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Guus Hiddink's Russia looked about ready to start calling a travel agent to book its arrangements for South Africa in June. The Russians held a comfortable 2-0 lead against Slovenia in Saturday's UEFA playoff in Moscow thanks to a pair of goals from Everton's Diniyar Bilyaletdinov. To Slovenia's credit, the World Cup hopefuls didn't stop charging and its effort paid off when substitute Nejc Pecnik headed home a rebound from a shot by Robert Koren to make it finish 2-1. For Slovenia it was a crucial away goal as the two-leg playoff heads to Maribor on Wednesday.
After its goal, Slovenia nearly drew that match at two, with Russia needing keeper Igor Akinfeev to pull off a full-stretch diving save to keep it 2-1 before the final whistle.
Should Russia stumble next week, it'll clearly rue a slew of missing oppurtunities to extend its lead in the second half. English Premier Leaguers Roman Pavlychenko and Andrey Arshavin each had clear chances in the second half to give Russia a nearly insurmountable lead, yet Slovenia keeper Samir Handanovic rose to the occasion each time and kept his side in the match.
After Bilyaletdinov broke the deadlock with a nice turn-and-shoot at the top of the box in the 41st minute, Russia looked like the side who'd be on its way to South Africa.
Prior to the goal, the best Russian chance had come on a long and tricky run from his own half by Chelsea back Yuri Zhirov, but his shot was turned away by Handanovic.
The Russians even caught a break just before halftime when Arshavin got in a tangle with Miso Brecko near midfield, with the Slovenia defender falling to the ground as if he'd been shot. After both sides surrounded referee Klaus Larsen, the Arsenal star was only given a yellow card.
Russia doubled its lead on Bilyaletdinov's second goal of the match, which came after he kicked it off a Slovenian defender and it came right back to him allowing him to slot it by Handanovic on the second effort.
Clearly, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin -- who was in attendance inside the Luzhniki Stadium -- will not be happy. Nor will the 80,000-strong loud and boisterous Russian crowd, who were issued medical masks to help protect from swine flu.
Either way, they probably left the stadium with a sour, sick taste in their stomachs, as a trip to the World Cup is now anything but a certainty for a team that's been on the rise ever since Euro 2008.
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