Russia’s football coach Dick Advocaat says he has no explanation for his team’s failure against Greece, adding that he’s proud of his team, despite the early Euro 2012 exit.“We played quite well, had the initiative firmly in our hands, but failed once in defense and conceded,” Advocaat is cited by Sportbox.ru as saying. “It’s very hard to come back in a game against such a team as Greece, and we couldn’t take advantage of our chances.”
Even a draw against the Greeks would have been enough for Russia to qualify for the play-offs, but the national team lost the crucial game 1-0.
The fate of the match was decided by a single goal from Giorgos Karagounis in first-half stoppage time.
The Czech Republic beat Euro 2012 co-hosts Poland in the other Group A encounter to make sure Advocaat’s men went out.
“The Greeks were ahead from the beginning of the second half,” the Dutchman said. “We had 45 minutes to equalize. But we couldn’t do it. Maybe at times we didn’t create the necessary pressure, but we played well – the flanks were working perfectly, we had two strikers in front. But it didn’t work out. Why so? I have no explanation.”
When asked whether he’s proud of his team, Advocaat’s answer was: “Yes.”
“Because we played well,” he stressed. “We should have scored more like in the first game [against the Czechs, which Russia won 4-1.] But I don’t blame the guys.”
The coach believes he did a great job with the team and doesn’t at all care about the criticism which will follow the loss.
“I don’t care what they’ll say about me in Russia,” the 64-year-old stated. “My coaching crew and I worked hard to build a team. We were unbeaten in 16 games in a row, but we couldn’t prolong the series this time.”
The Greek defeat was Advocaat’s last game in charge of Russia as he takes the reins at Dutch side PSV Eindhoven next season.
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