Starting line ups:
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alan-c4244 Dzagoyev, Alexander Kerzhakov, Andrei Arshavin
Czech Republic: Petr Cech, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jan-Rezek-c17798, Milan Baros
Russia took to the match with 4-3-3 formation which allowed them to stretch the play with their full backs namely Zhirkov and Anyukov. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Andrei-Arshavin-c5771 started for the Russian national team along with Kerzhakov and Dzagoev as the three forwards led the Russian offensive charge.
On the other hand, Czech Republic went with a 4-2-3-1 formation as Milan Baros led the line for them assisted by Rosicky from the midfield area. In between the goal sticks, it was Petr Cech who was Czech Republic’s real strength in behind the defence.
The match started off with Russia on the front foot right away as in the 13th minute Kerzhakov was played in by Arshavin but the Russian striker failed to get his shot on target. However it wasn’t long before Russia broke the deadlock as Dzagoev pounced on the rebound after Kerzhakov hit the post with a powerful header.
After taking the lead Russia did not sit back and invite pressure, in fact they pushed on to add another to their advantage in the 23rd minute as Shirokov chipped the ball over http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Petr-Cech-c29837 to make it 2-0 on the night.
Both the teams went into the half time break with a different mindset as the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Czech-Republic-c2882 national team were down by two goals but they pulled one back right after the half time break in the 51st minute. It was Pilar who latched onto a through ball by Plasil to make it 2-1.
Nonetheless, any hope of a Czech come back was killed off by two more goals by Russia before the full time whistle as Dzagoev scored for the European giants before Pavlyuchenko also got in on the action from the bench by putting the cherry on the top of the Russian cake to give his team a 4-1 victory to mark a winning start to their EURO 2012 campaign.
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