The Red Army, The Russian Hitman and Paul Ince

To start off with, the Russia vs Sweden match must be discussed. Guus Hiddink has always proved he is a master-mind at what he does but his recent achievement of steering Russia into the Quarter finals is highly impressive. Russia started of the campaign with a whipping from Spain and i must admit i thought i would be difficult for Russia to regain their confidence in time to secure a place in the next round. However, Guus got his red army up and running again and secured victories against the European Champions and shutting out the attacking threat of Ibrahimovic and co. to book a place against the un-stoppable Dutch. One has to wonder, if any one can stop Holland it would be the Dutch born Guus Hiddink. His knowledge and experience of Dutch football and his ability to shut out attacks will be his biggest assets when facing a team that has shown no mercy to world-class defenders.

A player i like a lot from the Russian National team is Roman Pavlyuchenko. He currently practices his trade at Spartak Moscow. I think he would be a great signing for one of the mid-table clubs looking to push for Europe. He scored an impressive two goals against England during the qualifications, he has the physical features to dominate a game (1.88cm and 78kgs) and most importantly he can read the game like a child reads Harry Potter. What im trying to say is that a host of clubs will be contacting his agent when the championship ends.

Tonight's game Germany vs Portugal will be great, two world-class teams going for a win will provide for a classic encounter. I'm convinced this is the decider on who will face Spain in the finals. Portugal will take full advantage of the extra week of rest most of their star players got and the fact there manager Low will be sitting in the stands.

Club News: Roma have signed out of favour Riise for a reported £3.96million. I think that’s a great purchase for the price they got him. Riise comes with a wealth of Champions League experience, International Experience and a sweet left foot that is aching to play consistent football.

Sky Sports understands that Paul Ince is the favorite to take over from Mark Hughes. Personally i think he has done a great job at MK Dons and he has the desire to do well at Blackburn. Steve McClaren and Sam Allardyce would be a step backwards for Blackburn, personally i would like to see Steve McClaren retire from managing or at least apply for an assistant job at Leeds Utd.

In other news Brazil vs Argentina was a complete bore. Messi missed two complete sitters and concerns came over Man Utd Anderson who was taken off by stretcher. This result is bad news for Brazil who lost their previous qualifying match against Paraguay 2-0 leaving then in fourth place.

Lots of pressure on Dunga.