The Russian team for its next match of the Euro 2020 qualifying tournament came to visit a team that will host the games of the final stage of the championship, but it itself has very little chance to play at it. The Scottish team began qualifying as one of the favorites of group I, with which the Russians had to fight for the second line of the standings.
But in the first match, the islanders lost to Kazakhstan on the road, then they were barely able to destroy Cyprus at home, and in the last meeting they were naturally defeated by Belgium. As a result, the fifth round of the qualifying tournament, the wards of Steve Clark, who replaced Alex McLeish in May, came in fourth and with a three-point gap behind the Russians.
The Scots have not participated in the final stages of the European or World Championships for a very long time. This series has been going on for more than 20 years, while other British teams, commensurate in name and status, Wales and Northern Ireland, at least played Euro three years ago. Local fans were so desperate that they didn’t even fill out Hampden Park at the game with Russia - many people preferred to watch a rugby match with Georgia at the same time.
Scottish fans did not add optimism to the latest news from the national team. Due to injuries, defenders Grant Hanley and Scott McKenna missed a key qualifying match, as well as one of Arsenal’s newcomer Kiran Tierney. Of the stars known outside of Scotland, only Liverpool defender Andrew Robertson, dangerous Bournemouth midfielder Ryan Fraser and young Manchester United player Scott Macktomine remained in the team.
Stanislav Cherchesov was more fortunate than Clark. Nobody complained about the health in the Russian team, and the head coach had a huge choice in the formation of the starting lineup. As a result, he released Marinato Guillerme at the gate, Andrei Semenov and Georgy Dzhikia went to the center of the defense, Mario Fernandez and Fedor Kudryashov appeared on the flanks. The supporting zone went to Roman Zobnin and Magomed Ozdoev, whose conflict with the captain of Spartak has long faded. The attacking midfield line was formed by Alexei Ionov, Alexander Golovin and Yuri Zhirkov - at 36 years old he is still in demand with Cherchesov. The attack was expectedly led by Artyom Dziuba.
Already in the third minute, the ball nearly flew into the goal of the Scots. Zhirkov sent him along an incredible trajectory from the penalty area, almost throwing goalkeeper David Marshall for the scruff of the neck. The goal, which did not take place, could be very beautiful.
The hosts recovered from the shock and began to attack the flanks in their corporate identity, waiting for the Russians to misfire. It happened pretty quickly. In the tenth minute, Fraser hung on the left, Oliver McBarney struck in Guillerm, and the goalkeeper could not fix the ball, knocking it at the feet of John McGinn. The Aston Villa player easily opened an account.
This goal was frankly relaxed by the Scots, they considered their work done, but there was still practically a whole match ahead. The ball completely came under the control of the Russians. The attacking game could not get better for a long time, but by the end of the first half the hosts made a return curtsy. Ionov made a pass from the right into the box on Golovin, with whom Robertson entered the selection. But the captain of the rivals failed his team and gave the ball away from Dzuba, who was free from custody. The Russian striker immediately scored the 21st goal in the national team, catching up with Roman Pavlyuchenko, and the sixth in the current qualifying campaign.
The break did not change the course of the match. Wards Cherchesova continued to play, waiting for a convenient moment. Standards at the gates of Marshall did not bring any benefits, but as soon as the Scots created free space in their half of the field, Ionov just hung the runner Golovin, and from the midfielder of Monaco the ball rolled on Zhirkov’s move. Stephen O'Donnell tried to stop the Zenith player, but only collapsed onto the lawn with him, not stopping him from pushing the ball into the goal. Zhirkov first scored in the official match for the national team.
Having taken the lead, the Russian team had every chance to increase the lead. In a matter of minutes, Fernandez hit the crossbar, Ozdoev after a corner kick hit the post, and Dziuba made a foul in an attack that stopped the Scots’ torment. Cherchesov decided not to beat the rhythm with the attacking players and replaced Zobnin with Dmitry Barinov. He immediately at the cost of a yellow card interrupted Fraser's dangerous breakthrough.
The ending of the matches did not cause much concern, until Ion asked for a replacement. A minor injury forced him to give way to Alexander Erokhin ten minutes before the final whistle. Fernandez did not get up after the junction for a long time, but the right back continued the game. The Scots were inspired and still tried to influence the final result, only allowing the guests to play a “4 in 2” counterattack. Dziuba had several options at once to continue the attack and decided to give his teammate Erokhin, but he struck too weak a blow to make him an assist. It was not necessary to lament for the missed moment - the Scots did not seek to punish the guests for this.
The Russian team won an away victory over one of the direct competitors for a ticket to Euro 2020 and completed the first round of the tournament with five advantage points over the Kazakhstan team, which ranks third and will become Cherchesov’s next opponent.