Russia continued their unbeaten start to UEFA EURO 2008T
qualifying under Guus Hiddink with an Aleksandr Kerzhakov-inspired victory
in front of a full house in Tallinn.
Kerzhakov goals
Kerzhakov struck twice in 12 minutes in the second half to ensure Russia
repeated the scoreline by which they beat Group E rivals Estonia in St
Petersburg in October. Russia remain second in the group behind Croatia,
moving away from Israel, England and F.Y.R. Macedonia who all dropped
points today.
Lively start
Both teams began in positive fashion. Kerzhakov sent the ball over Mart
Poom's goal early on but Estonia then took the initiative, especially
down the left flank of Ragnar Klavan. The first chance, however, fell
to Sergei Terehhov in the 14th minute, his header tipped over by Igor
Akinfeev. Three minutes later Klavan robbed Aleksandr Anyukov on the edge
of the area but Akinfeev stood tall. Russia now retook control, Kerzhakov
especially active but unable to break the deadlock before the interval.
Russia push
On the hour Estonia substitute Gert Kams made Akinfeev save, yet Russia
started to dominate through ex-FC Zenit St. Petersburg forwards Andrei
Arshavin and Kerzhakov. On 62 minutes Kerzhakov sent Arshavin through
and the Russia captain forced Poom to make a low one-handed stop. Three
minutes later, Kerzhakov's thunderous strike was met by a brilliant Poom
save.
Match decided
Seconds on, though, Arshavin and Kerzhakov exchanged first-time passes
and the latter raced through and lifted the ball over Poom and into the
net. With 12 minutes remaining Kerzhakov made it two, again combining
with Arshavin as well as Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and debutant Dmitri Torbinskiy,
with Poom being unable to keep out his low show from the edge of the box.
Estonia hit the crossbar late on but remain without a point or goal in
Group E.
,
24 Mar 2007.
Match Information
Stadium: A. Le Coq Arena
Attendance: 11,000
Match Time: 18:30 UK
Referee: Darko Ceferin
Estonia 0 - 2 Russia
Alexander Kerzhakov (66)
Alexander Kerzhakov (78)
Estonia
Russia
1 Mart Poom (G)
(G) Igor Akinfeev 1
5 Dmitri Kruglov (D)
(D) Aleksandr Aniukov 22
3 Marek Lemsalu (D)
(D) Sergei Ignashevich 5
2 T Sisov (D)
(D) Roman Shishkin 4
6 Aleksandr Dmitrijev (M)
(M) Diniyar Bilyaletdinov 15
11 Ragnar Klavan (M)
(M) Vladimir Bystrov 23
8 Liivo Leetma (M)
(M) Dmitri Torbinsky 7
10 Joel Lindpere (M)
(M) Yuri Zhirkov 18
4 A Sidorenkov (M)
(M) Konstatin Zurianov 17
9 Andres Oper (S)
(S) Andrei Arshavin 10
7 Sergei Terehhov (S)
(S) Alexander Kerzhakov 11
Substitutes
12 Pavel Londak (G)
(G) Viacheslav Malafeev 16
13 Alo Barengrub (D)
(D) Sergei Efimov 6
14 Taavi Rahn (M)
(M) Eugeni Aldonin 8
15 Gert Kams (S)
(M) Igor Denisov 14
16 Tarmo Kink (S)
(S) Ivan Saenko 34
17 Oliver Konsa (S)
(S) Evgeni Savin 21
18 Tarmo Neemelo (S)
(S) Dmitri Sychev 26
Substitutions
G Kams for S Terehhov (52)
D Sychev for A Kerzhakov (83)
T Kink for L Leetma (69)
I Saenko for V Bystrov (90)
T Neemelo for T Sisov (80)
Yellow Cards
Andrei Sidorenkov (34)
Konstatin Zurianov (25)
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