BAKU, Oct 16 — Russia reached their first World Cup finals since 2002 yesterday as their 1-1 draw aith Azerbaijan in Baku was sufficient to secure their place in Brazil next year.

It gives coach Fabio Capello a chance to improve on his underwhelming campaign at the 2010 finals with England, which saw them whipped 4-1 by Germany in the second round.

Zenit St Petersburg midfielder and Russian captain Roman Shirokov scored early on for for Russia and even though Azerbaijan levelled in the final minute through substitute forward Vagif Dzhavadov it wasn’t enough to prevent them reaching the finals.

They top the group by one point from Portugal, who beat Luxembourg 3-0 also yesterday.

“I’m satisfied with our performance in this qualifying campaign,” Capello said.

“We finished in first place having such a strong opponent as Portugal in our group.

“We played well in all of the matches except the game in Northern Ireland (they lost 1-0 in August) where we performed unsatisfactorily.

“But in general I have positive memories from this campaign.”

Azerbaijan, spurred on by the sell out 11,000 crowd at Baku Bakcell arena, started brightly but Shirokov ensured they were quietened down.

He slotted the ball past ‘keeper Kamran Agayev from 10 metres out after seizing on a pass by Lokomotiv Moscow winger Alexander Samedov.

The visitors had countless chances to extend their lead especially in he 55th minute when Alexander Kerzhakov had a clear chance, but his powerful shot produced a remarkable save from Agayev.

In the 65th minute Shirokov also went close to doubling his tally but his shot from the edge of the area went just inches wide of the left hand post.

Eight minutes later the hosts chances of getting anything from the game were reduced further when defender Maksim Medvedev was sent off for a foul on Kerzhakov.

But Dzhavadov levelled in the last minute of regular time with a header from Mahir Shukurov’s cross.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan manager Berti Vogts said he was pleased with his team’s performance.

“I’d like to congratulate my team as we managed to equalise despite being a man down and playing against very strong opponents,” he said.

“It was very hard for us to play two matches at our top level in just four days but we managed to earn four points. I’m pleased with it,” said the experienced German, who coached Germany to success in Euro 1996. — AFP