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Putin in Kremlin meets Russian football chief as he resigns after Euro failure

President Vladimir Putin thanks Sergey Fursenko for the job as he steps down as president of the Russian Football Union after team Russia drop out of Euro 2012.

The head of the Russian Football Union Sergey Fursenko declared his resignation after the country’s national team failed to qualify from the group stages at Euro 2012. Fursenko made the statement at a meeting with the president Vladimir Putin.Putin thanked the 58-year-old for his efforts as head of Russian football. The president accepted the resignation and offered that Fursenko carried on his job as a member of the UEFA Executive Committee.A former Zenit Saint Petersburg president, Fursenko was elected the RFU’s head back in 2010, bringing in Dutch Dick Advocaat as Russia coach. Despite kicking off their Euro 2012 campaign scoring 4-1 in a match with the Czech Republic, the Russian national team only managed to grab one point in the two remaining matches and were left out of the playoffs.  
The performance of team Russia at the Euro 2012 tournament coined a neologism in English language. The Guardian newspaper turned the name of Russian striker Alexandr Kerzhakov who made several unsuccessful attacks into a verb meaning ‘fail to hit’. In its online text broadcast of Italy-England quarter final match after Italian midfielder Daniele De Rossi missed the goal newspaper said: “The England defense was dozing and it dropped to De Rossi, who turned and Kerzhakoved a volley wide from six yards out!”Russian team drew 1-1 with Poland and was upset by Greece 1-0 for an early exit.