Uruguay vs Russia Review

Uruguay 3-0 Russia

Russia's impressive start to the World Cup ended as they had a man sent off in the first half, were easily defeated by Uruguay, whose victory means they top Group A.

There was a party atmosphere around the scorching Samara Arena before kick-off, with fans having travelled from all over the country keen to share in the good feeling surrounding their national team. The already qualified hosts had to fight it out with Uruguay for top spot in Group A. 

Russia had scored eight goals in their first 2 games with victories over Saudi Arabia and Egypt and were already guaranteed to progress, but they went behind in their final group match after only 10 minutes when Luis Suarez drilled in a clever low free-kick.

It got worse for Stanislav Cherchesov's Russia side when a Diego Laxalt effort from 25 yards was deflected in by Denis Cheryshev, leaving his keeper Igor Akifneev stranded and in the embarrassing position of having conceded three goals at the tournament without making a save.

Akinfeev did then come out to block a Rodrigo Bentancur chance, with Roman Zobnin just about managing to get the rebound clear of Edinson Cavani, before Igor Smolnikov picked up a second yellow card and was sent off 35 minutes into his World Cup debut to add to the misery of Russia. 

After the break, Russia's 10 men composed themselves and at least managed to wrestle back at least some control of the match, with Uruguay always looking dangerous but perhaps happy to concede possession and protect their lead, knowing their safely qualified and group winners

The hosts were rewarded with their best chances of the match, the first fell to Artem Dzuba, who fired wildly over the bar from inside the box, and the second by Fedor Smelov, who dazzled and danced through the Uruguayan defence to find space in behind but failed to pick out a team-mate with what looked to be an easy cut-back.

But the final word was left to Cavani, who put several earlier misses behind him to get his first goal of the tournament by poking in from close range after Akinfeev initially made a parry, ensuring Russia finished as runners-up.