FIN 0-3 RUS: Russian Victory in Helsinki

Hello to all Russia fans. Sorry I’m a little late on getting my response out to you. The game on Wednesday was certainly beyond what I had expected. Russia dominated early and later shredded the Finnish defense. Here are my thoughts on the game.

The back line in Russia’s formation was very strong but I think Finland lacked their usual firepower. Johnasson lacked his ability to produce for Finland from their previous games. However Kolodin and Ignashevich did well to suppress the rare Finnish attacks. Ignashevich was also instrumental in providing the pass which allowed Arshavin to assist Kerzhakov in scoring the first goal. Zhirkov can also be noted in making several supporting runs into the Finnish half.

The midfield and forward lines did well to attack the Finnish goal. Arshavin was able to keep the Finnish defense out of position in order to clear Kerzhakov for the shooting opportunity into the box. The Tihinen-Hyypia center-back partnership was slow and could not close the gaps in time to stop the Russian attack. Finland was very poor in marking their opponents which allowed Zyrianov to score the third goal. Bystrov and Zyrianov did well to play on the wings providing good passes to threaten the Finnish defense. Obviously up front Kerzhakov and Arshavin provided the cutting edge to produce goals. Pavlyuchenko came on late for Kerzhakov and shot just wide of Jääskeläinen’s goal.

Overall this solidifies the group to allow Russia to pursue Germany for first place. Finland may threaten the top two teams again but they will have to defeat Germany in Hamburg. Russia can now look forward to their more serious games against Wales in Cardiff and Germany in Moscow.