Saturday 11 June 2016 07:44, UK
England's first opponents in Group B at Euro 2016 will be Russia – a country with an inconsistent record in recent major tournaments, but undoubted individual talent.
When you think of Russia and the European Championships, their run to the semi-finals of Euro 2008 stands out, when Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko turned on the style.
Russian football is currently in a transitional phase with eyes firmly fixed on building a team to compete competitively at their own World Cup in 2018. There's still a nice mix of experience and youth within the current squad, although injuries to Alan Dzagoev, Yuri Zhirkov and Igor Denisov have severely weakened the strength of their starting XI.
So, who does Roy Hodgson need to keep tabs on ahead of Saturday's game? We pick out three key men…
Artem Dzyuba
Russia boss Leonid Slutsky, who took over from Fabio Capello during qualification, prefers to play a 4-2-3-1 formation, which means the lone striker has an important role to play in not only firing home the goals but bringing his attacking midfielders into play. Dzyuba is likely to play that role for Slutsky's men.
Although he isn't as mobile as some of the world's top strikers, he makes up for it with his presence and imposing nature of play. The Zenit St Petersburg striker can play the target man role if required but Slutsky usually likes to play through midfield and into the feet of his frontman. When the ball drops his way, he usually finds the net - as shown by his goalscoring record for club and country.
The 27-year-old striker scored eight goals during qualifying as Russia secured a top two finish in Group G after a shaky start under Capello. He was involved in 50 per cent of Russia's goals in qualifying - only Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic (58 per cent) and Wales' Gareth Bale (80 per cent) were relied on more.
The goals flowed nicely for the burly striker in the Champions League for Zenit, too, as he fired six goals in eight games - only Cristiano Ronaldo (11) and Robert Lewandowski (seven) scored more in the entire tournament than Dzyuba.
Oleg Shatov
The 25-year-old winger has developed into a player that Russia can't leave out.
In 10 years he's gone from playing futsal for an indoor team called Viz-Sinara to becoming one of the first names on the team sheet for his country.
Under the guidance of Andre Villas-Boas at Zenit, Shatov has become an exciting player to watch in the Russian league and has impressed with his creativity in the Champions League, where Zenit topped their group before being knocked out in the last-16 by Benfica.
His battle with England's right-back, likely to be Kyle Walker, will be one to keep a close eye on as the Three Lions defence is regarded as the weakest part of their make-up. Shatov is a fine dribbler, who moves the ball very quickly away from defenders and has good quality from wide areas. He'll need to be stopped.
Roman Shirokov
Russia will be hoping their skipper will be captain fantastic in France.
However, the 34-year-old has struggled to find his best form in the last year. He was released from his contract at Spartak Moscow mid-season by mutual consent following a reported breakdown in relations with management and joined their local rivals CSKA, where he linked up with Slutsky (who combines the CSKA job with his role with the national team).
Shirokov's appearances there were pretty uninspiring, though. He made just eight appearances - six from the bench - and failed to play a full 90 minutes.
This will probably be Shirokov's last chance to make a mark at a major championship. It's been a career littered with off-the-field incidents, while his attitude has been called into question by managers. Injuries have also restricted his progress, too. In 2014, Russia's group stage exit at the World Cup in Brazil was largely put down to the fact Shirokov missed the tournament with a knee problem.
Nevertheless, on his day this cultured and energetic midfielder can boss a game on his own. He'll probably be deployed in the No 10 role by Slutsky, where his creativity and ability to find team-mates with clever passing will need to be stifled by Eric Dier in England's engine room.
