Teams:
Russia: Malafeev; Anyukov, Ignashevich, Berezutski, Zhirkov; Denisov, Shirokov, Zyryanov; Arshavin, Kerzhakov, Dzagoev
Czech Republic: Cech; Gebre Selassie, Kadlec, Hubnik, Sivok; Rezek, Plasil, Rosicky, Jiracek, Pilar; Baros
Ref: Howard Webb
Factoid:
Averaging out player weights, Russia have the lightest squad at Euro
2012, giving seven kilos per man to today's opponents. Which means, erm,
that the Czechs should have the edge in the scrums.
LIVE COMMENTARY :
3 min:
The Czechs, who by the sounds of things have far more fans in the
stadium, win the first corner and come close to making it count, as
Russia fail to deal with the delivery properly and the ball almost run
to Hubnik, but instead goes out for anoither corner. This time Malafeev
punches it soundly to safety.
5 min:
Plasil curls as freekick in from the left, Hubnik nuts it over the bar.
But a reasonable opening from the Czechs. Russian are yet to get into
their groove. What they need is one of those famously uplifting pep
talks from their captain. Come on Andriy!
7 min:
Dzagoev has been bigged up as one of the potential stars of this
tournament because of his canny movement and influence. But his first
touch, moments ago, was to tonk the ball straight out of play when a
deft pass might have put Kerzakhov through.
9 min:
Russia's continuing sluggishness is buoying the Czechs, who are making
more and more inroads. Gebre Selassie has just raided all the way down
the left wing before feeding Jiracek, who danced past two Russians ...
and then mislaid his cross.
12 min:
Russia really are inexcusably indolent. The Czechs are nothing special
at all but are being allowed to canter into space all over the pitch - a
better team than them would already have already exploited it and be a
goal or two up.
14 min: That's
better from Russia. Arshavin slid a lovely pass through to the
overlapping Zhirkov, who pulled a pass back from the by-line to
Kerzakhov, whose side-footer went wide.
GOAL! Russia 1-0 Czech Republic (Dzagoev 15')
Zyranov clipped a beautiful cross to Kerzahov, whose header from eight
yards rebounded out of the post ... but Dzagoev follwed up to hammer it
into the net from 12 yards.
17 min:
You have to fear for the Czechs now. Russia gave them the initiative
but they weren't good enough to take advantage and now Russia have found
their mojo and are starting to zip the ball around with gusto.
19 min:
Dzagoev should have scored again! A slick Russian counterattack ripped
the Czechs asunder and Dzagoev, completely unmarked, was presented with a
chance to do whatever he liked with the ball from 18 yards. Composure
abandoned him, however, and he slashed wildly wide.
21 min:
Baros does well to skip past Zhirkov down the right but no one was
expecting him to do so, thus his subsequent cross went to waste. "The
Czech's response will depend on which Rosicky we get to see," hums Matt
Dony. "The January-May model, who was at the heart of so much creativity
and drive, or the pre-Christmas travesty, who generally appeared to be
playing against Arsenal."
23 min:
Russia do not look very stable when defending set-pieces. Another Plasil
corner was allowed to float to an opponent, but Rezek's header was
saved.
GOAL! Russia 2-0 Czech Republic (Shirokov 24')
After Plasil gives the ball away in midfield, a prompt pass from
Arshavin dissects the static Czech defence and Shirokov dinks the ball
over Cech. They could fill their boots today.
27 min:
Trickery by Arshavin wide on the right, followed by an inviting low
ball across the face of goal. But it narrowly eludes Zyranov.
29 min:
Russia defend a set-piece well! Plasil's freekick is repelled by the
first man. "This is already a better tournament than World Cup 2010,"
notes Alistair Walker. And he has a point.
32 min:
Nearly three! Arshavin whizzes down the left and then cuts the ball
back for Kerzakhov, who fires inches over! The swine is taunting me and
my bet! he should have a hat-trick by now. "That Russian No10 is tasty,"
cooes Adam Hirst. "Fast, tricky, energetic, interested. Be a few
English clubs looking at him I imagine." Careful, that's the sort of AA
that could drive a fan to drink. Having said that, you're right,
Arshavin has turned terrific after an insignificant first 10 minutes.
36 min:
Czechs' best chance of getting back into this is if the Russian
midfield start getting complacent and not tracking runs. Signs of this
are already becoming apparent but, again, the Czechs have not been able
to summon enough precision in their passing to punish the slackness. And
going forward, the Russians continue to look intent on enjoying
themselves. "Did anyone else see Arshavin on A Question of Sport?" asks
Steve Waterhouse. "Despite speaking next to no English, he was
completely charming." I didn't see that. How did he convey his charm?
40 min:
As the game goes through a lull, my colleague Henry McDonald has news
of a banner that Irish fans are displaying as they party in Poland
tonight. It reads: "Angela Merkel thinks we're at work!"
42 min:
Gebre Selassie lashes down the right again and wins a corner off
Zhirkov. But Plasil slipped as the tried to deliver and the ball does
not go into the danger zone.
45 min:
Kerzakhov collects the ball wide on the right and has a chance to
eitehr dart into the box are pick out a team-mate who is already there.
But he does neither.
Half-time:
Greece mounted an improbable turn-around in the second half earlier
today but a Czech comeback seems even more unlikely here. They simply do
not appear to be good enough to make best use of the space that the
Russians occassionally give them. Advocaat might be minded to make a
substitute or two to prevent his team sliding any further into
complacency. Some Izmailov and Pogrebynak action would go down well, for
instance. Russia could win by four or five if they're bothered.
46 min:
Czech substitution: Hubschman on for Rezek. That seems an attempt to
shore things up and prevent the concession of more goals, which might
torpedo their chances of scraping through the group on goal difference.
That shouldn't concern them: on this evidence they are infgerior to
Poland and Greece and will be eliminated on points.
48 min:
Russia still need to go up a gear, the infuriating slackers. "I think
although our attack looks strong, our defensive line is not that stable
and sometimes look really sloppy and not confident enough," declares
Anton from Siberia. "It can cost us some nervous finish unless we score
one or two more goals before the final 20 minutes of the match.
Hopefully, our Dutch coach has made some punishment during the break."
Some punishment certainly deserved to be made.
50 min:
Arshavin nnudges a cute ball through to Kerzakhov, who loses his
balance as he's prepared to shoot. A minute later Kerzakhov is presetned
with another opportunity but bog-toes the ball wide from the edge of
the area.
GOAL! Russia 2-1 Czech Republic (Pilar 52')
Russia are eventually punished for their negligence! Plasil was given
enough room to swing an elephant in midfield. But that would have been
ridiculous so, after sizing up his options, he instead slipped a lovely
pass through to Pilar, who rounded the goalkeeper to slot into the net. A
game that should have been over is now back on.
54 min:
Rosicky, seemingly invigorated by that goal, hurtles down the right and
wins a corner. Again Plasil's delivery is met by a Czech but Gebre
Selassie couldn't direct his header on target.
55 min:
Shirokov drives from deep ... and then gets completely carried away and
attempts to find the top corner from 25 yards. Instead he found
Finland. "This is completely apropos of nothing, but an advert's just
been on during the break for a well known brand of orange juice in which
an orange grower informs us 'Each glass contains the juice of two
oranges. Bet you didn't know that'," reveals Phil Sawyer. "Now, I may be
a naive waif set adrift trying to make sense of this interminably
complex world, but surely the one thing one expects to find in a glass
of orange juice is, well, orange juice. Or do advertisers now assume
viewers are so stupid they need these things spelled out to them?"
Presumably they thought everyone just figures these days that what is
marketed as orange juice is in fact artifically coloured ditch water.
58 min: A promising Russian counter-attack founders when Shirokov gives the ball away when options were ample.
60 min:
Baros has battled gamely on his lonesome up front but failed to get
much change from the centrebacks. Pekhart might be a useful introduction
at this point.
63 min: Zyranov
wallops the ball well wide from 25 yards. Rather than show a replay, the
cameraman decides to pan to a pretty blonde lady in the crowd. Again.
65 min:
Kerzakhov! You clown! After a superb through-ball by Arshavin, the
striker slashes wastefully wide yet again! He should have already
secured the golden boot - and my fortune - by now.
68 min:
Is he doing this on purpose? Kerzakhov romps down the right and all the
way into a prime shooting position ... before whacking the ball way,
way wide.
69 min: No, no, no!
Kerzakhov gets the ball at the edge of the area ... cuts on to his left
foot ... and blazes the ball into the stands!
72 min:
Cracking effort by ... no, not Kerzakhov, obviously ... but rather
Gebre Selassie, who met a cross-field ball with a delicious volley that
smacked the sidenetting.
74 min:
The inevitable has come to pass: Pavlyuchenko replaces Kerzakhov, who
will presumably attmept to find a place on the bench but end up falling
on to the grass.
76 min: Czech
subtitution: Petzrela on, Jiracek off. "My goodness," gasps Brian
Cloughley. "Having never seen Kerzhakov play but having read numerous
half arsed tournament previews I was very tempted to put some money on
him as top scorer too. Luckily I've learned my lesson from backing Jared
Borgetti in successive World Cups." Borgetti, in fairness, did score
one of the greatest headers of all time, at the 2006 World Cup.
79 min:
Zhirkov darts into the box before his shot is deflected behind for a
corner. meanwhile, here's Hugo Carreira with a true story. "A few years
ago, here in Portugal, a friend who works as an accountant went to a
factory of fruit sodas, as part of his work, to check where the money
was spent. The owner was showing him around, proudly explaining
everything to him, when my friend had the bad idea of asking where did
they keep the fruit? The guy looked at him as if he were a neanderthal
and said: "this is a state of the art facility, we don't use fruit."
GOAL! Russia 3-1 Czech Republic (Dzagoev 79')
Perhaps that's where my money should have gone. A breaking ball falls
to Pavlyuchenko, who knocked into the path of Dzagoev, who shows
Kerzakhov how to finish by blasting into the net from 18 yards.
81 min:
As the Russian fans jig in the stand, Mat Schulz feels the need to
dances on my pain by revealing that Opta stats show that Kerzakhov is
the first player in the history of the European Championship to hit
seven shots off target in a single game.
GOAL! Russia 4-1 Czech Republic (Pavlyuchenko 82')
As if to ensure that Kerzakhov does not feature again in this
tournament, his replacement collects the ball inside the box, holds off
his marker and thunders an unstoppable net past Cech.
84 min: Dzagoev, following an excellent display, trots off to be replaced by Kokorin.
86 min: Plasil curls a 25-yard freekick over the bar.
87 min:
Arshavin slides another fine pass through to Kokorin, who creates room
for a shot with a foxy flick past Kadlec ... but Cech saves.
90 min: Gebre Selassie, who has looked decent, attempts a shot from 25-yards. That wasn't so decent.
Full-time:
A richly entertaining game ruined only by the wonky shooting of
Kerzakhov. Russian were brilliant with the ball, yet strangely prone to
lapses of interest, which could cost them against better opposition.
FULL TIME RESULT: RUSSIA 4 - 1 CZECH REPUBLIC.
