Hiddink not expecting repeat
25 Jun 2008 - 08:57:20
Russia coach Guus Hiddink is confident his players have learned from their group stage mauling at the hands of Spain ahead of Thursday's semi-final second meetings of the sides.
Spain were comfortable 4-1 winners in Innsbruck back on June 10 on their way to winning Group D, but a quietly confident Hiddink is not expecting a repeat scoreline when the sides lock horns again in Vienna.
He said: "If we play as we did before we don't even have to start this game. We may as well hand over our wallets to Spain.
"We have tried, of course, to improve. The team has learnt a lot in a very short time. We hope to continue that."
Meanwhile, Hiddink has confirmed he has an injury concern over Ivan Saenko after the midfielder sat out training earlier in the week with an ankle problem.
"He's still got a little bit of a problem but we will see tomorrow if he can participate," he revealed.
