Euro 2020: Russia seize control of their destiny after crucial victory over Finland
Group B of Euro 2020 is shaping up to be one of the most interesting ones of the tournament. It is also increasingly looking like one of the groups that will produce the best third-place teams.
On Wednesday, Russia played out an entertaining game against Finland, with the former recording a narrow 1-0 win in St. Petersburg.
The Euro 2020 fixture was an eventful one and witnessed drama from the very start. Finland thought they had opened the scoring after just two minutes when Joel Pohjanpalo planted a towering header into the net.
However, the goal was chalked off after a VAR review determined that Pohjanpalo was offside. In truth, Finland never recovered from the decision, allowing Russia to seize control of the game.
Russia return to winning ways at Euro 2020
Sbornaya began dominating the encounter and never looked back after going ahead in the 45th minute, thanks to a wonderful goal by Aleksey Miranchuk.
Despite making a slow start to the game, Russia were clearly the better team for the most part and could have won by a bigger margin had they been more clinical.
Stanislav Cherchesov’s side lost to Belgium in their first game and desperately needed to return to winning ways. Now that they have been able to do just that, the 2018 FIFA World Cup hosts will aim to improve further.
Russia showed flashes of their best in the game against Finland. Artem Dzyuba and Aleksandr Golovin combined to full effect and were a constant menace to the Finnish defence.
Russia seize control of their Euro 2020 destiny
A few days ago, Russia's Euro 2020 campaign got off to the worst possible start after they were battered and bruised by Belgium.
However, the Sbornaya are back in control of their own destiny. The win over Finland means Russia can qualify for the last-16 with a win in their final group game against Denmark.
Russia coach Cherchesov said, as quoted by Givemesport, after the game:
"The players were a real team today. They fulfilled what they had to do and got the win."
"The formation I chose, I think, was right. To break down their defence, we needed to use the wings and we did. The plan worked," said the Russia manager.
Russia’s qualification to the Euro 2020 knockout stage now solely rests in their own hands following a vital win over Finland.