There was an English flavor to Russia v. Slovenia

Here's one example of how the world of football has changed: RUSSIA included three London-based players and a Liverpool-based player in the first leg of their WORLD CUP PLAY-OFF match against SLOVENIA today. That would have been unthinkable when I was a kid following world football.
We watched today's match live on SETANTA SPORTS. Everton's Diniyar Bilyaletdinov scored twice to give Russia a 2-1 lead heading into Wednesday's return match in Slovenia.
Substitute Nejc Pećnik pulled back a vital away goal for the Slovenes with two minutes remaining.
Russian captain Andrei Arshavin of Arsenal looked lively, as usual, but his Tottenham Hotspur-based strike partner Roman Pavlyuchenko was relatively wasteful for the home side, and was withdrawn after 80 minutes..
I had personal reasons to cheer for Slovenia. My friend, Joe Heitz, is living in the former Yugoslav republic for a year, and the Slovene captain was Robert Koren of West Bromwich Albion -- the club I supported as a child.
I wonder how crazy the nation will seem on Wednesday, when Slovenia host the Russians in Maribor?