Euro 2016: England 1-1 Russia
England entered in the competition with a solid young team against a Russian prepared to defend. The English had a few occasions early in the game but could not score on Akinfeev. The Russian goalkeeper had a few impressive stops in front of England’s forwards. It is just when a free-kick was given to the English and Dier found the net, well deserved in view of the many chances they developed. At the last minute of the game, Berezutski catapulted a header over Joe Hat’s reach and Russia equalize with only seconds left!
England will now face Wales in an very anticipated game in northern France close to the United Kingdom. Wales would secure a quarterfinal ticket with the win. Odds for England are still good despite the draw and they remain an outsider in this competition and will be favorites for this game
England coach, Roy Hodgson comes out frustrated:
“I was satisfied with the performance. We looked very good at times during the course of the game. I felt we deserved to win – it was a bitter blow and a bitter pill to swallow but if we can swallow it and take encouragement from the good things we did offensively and defensively then I shall be very hopeful going forward that the misfortune of tonight won’t happen again.
When you dominate the game as much as we did and play as well as we did and concede a goal two minutes into injury time of course it feels much more like a defeat than a draw. That’s always the case with last minute goals. They either give you a feeling of euphoria because you’ve scored it and it’s rescued the game or you concede it and it makes you feel like you’ve lost the game.
“But there were a lot of good things in our performance tonight it was unfortunately for us a very good goal they scored to equalize and we’ll have to accept that disappointment, digest it and move on but certainly there were a lot of things that happened out there tonight that gave me satisfaction.”
Wales played their first ever Euro championship match against Slovakia and It turned out to be a very good game. Wales won 2-1 and Bale scored the first historic goal.
Wales coach, Chris Coleman comments on the amazing feeling:
“That was an amazing experience. We didn’t know what to expect; it’s our first tournament. When we walked out on to the pitch the atmosphere was absolutely fantastic, the Welsh fans and the Slovakian fans: great atmosphere.
It was a great game. At both ends, it was physical, it was a good game of football but it’s a fantastic three points.”
Gareth Bale:
“It was like a home game today. Our fans are just the best in the world and they fully got behind us tonight and we’ve given them something to celebrate.
[The opening goal] Just a memorable moment, a historic moment for our country. The most important thing is that, it doesn’t matter about the goals or whatever, but we got the three points and we gave our fans something to cheer”.
