Russia, which was expelled from international soccer due to the invasion of Ukraine, played a friendly match at home in about a year and four months after November 2021.
Russia won 2-0 in a friendly match against Iraq held at the Gazprom Arena in St. Petersburg on the 27th (Korean time).
The Russian national team was expelled from FIFA and UEFA in February last year due to the invasion of Ukraine.
The current 2024 European Football Championship (Euro 2024) is also unable to participate, and clubs in Russia are also unable to participate in international competitions organized by UEFA.
Russia, which had not played for over a year since the war with Ukraine last year, stretched out through the Iranian expedition (1-1 draw) held in Tehran, Iran on the 24th.
Afterwards, Russia returned to Gazprom Arena, their hometown, and won 2-0 against Iraq, scoring two goals in the second half. It is the first time since the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar against Cyprus (6-0 win) on November 12, 2021 that Russia has played a national team match at home.
In the second half of the day, Anton Miranchuk scored the opening goal in the 5th minute, and Sergei Pinyaev scored the key goal in the 8th minute.
In the beginning, the flow was tight. In the ninth minute of the first half, Russia had a chance to concede a decisive goal due to a kick miss by the goalkeeper, but defender Ruslan Litvinov blocked the goal with a header thrown from the goal.
Iraq took advantage of the opponent’s mistakes in the first half and had several chances to score, but the finish was disappointing. In the 25th minute of the first half, Auman Hussein faced the goalkeeper one-on-one, but his left-footed shot hit the post and hit the ground. 토토사이트
Russia, who finished the first half 0-0, scored the opening goal in the early part of the second half. In the 5th minute of the second half, Aleksandr Sobolev’s shot hit the goalkeeper, but Miranchuk, who was in front of the goal, pushed it.
Then, in the 13th minute of the second half, Piñayev dug into the center from the left flank and scored the key goal with an exquisite right-footed shot.
Currently playing as a winger for Lokomotiv Moscow, Pinaev became the youngest player in Russian football history to score at the age of 18 years, 4 months and 24 days.
In the end, Russia won by two goals in front of 23,818 home fans.