Euro 2012 News: Russia suffer shock defeat against Slovakia 1-0 - Part 1
The man of honour was Slovakian Miroslav Stoch who scored the lone goal of the match taking Slovakia to a 1-0 victory in Euro 2012 qualifiers. What was shocking about the match was that Russia were defeated at their home ground at Moscow’s Lokomotiv Stadium.
Igor Akinfeev became the klutz when the attacking midfielder gave Slovakia the breakthrough that they needed in the 27th minute. The Fenerbahce midfielder was ready to benefit from the mistake made by Stoch.
Though the rest of the match happened with Russia dominating and making plays but the Slovakian defence proved impregnable. Also Slovakia’s goal keeper Jan Mucha was the unsung hero of the match as he operated brilliantly between the posts.
Russia started the match with confidence and it looked like they might just break into the scoring sheet any moment. The 30,000 fans present had nothing but support for their team but Russia was not able to use that factor even though they acquired a couple of early penalty corners.
Mucha was the man who warded off Roman Shirokov’s vicious run with a good save. The same was seen in the 24th minute when he was forced to parry an onslaught brought by Alan Dzagoev.
It was Shirokov and Dzagoev who orchestrated the next move worthy of a goal though in the end it was Igor Semshovove’s mistake that made it happen. The attack that drew first blood seemed to have demoralized the Russian team as they all soon after that started loosing the ball and failed in making plays.
There was an immediate lethargy seen in the Russian players after Akinfeev possessed the ball and the goal keeper got it. In the end, the keeper passed it but it was intercepted by Stoch who made no mistake in finding the back of the net.
Even after the lone goal the match had its moments; for instance when Pavel Pogrebniak’s shot was just wide after he accomplished a one two against Konstantin Zyryanov, still in the end Akinfeev was there to make the save and keep his team safe from Juraj Kucka.
Zyryanov did get to goal, but it was ruled offside and rightly so, it happened just before another goal scoring chance was lost as Yury Zhirkov’s shot went wide from the goal posts.
Zhirkov was certainly having an awkward day; nevertheless lady luck was with him all along to make it better. On one occasion he turned his bizarreness into usefulness when he assisted Arsenal’s forward Andrei Arshavin in a chance to score but the shot happened to be one of the closest encounters of the match as it thundered just inches from the goal posts.
Vladimir Bystrov’s attempts were commendable too. He had a good effort with just 20 minutes remaining on the clock but his strike got deflected in the end. There was more drama seen in the later parts of the game as Mucha handled well the late free kick taken by Dzagoev.
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