Thanks to the efforts of Ignashevich, Dzyuba and Kombarov, the Russians are one step closer to the final part of Euro 2016

The victory in Chisinau over the Moldavian team - 2:1, allowed the Russian team to maintain second place in its qualifying group for the European Championship. Before the final home match with Montenegro, the Russians are 2 points ahead of their only competitors, the Swedes, who also have a home match with the Moldovans.

Photo: Reuters / Gleb Garanich

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Photo: Reuters / Gleb Garanich

The match in Chisinau was expected with great interest, and this interest was associated not only with football. The fact is that the Moldovan fans seemed to be preparing a warm welcome for the Russian football players. And we know well what happens in such cases from another, very recent match. The one that began but never ended in Montenegrin Podgorica on March 27, when a fire thrown by a fan hit Igor Akinfeev.

This time, fortunately, it didn’t come to that, although according to Moldovan media, Russian fans were beaten in the center of Chisinau before the game, and the situation at the Zimbru stadium was quite tense. Even the fact that 38-year-old Chrysoula Kourobilia was appointed one of the assistants to Greek referee Michael Koukoulakis could not defuse it. By the way, this representative of the fair half of the football family is no stranger to high-risk matches. In April 2012, during a Greek Championship match, Chrysoula Kourobilia was injured by a foreign object thrown from the stands, and therefore the remainder of the match had to be cancelled. In other words, some parallels were visible in the biographies of Chrysoula Curobili and the Russian national team, and in anticipation of the Chisinau match it was worth thinking: was the choice of the refereeing team made in this case by UEFA really so random?

The starting lineup that Leonid Slutsky fielded for his third match as the head coach of the national team surprised no one. True, in comparison with the memorable September meeting with the Swedes, three forced substitutions had to be made: instead of the injured Yuri Zhirkov, Vasily Berezutsky and Alan Dzagoev, Dmitry Kombarov, Alexey Berezutsky and Pavel Mamaev took to the green Chisinau lawn.

However, the first half for the Russian team, by and large, frankly did not work out. Even despite the fire show staged by Moldovan fans on one of the side stands, it was an almost colorless game. Only one moment was truly memorable - it was created in the 28th minute by Oleg Kuzmin, who had just come on as a substitute, and accurately crossed from the right flank to Alexander Kokorin. However, the Dynamo striker, who was never matched to Arsenal in London, headed a point-blank header past the goal defended by Alexey Koshelev from Sheriff Tiraspol. Our players had no other real chances to score.

Neither Roman Shirokov, who was running around the field with a bandaged head almost from the very beginning of the game due to an unsuccessful collision with one of the opponents, nor our other midfielders were clearly inclined to some kind of crazy creativity. And by the end of the half, it became completely clear that during the break, Leonid Slutsky needed to find the right words while talking with his players.

The second half did not start much more fun, although the bandage from Shirokov’s head disappeared, and Kokorin fell in someone else’s penalty area. Judge Koukulakis, however, did not react to this action of the forward in any way, and, most likely, he was right. Another two minutes later, the same Kokorin even hit the goal, although at the same time, alas, he also hit the goalkeeper. And then, quite unexpectedly, the long-awaited goal took place. In the 58th minute, Dmitry Kombarov, who received only a yellow card in the first half, crossed from a free kick. Artem Dzyuba threw the ball to Sergei Ignashevich with his chest, and the 36-year-old central defender sent the ball to his right corner with a powerful blow.

From that moment on, the game became more open. The Moldovans were by no means going to accept failure, although they had no clear chance to score. The guests simply took it in the 78th minute and doubled their advantage as a result of a three-way move involving the same players. Kombarov crossed again, albeit from a corner, after which Ignashevich passed the ball with his head to Dziuba, and he did not disappoint.

Denis Glushakov, who replaced Shirokov, could have scored soon, but instead the hosts opened Akinfeev’s goal. This was done in the 85th minute after a corner kick by Evgeniy Cebotaru, whose success inspired his partners to further exploits. But they were not destined to happen. Russia solved its problem, achieving a far from outstanding, but very important victory - 2:1.

Meanwhile, Austria beat Montenegro away - 3:2, and Sweden also beat Liechtenstein away - 2:0. Thus, before the last round, Austria, which has long secured first place, has 25 points, Russia has 17, Sweden has 15, Montenegro has 11. In the last round on Monday, the Russians will play Montenegrins at home, and the Swedes will play at home against Moldovans. Let us remind you that in order to directly qualify for the final part of Euro 2016, you need to take a place in the group no lower than second, and only Russia and Sweden are now vying for it.

Evgeniy Fedyakov

Figured it out for three