Mario Fernandes……that’s a good Russian name.
3 Likes
The awesome fact is, if Finland beat Russia, they are essentially through; which would be a tiny football miracle. Granted, this is one of the easier groups and what happened to Eriksen may very well have affected the result of that game (but you cannot say definitely that it did and Eriksen collapsing was not Finland’s fault); but it is still a fantastic football tale if Finland manages to actually go through.
No offence to my Russian friends who like football (I have a few), but I am Norwegian which means automatic support for Finland, and besides; never cool to see Putin’s autocracy use various national teams in their propaganda.
This has been surprisingly good to watch so far.
1 Like
The Russian player fell badly…is he OK?
Like Mo Farah is a good British one?
2 Likes
On another note, I really like how the referees have put the bar very high in this competition for fouls and cards. It has been consistent. It allows for physical duels and I agree with a Norwegian football expert who claimed that it has led to less play acting on the pitch. So far, it has mostly just been players being tired and taking a breather when they go down, I haven’t see any South American tendencies to speak of.
That was a really good Finish attack.
Something quite amusing about how hopeless Finland have been as soon as they get to the box. Playing some neat stuff at times and then all of a sudden it becomes amateurish. A point here would more than likely be enough to take them through, expected them to try and dog it out a bit but to be fair to them they’ve been pretty positive.
1 Like
Ouch on the boot to the face.
1 Like
Oooh, close. That was an ugly crash though. Hope both players are okay. Looked like a real smash up !
Heroic tackle though !
And hitting the post. Ouch all around
1 Like
I tune into Russia in sports only to hear their amazing anthem.
3 Likes
zero fluidity of play in this match. just watched 3x misplaced passes in a row from both teams, almost randomly passing the ball to empty space and seeing who gets there first.
Theme song of this half is “Run Pukki, run”.
If he was as effective as he is at working damn hard, he world be world class.
Beautiful goal that !
Could say something about offensive and defensive display; aka giving Russia the ball and allowing that shot, but goal was brilliant at least.
2 Likes
I’m really hoping that Finland can pull something out of the bag here, but it looks rather unlikely.
1 Like
That was really good footwork by Miranchuk…move the ball with his right, curled it in with the left.
To be fair, they usually have some stunners in the crowd too.
1 Like
some truth in that.
1 Like
watching Finland move the ball sometimes is like watching someone fumbling with a second language. they rarely settle the ball and thus has little fluidity in their play. Russia really are toying with them at this point.