Slovakia needed a win to stay in the competition after their loss against Wales. They produce stunning performance in first half to leave Russia railing. Vladimir Weiss scored the opener with a superb curling effort while Marek Hamsik scored one of the best goal of the competition so far to put Slovakia 2-0 up after first 45 minutes. Russia are struggling for form specially in the final third and its hard to see where they can go from here.
Slovakia 2-0 Russia Highlights
[ UEFA Euro 2016, Wednesday, 15th June ]
32′ 0 – 1 Vladimir Weiss scored in 32nd minute to put Russia 1-0 up. Hamsik found him with a great ball and Weiss produced great curling finish to make it 1-0.
45′ 0 – 2 Marek Hamsik himself got on the scoresheet moments before the halftime. Another curling effort at the far post.
80′ 1 – 2 Denis Glushakov
Russia started their campaign with a hard fought game against England which in all fairness they got lucky to have come out with a point. Russians lacked pace pretty much all around the pitch and severe lack of quality with couple of star players missing was evident from the start. Having said that, late equalizer against England will have boosted the moral of the team and we can expect a better performance from the Russian side who has made headlines out of the pitch with fan trouble.
Slovakia on the other hand were undone by a very spirited performance from Wales who came out winners 2-1 in their opening encounter leaving Slovakia chasing the other teams in a bid to qualify from this competitive group. Slovakia must win this game to stand a chance if they were to get through but Russians will pose a difficult test.
Team News & Lineups: Russia are expected to field pretty much the same team which took the field against England. Dzyuba to lead the attack with trio of Kokorin, Shatov and Shirokov playing in attacking roles.
Slovakia on the other hand will have to make a decision whether to start with Nemec or Duda, rest of the team should be the same against Wales.
Match Predictions: Russian started slower against England but they did managed to get draw in the end which will put belief in the team. Slovakians on the other hand were outsmarted by Wales in their opening fixture and I expect the similar fate again. I am going with a Russian win in this one albeit a narrow one.