Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 14 / Trend , T.Konyayeva/
The Russia national football team considers any team a serious rival.
"We have no preference, any team for us will be a serious rival, and we are preparing very seriously to any match," CEO of Russia's Football Union, Alexei Sorokin, told Trend in Baku on Oct. 14 on the run-up to the playoffs.
In the group stage of World Championship 2010, Russia ranked second and will play in the play-offs to be qualified for the 2010 World Cup.
Regarding today's match against Azerbaijan's national football squad, Sorokin said that the Azerbaijani team is young but has great potential.
"We are seriously preparing for the match, and our footballers are training seriously," said Sorokin.
The Azerbaijani and Russian squads will meet today in Baku in the last round of qualifying stage for the 2010 World Championship. Regardless of the result of the match, Russia will remain in second place in the group.