Roman Pavlyuchenko Scores 2 Goals for Russia to beat England in Euro 2008.

Russia's chances for qualifying to the UEFA Euro 2008 Finals are still alive after coming from behind to beat England 2-1 in their recent Euro 2008 qualifying match held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia this October 17. It wasn't an easy task though for Russia with England playing top form. In fact, it was England who struck first to silence the Russian home fans when England striker Wayne Rooney of English Premier League champions Manchester United chested a flick pass from teammate Michael Owen and slammed a powerful volley into the goal of Russia past Russian goalkeeper Vladimir Gabulov.

Russia were struggling to get an equaliser, and Russia's head coach Guus Hiddink made some adjustments with key substitutions, bringing in midfielder Dmitri Torbinskiy to replace defender Vasili Berezutski in the 46th minute, and then brining in forward Roman Pavlyuchenko to replace a tired Aleksandr Kerzhakov in the 58th minute.

10 minutes after the substitution, England striker Wayne Rooney gets yellow-carded for a foul in the penalty area against Russia's Konstantin Zyrianov. Russia's substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko took the penalty kick and beat England keeper Paul Robinson to put the game level at 1-1.

4 minutes after, on the 73rd minute, Russia's Roman Pavlyuchenko was able to poke in a rebound from an initial shot made by teammate Aleksei Berezutski. England keeper Paul Robinson did well to parry the first shot, but Roman Pavlyunchenko was the first to get to the ball and poke it in the unguarded England goal to give Russia a 2-1 advantage and send the Russian home fans to a frenzy.

England coach Steve McLaren made last minute gambles by bringing in Frank Lampard, Stuart Downing and Peter Crouch from the bench, but Russia was able to hold off the England offensive to book the win and collect all 3 points. Russia's win over England improves their point standings in Group E to 21 points, just 2 points behind England who maintain the number 2 spot with 23 points. Croatia lead Group E with 26 points, and look to be assured of a spot in the Euro 2008 Finals in Austria and Switzerland this June 2008.

England must win their last Euro 2008 qualifying match at home against Group E leaders Croatia on November 21 if they hope to make it to the Euro 2008 finals. Meanwhile, Russia have two away matches for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying stages against Israel on November 17 and against Andorra on November 21. Russia still has the opportunity to collect 6 points if they win both matches, and those 6 points could indeed earn them a trip to the Euro 2008 Finals. Russia drew with Israel at home 1-1 back in October 2006, and they crushed Andorra at home 4-0 back in June 2007.

England lost to Croatia 2-0 when they were visitors at Croatia back in October 2006. Come November 2007, England will be hoping that the home pitch advantage and the home crowd support at the New Wembley Stadium can help them get a win against the Group E leaders Croatia in order to ascertain a spot for the Euro 2008 Finals.