Putin demands strong Russian team for 2018

Posted Wednesday, April 06, 2011 by YAHOO Sport

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday set the country's sports ministry and Russian Football Union (RFU) the task of preparing a strong team for the 2018 World Cup.

"We should prepare a strong national team for the 2018 World Cup," Putin said at a meeting of 2018 World Cup organising board.

"We all understand that this task could not be solved in one or just two years.

"We still have seven years ahead and we need to carry out an everyday, laborious, task with our young footballers as they will have to uphold the honour of our flag at the World Cup."

Russia won the right to host the 2018 World Cup in a campaign spearheaded by Putin in December.

As well as a major infrastructure building drive, Russia will need to resurrect the fortunes of its football side, which failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

The national team is currently going through a difficult patch and the players, including Arsenal star Andrei Arshavin, were criticised in the press for poor performances in the friendly matches against Iran and Qatar.

Worse, they then lost crucial points by drawing a Euro 2012 qualifier at Armenia.

Russia still share the lead in Euro 2012 qualifying Group B with Slovakia and Republic of Ireland on 10 points from five matches.