Russian season reached its climax.
He came back in November and made himself available for the vital Israel and Andorra qualifiers but was not considered quite match-fit enough by Hiddink, who stuck with Zenit St Petersburg's Vyacheslav Malafeev.
Signal
But inclusion for a training camp in Turkey in February was a clear signal from Hiddink to Akinfeev to make a challenge for the top jersey again and he said: "Although my priority is to help CSKA return to the top of Russian football I certainly hope to help the national team do well, too.
"People might be underestimating us but our defence only conceded seven goals in the qualifying programme and England got four of those. It is something to build our new regime on."
Both Malafeev and Gabulov made telling contributions during Russia's nail-biting qualification programme in Akinfeev's absence but he had been acknowledged as the natural successor to a golden ancestry of Russian goalkeepers like the great Lev Yashin - if only he can prove the injury has not damaged his form.
It is a battle he expects to win, saying: "Only time will tell but I rate my own chances, although I know I still have to keep working hard. The season is still just beginning really."
CSKA's need to rise from the ashes of their grim Champions League showing last season when they also lost the Russian title to Zenit is driving him on.
But he has also kept firm focus on the Euro finals and Russia's preliminary group, where they take on Spain, holders Greece and Sweden.
Beatable
He admits: "Spain probably have the most interesting team and they are the favourites. It's not an easy group, but all of our opponents are beatable.
"The Swedes always feature well in big tournaments and Greece, we all know what they did last time in Europe. It could be an inspiration to us even if not many others rate us."
He is back in international mode after the get-together trip to Turkey and said: "It was nice to get over there. We met with the boys after a long break and got into the atmosphere of the national team.
"It's no surprise that everyone was in such a good mood. It didn't make any difference to me whether we played or not. If the coaches decided to do without an official game, then it was because we didn't need one."
