Yuri Zhirkov made an impact for his national side Russia in the last practice game before the FIFA World Cup 2014 against Morocco.
The veteran left winger found the back of the net in the initial parts of the second half and helped Russia secure a 2-0 win.
This win would certainly give the Russians a lot of self belief ahead of their campaign in Brazil.
The Russian side had gone into this match without a couple of regular players, but, that didn’t appear to affect their performance. They always remained on the top of the opposition.
Russia went ahead by 1-0 in the 29th minute which sent Morocco on the back foot. They went into their shell after that and rather than trying to find the equalizer, they were looking to ensure that they didn’t concede another goal.
That move didn’t work for them as just 12 minutes after the half time break; Zhirkov doubled the hosts’ lead.
Russia has been slotted in Group H in the World Cup. The other three teams in that group are Belgium, Korea Republic and Algeria.
Belgium is a very strong side and is likely to make it to the Round of 16, but, Russia can surely give Korea and Algeria a tough fight for the no. 2 spot in the group if they perform as well they did against Morocco yesterday.
However, it’s also a fact that the pressure in a World Cup game is much different from that in a practice game. And, Russia would not get the home support there in Brazil either. But, they surely have talent to pull off a couple of good results.
Russia’s first match in the tournament will be against Korea Republic at Estadio Pantanal, Cuiaba.