Stanislav Tschertschessow turned around and looked at the stands, this time he really wanted to hear the noise around him. Russia’s national coach even wanted to enlarge it, so he rowed his arms. This time he heard a sound that was very pleasant for him: the cheering of the fans in the stadium in Saint Petersburg over Russia’s first goal at the European Championship, a fine shot by Alexei Mirantschuk in the corner. The first goal in the 1-0 (1-0) against Finland was also enough for Russia’s first victory at this European Championship, which keeps the chances of advancing.
Tschertschessow, 57, got in a bad mood in the past few days when he was asked about the noise of the fans. They whistled in the opening defeat against Belgium when the opposing players knelt down before kick-off as a symbol against racism. The question had nothing to do with football, Tschertschessows remarked at first when he was supposed to say something about it – only to then explain on repeated request that he had not heard the whistles.
Saint Petersburg is also tightening the corona measures again
No, the tournament did not start well for the Russians, first with a positive corona test by midfielder Andrei Mostovoi, then with the 0: 3 against the Belgians. Then it was about the whistles in the stadium, after all it was announced at the beginning of the week that the corona measures will be tightened again in Saint Petersburg due to the increasing number of infections. A few new rules will apply from Thursday, possibly not entirely by chance on the day after the last home game of the “Sbornaja” in the group stage.
The Finns, the underdogs in Group B, started the tournament with a 1-0 win against Denmark, and with a second win they could have secured their progress into the knockout round. The success, Finland’s first ever victory in the first European Championship game, was overshadowed by the collapse of Dane Christian Eriksen on the pitch. On Wednesday, the players arrived in T-shirts with wishes for wellbeing.
The Finnish fans had already been praised for their behavior in Copenhagen, they had started “Eriksen” alternate chants with the Danes. Now they had come in large numbers across the border into the neighboring country, and they showed their celebratory mood around the stadium even before the game. Again and again they sang the name of the goal scorer on Saturday, Joel Pohjanpalo. And it took less than three minutes before he was back in front of them as a goal scorer. However, he had been just offside with his header, the hit was withdrawn.
It was then the favored Russians who were clearly superior in terms of the proportion of the game. They didn’t play fast, but carefully headed for the penalty area, which the Finns defended deeply with a back three. The opening goal fell shortly before the end of half-time, when Tschertschessow’s team had already missed a few chances and had not played out some surplus situations precisely. This time a pass from striker Artyom Djuba found Miranchuk’s feet. The Atalanta Bergamo midfielder, one of the few professionals in the squad from a club outside of Russia, slipped the ball into the net.
The Finns were often dangerous at the beginning when they sent Pohjanpalo with steep passes after counterattacks. Already in the 20th minute, a tackle by Igor Diwejew prevented a Finnish goal at the last moment, one saw it again and again. But in the end the dangerous attacks became less frequent.
The Russians missed left-back Juri Schirkow, the 37-year-old who is threatened with the end of the European Championship due to a knee injury. After 25 minutes, Mario Fernandes also had to be replaced; Russia’s Brazil-born right-back was carried off the pitch after falling on his back. However, it is no longer so unlikely that the EM could last a little longer for the Russians. And a quarter-finals will take place again in Saint Petersburg.
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