Co-hosts Russia kept their chances of making it into the second round of the European Football Championship and stopped surprise team Finland.

The team of coach Stanislaw Tschertschessow prevailed 1-0 (1-0) in St. Petersburg on Wednesday and can continue to hope for a sporting surprise like at the home World Cup 2018.

In front of around 25,000 spectators, Alexej Mirantschuk (45th + 2) scored the decisive goal in a game that will probably not be remembered for long.

As in the 1-0 win in Denmark overshadowed by Christian Eriksen's collapse, the Finns played courageously and had their scenes, but this time missed the final consequence. With three points each, both nations have their own entry into the round of 16 on the last day of the match. It will be particularly difficult for the Finns, who are clearly underdogs in the duel with Belgium on Monday.

"We already have the next milestones in mind," said Finland's coach Markku Kanerva before the second European Championship appearance in the association's history.

Before the ball rolled, his players sent Eriksen a message of greeting.

“Get well Christian” was written in blue on the white warm-up shirts.

After all, the drama about the Danish star with intermittent cardiac arrest four days earlier in Copenhagen had left its mark on Teemu Pukki and Co.

Pohjanpalo just offside

But the Finns also knew how to push their limits in terms of sport at the next European Championship guest appearance.

The outsider from the north stood up to the Russians and had good opportunities himself.

What was missing was cleverness - and a little luck.

Bundesliga professional Joel Pohjanpalo was already cheering in the third minute, but the winning goal scorer from the Denmark game was offside with his header (3rd).

The blonde missed another big chance in the 20th minute, when Igor Diweew straddled between them in dire need.

Nevertheless, Pohjanpalo did self-promotion on the EM stage.

For the 26-year-old, it is still unclear how things will continue.

The striker, who has been loaned to Union Berlin, will return to Bayer Leverkusen in the summer, where he has so far not been able to assert himself.

In any case, the Russian fans had expected the game to start very differently. Sbornaja is still a long way off from the exciting appearances at the 2018 World Cup. Otherwise, the EM mood has not really arisen in St. Petersburg, although at least half of the seats in the EM arena can be occupied.

As with the clear opening defeat against Belgium (0: 3), the Russians had little idea. But at least Artyom Djuba could rely on storm tank. Shortly before the break, the striker Mirantschuk staged, who flicked the ball into the far corner after a short hook. The Russians had previously suffered another failure. Mario Fernandes hit the ground after a duel in midair and was taken off the field on a stretcher. Already in the first game, veteran Yuri Schirkow was injured.

The second half started like the first - with a good performance by the Finns. After a long ball, Pukki appeared free in front of Russia's goalkeeper Matvei Safonow. But the new number one in Tschertschessow's team, who surprisingly took Anton Schunin out, did not have to intervene because Diweew prevented something worse again with a tackle. Shortly afterwards, Safonow was also tested in Pukki's unplaced shot (53rd).