Russia vs Czech Republic Euro 2012 

The prominent Russian motivational speaker, Andrey Arshavin

More please! That was the reflex request after this tournament's opening game this afternoon, an affair that was expected to be the more dreary of the Group A curtain-raisers but turned out to be quite the lark. Attacking verve, jarring speed and dramatic twists, Poland and Greece served up a spectacle that really didn't need to be spiced up by absurd refereeing but was, nonetheless. Russia and the Czech Republic certainly have the ability to crank the quality rating up even higher … and it would not be a complete surprise if Howard Webb outdid the hijinks of his Spanish counterpart in the early fixture. So stay tuned!

Russia are the favourites and, indeed, many people's crafty fancy for a semi-final place, at least. They're a resolutely attacking side and capable of eminently nifty interplay even though that renowned purveyor of happy vibes, Andrei Arshavin, says "we lack too much speed to go far." Maybe they do lack speed, but they have a core of players from Zenit St Petersburg and ingenuity a-plenty from tricksters such as Alan Dzagoev, Marat Izmailov (who starts on the bench tonight) and even Arshavin himself. Roman Shirokov will drive menacingly from midfield; and I've placed a modest sum on Aleksandr Kerzakhov to be the tournament's top scorer.

The Czechs, meanwhile, do not look like especially daunting opponents. They finished miles behind Spain in the qualifying group and only edged out Scotland thanks to an ignoble dive at Hampden Park. Half of their four victories in the qualifiers were against Liechtenstein. Nonetheless, let's not be a giddy Spanish ref and dismiss them too rashly: for they have a decent wideman - Jan Rezek and Vaclav Pilar - on either flank and Rosicky prompting behind, um, Milan Baros, the man on whom everyone claims to have staked a tenner to be top scorer back in Euro 2004, when his pre-tournament odds were 50-1. I'll give you 5,000,000-1 on him winning a gilded boot again here.

Teams:
Russia: Malafeev; Anyukov, Ignashevich, Berezutski, Zhirkov; Denisov, Shirokov, Zyryanov; Arshavin, Kerzhakov, Dzagoev

Czech Republic: Cech; Gebre Selassie, Kadlec, Hubnik, Sivok; Rezek, Plasil, Rosicky, Jiracek, Pilar; Baros

Ref: Howard Webb