Russia clobber Czech Republic by 9-1 in FIH Champions Challenge II
Russia showed Czech Republic a sparkling brace of heels by eight goals, 9-1 in the quarter-final match of the ongoing FIH Champions Challenge II that took place in Lille, France on July 07. With a heavy margin victory, the Russians have moved into the semi-final
stage of the tournament and will face Ireland.
The seven goals from Russian in the second part of the game were enough to make the tie thrilling that put the opponent side at a distance. The fight for the ball possession took place at the centre line with infrequent penetrations into the D-lines of two
teams.
The Russian team got off to a wonderful opening with brilliant moves form Alexandr Platonov and Alexander Zhirkov for an early two-nil advantage. In the third minute of the match, Aleksandr Platonov commanded the ball into the circle of Czech Republic and
chipped in first goal of the day. In the very next minute, Alexander Zhirkov doubled the tally through a field effort and put Czechs under severe pressure.
After conceding a couple of goals, the Czechs revved up their game and started accomplishing back-to-back attacks against Russia. With their fast and furious game, they succeeded to decline the Russians’ lead down to a single goal in the 15th
minute of the match. Czech Republic earned a short-corner and tested Tomas Prochazka to avail the opportunity. He has a wonderful conversion rate and he scored off the 4th short-corner to bring back his team back into the game.
Incredibly these were the only offensive attacks from the two sides in the first thirty-five minutes, as no team could make an addition on the score-board in the remaining time period despite numerous attacks and counter-attacks. Czech Republic was trailing
by a single goal at the end of the first round, 2-1.
In an unprecedented move, the Russian strikers ruined the defence-line of Czech Republic in the second part of the match. They made plenty of attacks and obtained seven unanswered goals, while holding the opponent, Czech, scoreless in the 35 minutes.
Aleksandr Platonov, Nikolay Komarov and Ravshanzhon Zakirov notched three goals in a short-span of four minutes and expanded the lead up to four goals. In the 52nd minute of the match, Ilya Larikov converted a penalty-stroke into a successful
goal. In a matter of five minutes, Nikolay Komarov added another goal from the field and enhanced the lead up to six goals, 7-1.
Pavel Golubev and Nikolay Yankun made a two-goal addition respectively, in the 64th and 70th minutes of the match and sealed a heavy-margin victory. The eight-goal win was enough for Russian to book a spot in the semi-final clash.
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