Belgium, Colombia and other talented teams have been talked about ahead of the World Cup as potential threats to the established order but hardly any mention has been made of Russia, the team which topped a group in qualifying consisting of Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.
Quite a few of the members of this Russian side were present in the team which caused a stir in Euro 2008, reaching the semifinals and disposing of the Dutch on the way. Unfortunately for them, Spain’s star was also on the rise at that point.
Andrei Arshavin, very much the leader of that exciting side in terms of talent, is not part of the setup any more. However, young and talented faces have been added to the side. This was visible in the team’s 1-1 draw with Norway. While the result was certainly not a good one, it was not a terrible one considering that friendlies are matches used for testing players.
The opening goal of the match came from Fabio Capello’s side; in fact it was scored by a 23 year old talented Zenit player by the name of Oleg Shatov. A cross from the right was inadvertently headed by a Morocco player to Shatov. Shatov’s first shot was blocked by a defender; he raced to earn back the ball and shot amongst a crowd of defenders to score a goal which will surely put him in the mind of his coach.
The equalizer for Norway came from Anders Konradsen; he headed the ball past Igor Akinfeev into the back of the net. Russia did have chances to add to their lead before the home side’s equalizing goal but squandered them. They also conceded the goal roughly 13 minutes before full time; they will have to learn to hold on to leads ahead of the World Cup.
Their next opponent, Morocco, is coming into this one on the back of a 2-0 loss to Angola. Russia had beaten Slovenia and Armenia in friendlies prior to the 1-1 draw against Norway. Can the Russians notch a win against Morocco?
Where to watch the match: Live Streams, Live Scores, Start Times, TV Channels:
Watch Russia vs Morocco live on Friday, June 6, 2014:
In the UK at 15:00 BST on Premier Sports
In the USA at 10:00 ET on ESPN Deportes, ESPN3
Viewers in Russia can tune into Rossiya 1 amongst other networks to watch this match amongst other networks.
For the complete TV listings and live scores upon kick-off, visit the Russia-Morocco match page.
