© EuroFootball.com
After the halfway point of the 2006 World Cup European Zone qualifying matches, the coach of the Russian national team, Georgy Yartsev, resigned from his position.
Over the weekend, former Zenit club and Russian Premier League leader Vitaly Mutko was elected as the new president of the Russian Football Federation, replacing Vyacheslav Koloskov. Mutko immediately announced that he would first say goodbye to Yartsev.
"We still have a chance to qualify for the World Cup," Mutko said. "So it would be foolish not to take advantage of them, but first we need to stop experimenting with the national team."
Nevertheless, after the World Cup qualifying match against Estonia, Yartsev decided not to wait for dismissal and handed in his resignation statement on Monday, which was soon accepted.
At the age of 56, Yartsev, who took over as the team's coach in 2003 replacing Valery Gazzaev, initially worked on a temporary basis, but in January 2004 signed a two-year contract with the national federation.
Despite a poor performance at the European Championship last summer, Yartsev managed to keep his post, and although it was the first time a Russian coach remained in the team after a major tournament, he had to step down after unsuccessful World Cup qualifying matches.
Russia, with 11 points in 6 matches, currently holds the third position in Group 3 of the qualifiers, trailing Portugal and Slovakia by three points. According to the federation president, the new coach of the Russian national team should be a foreigner.
