Soccer: Friendly matches outside the EURO 2012

Soccer: Friendly matches outside the EURO 2012. 45848.jpegAmong the friendly games played between the UEFA 2012 qualifying matches were Greece against Russia and England against world and European champions, Spain. Russia scored an early goal in Greece but the home side equalised, securing a 1-1 draw in a game between two teams already qualified for UEFA 2012 in Poland/Ukraine. However, we can draw some conclusions as to how Russia will play.

Greece 1 - Russia 1

Roman Shirokov struck early, after two minutes, giving Russia the lead in Greece. His shot flew over Greek keeper Alexandreos Tzorvas, following on from a through-ball from Alan Dzagoev. Greece managed an equaliser on the hour, when Kostas Katsouranis headed in a corner.

What can we learn from this game?

Up front, we can see that Russia's main strikers are Roman Pavlyuchenko and Aleksandr Kerzhakov, with back-ups Artem Dzyuba and Aleksandr Korokin. We can also see that Russia's defensive midfield play is lacking - only by a fluke did Greece not bury the game in the first half (three disallowed goals).

Lineups

Greece: Alexandros Tzorvas, Avraam Papadopoulos, Vasilis Torosidis, Socratis Papastasthopoulos, Jose Holebas, Girorgos Karagounis (Alexis Tziolis, 57), Kostas Katsouranis (Grigoris Makos, 88), Giorgos Fotakis (Nikos Liberopoulos, 81), Theofanis Gekas (Kostas Mitroglou, 77), Dimitrios Salpingidis (Panagiotis Kone, 69), Georgios Samaras (Angelos Charisteas, 57).

Russia: Vyacheslav Malafeev (Anton Shunin, 46), Sergei Ignashevich, Vasiliy Berezutsky (Aleksei Berezutsky, 46), Aleksandr Anyukov, Yuri Zhirkov (Roman Shishkin 67), Konstantin Zyryanov (Denis Glushakov, 79), Igor Denisov, Roman Shirokov (Diniyar Bilyaletdinov. 84), Artem Dzyuba (Aleksandr Kokorin, 46), Andrei Arshavin, Alan Dzagoev.

Other friendly games

England 1 Spain 0 

Algeria 1 Tunisia 0 

Nigeria 0 Botswana 0

Wales 4 Norway 1 

South Africa 1 Ivory Coast 1

México 2 Serbia 0

Panama 2 Costa Rica 0 

France 1 USA 0 

Belgium 2 Romania 1 

Poland 0 Italy 2 

Ukraine 3 Germany 3 

Netherlands 0 Switzerland 0

Cyprus 1 Scotland 2

Denmark 2 Sweden 0 

Albania 0 Azerbaijan 1

Hungary 5 Liechtenstein 0

 

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru

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Author`s name Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
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