Newly-appointed Russia coach Fabio Capello will begin his mission to lead the national side into the 2014 World Cup finals with a home friendly against the Ivory Coast here on Wednesday.

Torres scored his third goal of the Euro 2012 in the final to win the Golden Boot award despite being on par with a bagful of other players - Mario Balotelli of Italy, Alan Dzagoev of Russia, Mario Mandzukic of Croatia and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal.

Veteran Greece captain Giorgos Karagounis halted Russia's Euro 2012 campaign in its tracks here on Saturday, as the underdogs unexpectedly beat the Group A early pacesetters 1-0 to reach the last eight instead.

Russian defender Alexei Berezutsky has praised his teammate Alan Dzagoev's strong recovery from injury to become one of the in-form players of Euro 2012.

Russia forward Alan Dzagoev is not thinking about a big-money move to a major European club. Not yet, anyway.

Russia will look to cement their place in the last eight at Euro 2012 here on Saturday when a draw will suffice in their game with Greece.

Alan Dzagoev scored his third goal of the European Championship and Jakub Blaszczykowski equalized in the second half as Russia and Poland drew 1-1 Tuesday.

Poland coach Franciszek Smuda on Tuesday opted to shake up his midfield for the Euro 2012 co-hosts' crunch match against a high-octane Russia, whose boss Dick Advocaat stuck to his winning formula.

Poland's media on Saturday hailed "half a victory" after the national side drew 1-1 with Greece in the opening match of Euro 2012 but many feared the impressive form of next opponents and traditional foes Russia.

Alan Dzagoev was not just the two-goal hero in Russia's opening 4-1 Group A victory over the Czech Republic at the European Championships he also earnt the admiration of a former star player.