MOSCOW: Russia will qualify for Euro 2016 despite their halting first steps to the championships in France, coach Fabio Capello maintained on Wednesday.
After four games, Capello's 2018 World Cup hosts are already trailing Group G leaders Austria by five points in third spot.
"I'm confident that we will make it into the Euro finals," Capello insisted ahead of his side's next qualifier in Montenegro on March 27.
The Italian added: "Our performance in the (qualifying) matches with Sweden and Austria gave me that hope.
"We failed to gain the results that we wanted in these matches but we played well. The only match that has really disappointed me was the draw with Moldova. I just couldn't 'digest' it."
Russian football chief Nikolai Tolstykh claimed this month that Capello's job could be on the line if Russia failed to qualify for next year's tournament.
"The RFU has enough possibilities to cancel Capello's contract," Tolstykh said.
But Capello, who recently signed a lucrative new deal up to the next World Cup, told the domestic media: "We don't have and never have had any problems or differences with the (RFU) president."
The 68-year-old Italian came in for criticism after Russia's group stage elimination from last year's World Cup in Brazil without a single win.
Only the backing of the country's sports minister Vitaly Mutko prevented the former England manager from losing his job.
He was involved in a six-month long pay dispute with the RFU before billionaire Alisher Usmanov, a shareholder at English Premier League club Arsenal, stepping in to settle 400 million roubles ($5.8 million) in unpaid wages.
"I haven't been paid for months, it's true," Capello said.
"But I can live without this money. First of all I like this work, the passion which I feel here.
"I hope that Tolstykh will find the way to resolve the situation."
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