By Andrew Warshaw in Paris
June 22 – Just when they needed to boost regional interest and their own individual reputations ahead of the 2018 World Cup, eastern European sides have been crashing out of Euro 2016 with questions being asked about how far they have fallen behind their western counterparts at international level.
First Ukraine, then 2018 hosts Russia, Romania and now the Czech Republic have all failed to get past the group stage.
The biggest humiliation, of course, is that of Russia who have had a Euros to forget on and off the field, with coach Leonid Slutsky offering his resignation and the Russian press, which usually tries to put a positive spin on proceedings, unable to hide its anger.
“Disgrace” and “humiliation” is how football pundit Valery Reingold described the team’s performance in Izvestia newspaper while former player Aleksandr Bubnov added: “Two years before hosting the World Cup, the only thing we have right now is total confusion. There is no coach, no leader in the team, not even a defined skeleton of a future team.”
Across the French press here in Paris, Russia’s performances – two defeats and a lucky draw against England – were put to the sword and it was the same around Europe. Spain’s El Pais newspaper carried an interview with former Russia midfielder Aleksandr Mostovoi, who said Russian players lack ambition.
However, he predicted that the World Cup would be a success. “Russians are unique. Half the country is poor, but the other half has a lot of money and the organisation will be perfect.”
Germany’s Die Welt was one of several publications that focussed on an incident during Russia’s tournament-ending 3-0 defeat by Wales which typified the mood in the Russian camp. When Roman Shirkov was hauled off and his captain’s armband thrown to substitute Alexander Golovin, the latter’s reaction was to look for someone else to take over.
Dmitry Zelenov from Russia’s mass circulation Sport Express says what had happened to his country in France is hugely depressing.
“It’s a terrible feeling,” Zelenov told InsideWorldFootball. “It was far worse than I expected. We have a slow defence and no creativity. I’m sure this will dominate the debate in Russia for a while but after it all calms down, maybe we should create a completely new team.
“Everybody thought that this new format with third-placed teams would suit us down to the ground but we couldn’t even get past Wales and Slovakia, two teams we have beaten before without any problem. The game against Slovakia was bad, against Wales even worse.”
Zelenov says changing coach all the time – Fabio Capello was replaced Slutsky who has now offered his own resignation – will solve nothing.
“It’s just a bad generation of players. None of them play in top European leagues. We have the World Cup in two years. I can’t see how we can have a good team by them. We have the best coaches from abroad and at home but the situation has not improved. It’s a huge task.”
For the Czech Republic, exiting the tournament when they only needed a point against Turkey was an equally devastating blow and coach Pavel Vrba says he has no idea whether either he or goalkeeper Petr Cech, the Czechs’ most experienced and important player, will continue.
Vrba’s men came into Tuesday’s Group D meeting in Lens knowing a win would guarantee them a place in the second round, while a draw would keep them in contention. But a 2-0 defeat wrecked both those scenarios.
“Of course our goal was to qualify, unfortunately we didn’t manage it,” he said. “But we will draw on this and I think we’ll be able to use some things during the qualifiers for the World Cup.”
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