Uruguay 3-0 Russia
Goals from Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani gave Uruguay a convincing win over Russia, as the World Cup hosts were cut down to size, finishing a disappointing game with ten men.
The host nation had taken FIFA World Cup 2018 by storm, winning in style and scoring eight goals while qualifying with a game to spare. And it was a chance for celebration in the crowd and to hail their heroes after the hosts have outperformed everyone’s expectations in the first two games.
But in 33 degrees heat they simply wilted and were outclassed, from start to finish, by an accomplished Uruguay side with a sharp cutting edge.
The FIFA World Cup 2018 odds on Uruguay will fall now after they comfortably topped their group; and look out for the SBOBET tips as Oscar Tabarez’ team prepares to take on the runners up of Group B.
Highlights of the game
There was a party atmosphere at the start of this game, all flags and smiles and songs; but the Samara crowd went a little quieter, on ten minutes, when Uruguay broke through to set the tone for the afternoon. It was a fast break down the left, Suarez passed to Edinson Cavani and he found Rodrigo Bentancur, and the Juve midfielder was tracked on the edge of the box by Yuri Gazinskiy who could only foul him.
Luis Suarez lined up the free-kick and hit a perfect low curling drive round the wall and into the net, giving Igor Akinfeev no chance at all, for his second goal of the tournament.
With qualification in the bag the teams could feasibly have taken their foot off the gas, but in an energetic opening half it seems both Oscar Tabarez and Stanislav Cherchesov had opted to crack on, and try to win the group and, with it, take some momentum into the knockout phase.
But it seemed pretty quickly that it would be the Charruas taking a winning run into the Round of 16 when they went 2-0 up in 20 minutes with a huge slice of luck. Russia cleared a corner well but it fell to Diego Laxalt, and his speculative drive bounced off Denis Cheryshev, wrong-footing Akinfeev and bouncing into the net. Poor old Cheryshev had been the hero in Russia’s first two games with three goals in two matches, and there was even talk of a Golden Boot challenge, but he was now the fall guy.
Four days is a long time in football, Denis.
It was very nearly three moments later when 20-year-old Bentancur burst through for a one on one with the keeper but Akinfeev did just enough to keep him out.
But if the Russian fans hadn’t already come crashing back down to earth, then it all went a little sour ten minutes before the break when Igor Smolnikov dived in for his second silly booking of the game and Cherchesov’s team was down to ten men.
Uruguay controlled the second half, without many scares at either end of the pitch, but they just added insult to injury on the cusp of full time when Cavani reacted first to a rebound after Akinfeev had saved Diego Godin’s header.
3-0 and that was a decent reflection of the game. Uruguay looks in good shape, but the Russia players have just discovered how good they really are.
Key statistics
This was the ninth meeting between Russia and Uruguay and the hosts have had the best of it, winning six of the first eight. Uruguay’s last victory over Russia came in 1970!
It’s Russia’s record defeat at the World Cup and certainly not the end to the group they had hoped for. But they could have absolutely no complaints as Uruguay bossed the game for 90 minutes, enjoying 58 per cent possession and winning the shot count by 16 to three.
And that’s five defeats in a row for Russia against South American sides.
What’s next?
In the other game in Group A we had one of the weirdest FIFA World Cup 2018 results so far, as Saudi beat Egypt, Mo Salah and all. It’s goodbye to both of them, but Uruguay and Russia can look forward to the Round of 16 after qualifying from Group A.
I fear for Russia. They came into the competition on the back of a poor run of form and with few players that anyone would expect to light up the World Cup. They have done great, scoring at will in the opening two games, but they can thank their lucky stars they faced a poor Saudi side and a demoralised Egypt before they came up against the Charruas.
And with Suarez and Cavani hitting some form, and Diego Godin at the back, Uruguay could be a decent outside bet.
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