Russia 1-3 France
France put on a show today in Saint Petersburg to beat Russia with three fabulous goals and whet the appetite of World Cup fans.
Russia certainly picked two tough opponents for their warm-up football games this week. Having lost to Brazil, they knew only too well that France will be one of the favourites for online betting players to lift the World Cup.
But the hosts set about their task and in the opening exchanges, they looked much better than they did against the Samba Boys last week. They had the first chance when Fyodor Smolov shot from ten yards but Hugo Lloris saved brilliantly.
France should have gone ahead on 27 minutes when Kylian Mbappe found himself on the end of a deflected shot from Anthony Martial but the PSG man shot straight at keeper Andrey Lunev. He made no mistake when he had another chance. Paul Pogba sent him through with a superb through ball, and after cutting inside he beat Lunev at his near post. 1-0.
The second half exploded into life and it was Pogba making it two on 49 minutes, with a stunning free-kick from all of 25 yards. That made it a long way back for Russia and it must have seemed even longer, on the hour, when centre back Vladimir Granat smashed wide from seven yards when he had to score.
But the hosts pressed on and soon got their reward. Igor Smolnikov produced the ball of the night to dissect the France defence to find Fyodor Smolov and the top scorer made no mistake. That prompted a real push for the equaliser as Russia won successive corners. But on 81 minutes Mbappe ended any hopes of a comeback with a clever finish through Lunev’s legs.
Les Bleus will be worth watching in summer but I guess Russia will have to settle for simply being hosts.
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