ST PETERSBURG – 2018 FIFA World Cup hosts Russia booked their place in the second round with a 3-1 win over Egypt on Tuesday at St Petersburg.
It was a result which moved Russia to the top of Group A with six points from two games.
A three-goal blitz in the space of 15 minutes early in the second half put the Russians firmly in command.
Later on Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, who had a subdued game on his return from injury, struck from a penalty kick, awarded after a video review.
Should Uruguay, now with three points, beat Saudi Arabia who has no point on Wednesday, the South Americans and the Russians will go through to the round of 16 with a game to spare.
However, a draw by Uruguay and Saudi Arabia will not only send the hosts through but also put them in a bgood position to top the group at the end of the day.
Tuesday’s result is an unexpectedly positive situation for a Russian side that came into this tournament amidst scepticism and pessimism at home.
After the two confident victories, with eight goals, having beaten Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the opening game, the public now appear to have taken the team to their hearts.
Far from being over-awed by the pressure on them to perform, there is a real look of confidence and at times swagger about Stanislav Cherchesov’s side.
Egypt, whose final group game is against the Saudis, have only the slimmest of chances of staying in the tournament.
However, they will at least be hopeful of picking up a first win in what is their third World Cup appearance.
Hector Cuper’s side looked confident given the return of their talisman Salah, but the forward was short of full sharpness and made little impact in what was a tight first half.
But just two minutes after the interval, Russia got their breakthrough and they never looked back.
Aleksandr Golovin’s cross was punched out by Egyptian goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy, but it was only as far as Roman Zobnin.
His low drive was heading wide until Ahmed Fathi’s outstretched leg turned the ball into his own net, remarkably for the fifth own goal of the tournament so far.
The record amount for a tournament is six in 1998.
If there was some good fortune to the opener, the Russians’ second was pure quality.
Alexander Samedov pushed the ball out wide to Mario Fernandes, the Brazilian-born right back who had powered forward from deep to deliver a perfect pull-back into the path of Denis Cheryshev.
Cheryshev scored for his third goal of the tournament, levelling with Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo who scored three times on Friday in their 3-3 draw with Spain.
Two minutes later it was 3-0 via a route one play, as target man Artem Dzyuba chested down a long ball, bustled past Ali Gabr and drove home.
Salah, who had not played since going off injured in Liverpool’s UEFA Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid last month, managed some consolation when he converted from the penalty spot.
The penalty kick came after a video assistant referee (VAR) ruling that he had been brought down by Zobnin inside the area after the referee had initially awarded a free kick.
(Reuters/NAN)
