By Luke Harding in Moscow
It has been one of the great enigmas of Euro 2008. Why has a forward of the quality of Andrei Arshavin, Russia's exquisitely gifted playmaker, not previously attracted international recognition?
Victory for Russia on Thursday night against Spain would be likely to confirm 27-year-old Arshavin as the player of the tournament. This would follow his pivotal role in Russia's 3-1 demolition of Holland during the quarter-finals and their 2-0 mobbing of Sweden.
In fact, Russian sports journalists identified Arshavin as a world-class player a long time ago - in 2004. But several factors conspired to prevent Arshavin from reaching his current inspirational greatness, they suggest.
These include Russia's failure to progress at major tournaments.
A more profound obstacle has been Arshavin's immaturity or - as one observer put it - his propensity to behave "like a spoiled kid". "We started to talk about Arshavin when he was 23. He was playing for Zenit St Petersburg. It was already clear he was very talented," Anton Lisin, a journalist with Sovietsky Sport told the Guardian.
"He was driven. He was highly skilful. Technically he was a very good player. He could see the pitch. And he was an outstanding passer of the ball." The problem, according to Lisin, was Arshavin's erratic temperament.
Born in St Petersburg, Russia's gritty second city, Arshavin grew up in a working-class Soviet family. His father was a gifted amateur footballer, but never quite made it professionally.
Aged seven, Andrei enrolled in St Petersburg's 'Smena' football academy.
Contemporaries remember him as a slight, rosy-cheeked boy - with a preternatural ability to read and pass the ball. "Arshavin was always quite small. He didn't stand out. But as soon as he received the ball he was a totally different person," Sergei Gordeev, who coached Arshavin from the age of 11, said. "He was very good at draughts. Unusually for a footballer he had strong mathematical abilities."
He had also, improbably, managed to attend a technology and design institute in St Petersburg devoted to sewing. Here, he designed a range of sportswear. He later boasted that he enrolled on the sewing course because he was the only boy in a group of 20 attractive young women.
In 1999 Arshavin began playing in the reserves of Zenit, his local team, making his first-team debut in 2000 in an Intertoto Cup tie away to Bradford City. Zenit won 3-0.
At Zenit, Arshavin was among a nucleus of young, outstanding players who included Vladimir Bystrov and Alexander Kerzhakov. The three formed an exclusive circle. Arshavin was known as 'Shava', an affectionate nickname meaning little dog. "They were enfants terribles and rather stand-offish," Lisin said. "Nobody else could get close to them."
Tensions with Zenit's coach Vlastimil Petrzela saw Bystrov depart Zenit for FC Spartak. Kerzhakov pushed off to FC Dynamo. Arshavin, meanwhile, was passed over for Russia's national squad, and didn't take part in the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. Russia failed to qualify for Euro 2004, again depriving Arshavin of a chance to shine on the international stage.
Contemporaries suggest that Arshavin's self-confidence - at times bordering on arrogance - did him few favours. Critics accused him of laziness and lack of match fitness. They suggested he failed to help his defenders, often jogging back languidly from his opponent's goal.
In 2006 Dick Advocaat, Zenit's Dutch trainer, famously benched Arshavin and two other Zenit players after they went clubbing the night before a crucial game with FC Spartak. Arshavin's exile did not last long: he was swiftly recalled from the B-team.
But Arshavin reacted badly to the snub. "He basically behaved like a big child. He was disappointed by Advocaat's decision. His football suffered. He didn't have a good 2006 or early 2007," Lisin said. "Advocaat even remarked: 'I don't know what happened to Arshavin.'"
Others recall that Arshavin would behave disdainfully towards journalists.
While other players would give interviews in the post-match 'mix zone', Arshavin would saunter past, munching an apple.
Ultimately, however, it was Advocaat and Guus Hiddink who proved the key to unlocking Arshavin's late-blossoming talent. Realising that Soviet-style coaching methods were not getting results, Russia's Roman Abramovich-backed football association sent for Dutch managers - in much the same way that Peter the Great sent for Dutch shipbuilders in the 17th century in an attempt to transform Russia into a great naval power.
The Dutch coaches injected a new seriousness and professionalism into Zenit - since 2006 backed by Russia's state gas juggernaut Gazprom. Gradually, Hiddink revolutionised Russia's national side. In 2007 Arshavin became Zenit captain.
His late-discovered maturity may also have something to do with his personal happiness. He married his girlfriend Yulia in 2003, and now has two small children, Artyom, two-and-a-half, and Alina, two months.
There have been occasional flickers of Arshavin's former sulkiness. During Russia's Euro 2008 qualifier against Andorra, Arshavin got himself sent off for a reckless foul during a moment when it seemed England would qualify at Russia's expense. The red card meant he missed Russia's first two Euro 2008 matches - the 4-1 drubbing by Spain and 1-0 victory over Greece.
Latterly Arshavin has shone. He led Zenit to victory in the Uefa Cup final against Rangers and was crucial to Russia's 2-1 victory over England last October during the Euro 2008 qualifiers. In Austria and Switzerland, Hiddink has handled Arshavin to perfection, hinting before the tournament that Arshavin - now a national icon in Russia - might not play a part.
After the debacle against Spain, Hiddink opened up Russia's training session to the public. Angry Russian fans heckled the squad. The trick worked. He also roused the Russian team an hour earlier than scheduled for its encounter with Greece.
Today Zenit confirmed that Arshavin will almost certainly leave the club following Euro 2008. "If Arshavin feels he needs to bring on his career in one of the top footballing countries we will not stand in his way," Alexei Blinov, Zenit's spokesman, told the Guardian.
Arshavin has made it clear his preferred destination is Barcelona and La Liga. He is a passionate Barcelona supporter. Friends recall how as a teenager he would spend hours playing Football Manager on the computer – he would start by managing a fourth-division English club, but would inevitably finish as manager of Barca.
"As a boy his dream was to play for Barcelona. He worshipped Barcelona," Gordeev, his former coach, said. But with no offer from Barcelona so far, there is still a strong possibility that Arshavin could play in the Premier League. Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City are all reportedly interested in him.
And yet despite his superlative Euro 2008 run, there are still question marks over Arshavin's temperament. This may persuade top European clubs to modulate their offers for him - which are said to be in the region of €10-20m. As Lisin says: "During this tournament Arshavin has been like Cinderella. But nobody quite knows whether, when the clock strikes midnight, he will stay a princess or turn back into a pumpkin."
Source: guardian.co.uk
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
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