Fabio Capello’s future as the national team manager of pressure is under doubt after a 1-0 defeat against Austria left the fans in extreme displeasure against the manager.
Despite having a world-class coach like Capello in their ranks, Russia have been struggling to live up to the achievements of past successes. Under the regime of Guus Hiddink, the national team reached the semifinals of the Euro 2008. Since then, it has been a downhill path for the national team and the Russian Football Federation. Due to significant a lot of debts, the RFU has been unable to pay Capello for the last eight months.
Yet, the national team boss has not been stepping down from his role and has continued to manage the team. The recent defeat against Austria came despite some extreme attacking potential within the team. Russia even had attacking full-back Yuri Zhirkov running up and down on the flanks. However, they do not create much opportunities and suffered a loss that sees them fall eight points behind Austria in the table. They are third in the group and would have to go through a qualification stage in order to reach the Euro 2016.
“We have already made a certain decision on Capello’s future. But there is the executive committee of the Russian Football Union (RFS). I think in the very near future one of these bodies will look at this question in detail,” said Russian sports minister VitalyMutko.“I don’t have a problem with talking to my employers about this question.However, I have worked for eight months for free. Now they owe me for another two months. This is not a problem for me. If I was only interested in the money then I would have complained to FIFA a long time ago,” said Capello in response.