Osaze Odemwingie has escaped the sick Racist taunts that marred his time with Lokomotiv Moscow

West Brom fans will today display a banner in support of Osaze Odemwingie after the striker received a sick racist taunt from ‘supporters’ at his former club Lokomotiv Moscow.  Baggies fans will have a created a banner which will read “Thanks Lokomotiv”.

The touching gesture is in retaliation to the ”Thanks West Brom” banner that featured a banana image. It  demonstrates just how far the English game has come over the last 30 years. Football in England has come that far that most of us are sickened to hear any form of racism in a football ground.

Odemwingie himself admits that although racist behaviour is only committed by a select few,  Russia does have a problem. He told BBC Sport: “Some fans treated me well – only a group of supporters have shown how narrow minded they are to the world.

“Coloured players feel the open racism there and I recall a game against CSKA Moscow when their fans started the sick noises – I wouldn’t have any of it and gave it back to them.

 ”This was widely publicised because photographers had shots of my protest but still nothing was done to curb it. Sadly, it’s a picture of a minority group in Russia – it really makes you feel sick but that is what it is. “

 Thankfully Odemwingie should be safe from the racist taunts at West Brom. I look back to England’s clash with Spain in 2004, which saw Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright Phillips on the end of disgusting and unacceptable chants from the home crowd. I think that was the night when I really realised just how far the English game was ahead of most.

 But FIFA just don’t act on these incidents. The Spanish Football Federation were fined £44,750 for their fans actions that night, a punishment that in the multi-million pound world of football is nothing short of laughable.  Similar incidents have happened across Europe, most notably in Italy, but yet again FIFA have handed out feeble punishments, which barely cover the crime.

Now FIFA has the opportunity to act once again, but my betting is that they don’t.  If Russia host the World Cup after a sickening display of racism like that, it would be a complete sham, and a disgrace football.

Of course I want England to host the World Cup, but even if we weren’t bidding to host the 2018 tournament, I would be outraged at FIFA’s continued tolerance of racist behaviour.  Hopefully FIFA finally make a stand, but I won’t be holding my breath just yet.

Russian champions Rubin Kazan disappointed in Kiev

In partnership with Russian Football Now, EPL Talk presents the third episode of RNF’s podcast.

Though defending champions Rubin Kazan continue to roll through the Russian Premier League, the club hit a major stumbling block in Kiev when they lost their Champions League opener to Dyanmo. Beyond the loss, Rubin’s poor performance forces hosts Chris Riordan and Richard Farley to evaluate how good this year’s Russian teams are.

In addition, Chris and Richard get you up to date on …

• the performances of Russians performing beyond Russia’s borders,
• the rumors surrounding the league (specifically Zenit), and
• give you their impressions of last week’s league action and the weekend of football to come.

It’s the fourth episode of Russian Football Now’s Podcast.

Former AS Roma manager Luciano Spalletti has long been linked with Zenit St. Petersburg.

In partnership with Russian Football Now, EPL Talk presents the second episode of RNF’s podcast.

An active week in papers sees former AS Roma manager Luciano Spalletti take an additional step toward the long-rumored more to Zenit. Meanwhile, Roman Pavlyuchenko gets priced out of his move to St. Petersburg, instead staying in London. While this was happening, the Russian National Team was gathering in St. Petersburg in anticipation of the week’s World Cup qualifiers, for which they look to be without Yuri Zhirkov, Denis Kolodin, and Andrei Arshavin (at least for the first match).

Russian Football Now’s podcast discusses all the plus runs down the Premier League table for you in this, their second full-length podcast.

If I had my way, Guus Hiddink, unveiled today at Chelsea, would be the first of several managers to manage both their national and club sides at the same time. It makes perfect sense: the running gag in the British press always seems to be the enormous amount of free time national managers have between meaningless fixtures, a situation that gets less savoury when you consider how much money associations like the FA are willing to pay these talented part-timers. Why couldn’t Hiddink or Capello, or god-forbid Raymond Domenech manage both club and country at the same time?

Just look at the “pro” side! A “country-club” manager will certainly be less likely to whinge about the international breaks, at least with the frequency that some Premier League gaffers do. And who better to judge the quality of players fit for the national team than a proper league manager who has to study these players week in, week out as part of their club routine?

Of course there is the little tricky problem of “conflict of interest.” Player call-ups would be questioned with every international fixture; after all, what would prevent a manager calling up a key competitive star for a meaningless game against Paraguay before a major top of the table clash? Or leaving his own players out?

Wait wait wait, this is a ridiculous idea. I mean, Hiddink has the power to call up Andrei Arshavin and run the little guy into the ground just in time for Chelsea and Arsenal’s epic quest for fourth place. He could spite Tottenham simply by slotting in Pavlyuchenko as a full-back. Did anyone think of this? Is there any time left to stop it?

Preferably before Chelsea meet Aston Villa, brimming with confidence under an intelligent, tactically astute Dutch manager?

New Spurs striker Roman Pavlyuchenko may face punishment from Tottenham because he’s not learning English quickly enough according to the Russian newspaper, Tvoi Den.

If the newspaper report is true, it’s a bit unfair on Pavlyuchenko. He’s only been with Spurs since September 1st and, in that time, he also played in Moscow for Russia aganst Wales. Plus, the criticism seems very hypocritical given that Juande Ramos is not learning English fast enough either.

The newspaper reports that Pavlyuchenko was substituted at halftime against Wigan because he wasn’t following the orders from Ramos because he didn’t understand a word that his manager had said in the pre-match team talk.

Sure, the sooner Pavlyuchenko learns English the better, but he’s only been with Spurs for just over three weeks. Ramos has been with Tottenham since October 27, 2007.

England’s away match today against Croatia is massive for several reasons. First, a loss against Croatia will be a huge blow to England’s hopes of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. Second, a loss would put immense pressure under Fabio Capello. Third, if England can secure a draw or a win, it’ll be a huge boost of confidence to a team and a nation that haven’t had much to cheer about in so long.

The irony is that most football fans in England and the United States won’t be able to see the big match live unless they’re willing to fork over some sizeable cash to Setanta Sports or In Demand.

Here are some of today’s matches to enjoy:

• Russia vs Wales, 11am ET/4pm UK (Fox Soccer Channel)
• Turkey vs Belgium, 2pm ET/7pm UK time (Setanta US)
• Macedonia vs Holland, 2:30pm ET/7:30pm UK time (Fox Soccer Channel)
• Croatia v England, 3pm ET/8pm UK time (Pay-per-view and Setanta pub channel)
• Italy vs Georgia, 2:45pm ET/7:45pm UK time (GolTV)
• Portugal vs Denmark, 4pm ET/9pm UK time (Setanta US)
• Spain vs Armenia, 4:50pm ET/9:50pm UK time (GolTV)
• Slovenia vs Slovakia, 5pm ET/10pm UK time (Fox Soccer Channel)
• France vs Serbia, 6:45pm ET/11:45pm UK time (Setanta US)
• USA v Trinidad & Tobago, 8pm ET/1am UK time (ESPN2)
• Uzbekistan v Australia, 8pm ET/1am UK time (Fox Soccer Channel)
• Finland v Germany, 8:45pm ET/1:45am UK time (Setanta US)
• Mexico v Canada, 9pm ET/2am ET UK time (Telemundo)

If you’ll be watching – or have watched – today’s matches, please share your thoughts, insight, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Meanwhile, if you’re a fan of U.S. soccer, be sure to head on over to Major League Soccer Talk for a special live chat tonight at 8pm ET featuring the United States against Trinidad and Tobago.

Watching Russia beat Holland 3-1 tonight in Basel to qualify for the semi-finals of Euro 2008, we may have seen the future champions of Europe. Their performance, at times, was simply breathtaking.

Over the entire 120 minutes, the best team deservedly won the match. Holland had plenty of chances to score but they were, for once, wasteful in front of the net. The Netherlands was also extremely lethargic in this game especially in midfield where it often seemed like they had forgotten to play their one-touch football which had been so awe-inspiring to watch throughout the tournament thus far.

What impressed me most about Russia was their shooting accuracy. Time after time, Dutch keeper Edwin van der Sar kept Holland in the game after making fingertip saves to prevent Russia from scoring. It wasn’t just Russia’s shooting accuracy but the speed and placement of their shots was simply stunning. The Russians kept on pinging the shots in at van der Sar.

There were so many highlights for the Russians. Dmitri Torbinski’s goal for Russia to make it 2-1 was simply sublime. Andrei Arshavin controlled the midfield and was rewarded for his hard work with a goal. Roman Pavlyuchenko continued to torment Holland and he too got a goal for Russia. While there was little between both teams in the first half, from the second half onwards Russia began to take control and looked by far the better side. Russia coach Guus Hiddink is a bloody genius.

If you haven’t noticed, a pattern is beginning to emerge in Euro 2008. So far, every team that’s qualified for the semi-finals thus far has lost one of their matches in the opening round of the European Championships. Sometimes you have to taste defeat to get the kick up the backside you need to go on to be victorious. The shame of it for Holland was that their first loss of the tournament came in a game where defeat sent them out of the tournament and heading home.

Sometimes readers ask me why I don’t have DirecTV or DISH Network. One of the main reasons why was on display today, and it’s definitely one of the pitfalls of watching soccer on satellite television.The culprit is the weather in South Florida. During the summer here, you can almost guarantee that by 2pm that the major thunderstorms will roll in and the rain comes pouring down. When that happens, you lose the satellite signal and you have to wait for the storm to pass before the TV programming returns. Sometimes that can be 20 minutes or more.

When your satellite signal is at the mercy of the weather, there’s no telling when it’ll ruin your soccer watching experience. This is exactly what happened today. Watching the Russia against Holland quarter-final in a local pub, the DirecTV signal was lost two to three times during the match, leaving us with blank screens for several minutes during the match.

The worst part of this is that we missed a key moment in the match near the end of the 90 minutes. When we frustratingly lost the DirecTV signal around the 80th minute mark, several of the pub patrons pulled out their Blackberry’s to give us updates on the game as we waited for the ABC signal to return. One of the customers yelped that Ruud van Nistelrooy just scored an equalizer. It’s one thing to see the goal in person, but when you hear someone blurt it out after reading it on a Blackberry, it pissed me off because I wasn’t able to see it on TV.

Hurricane season in Florida is from June 1st to November 30. So for six months out of the year, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to watch your soccer matches when you want to.

Cable is definitely the better option but Setanta Sports isn’t available on Comcast. Unless a major announcement will be made this summer, I may sign up for Setanta Broadband instead.

Here’s a photograph of me, The Gaffer, partying with two friendly Dutch fans in the streets of Berne, Switzerland before the Italy against Holland match.

I’ll be at Slainte’s Pub in Boynton Beach this afternoon cheering on the Dutch. Come back later tonight for a full report as well as articles throughout the day from the EPL Talk bloggers.