The Russian team ultimately proved incapable of overcoming Slovenia in a two-game playoff for a berth to World Cup 2010 in South Africa, primarily due to the lack of inspiration in the game of its strike force headed by Arsenal star Andrei Arshavin (pictured in #10 shirt).

Arshavin just couldn’t find his groove and produced a display riddled with errors. None of the runs he is loved for ended in anything resembling a thoughtful pass or threatening for the opposite side. Arshavin, who remains Russia’s best forward at the moment in the FTBL ranking with a score of 150.11 points, dropped 7.8 rating points in our system.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Roman Pavlyuchenko (pictured above) was another disappointment of the night. Maybe because he is given so little time on the field at Spurs, Pavlyuchenko was rusty and created just one opportunity for the 45 minutes he spent on the field. He lost 11.91 rating points in our system and is now at the bottom of the top 6 of our ranking of Russian forwards with an FTBL score of 61.33 points.

Dynamo Moscow’s Aleksandr Kerzhakov wasn’t better either. Coming off the bench in the second half, he not only failed to add to Russia’s power in attack but also managed to attract a red card from Norwegian referee Terje Hauge after a dubious challenge on Slovenia goalkeeper Samir Handanovic (video). Kerzhakov lost 12.09 rating points in our system and, with a tally of 61.9 points, has now dropped to the bottom of the top 6 of the FTBL ranking of Russian forwards.