Today started the Confederations Cup tournament, and the first match took place between the hosts of next year's World Cup, Russia, and Oceania champions, New Zealand.
Due to similar strength of the national teams, an intense battle was to be expected, but the Russians looked much better on the field.
They started attacking the opponents' goal from the first minutes, and goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic had to save his team from a shot by Aleksandr Golovin early in the match.
Shortly after, the New Zealanders were close to scoring an own goal after a header by Viktor Vasin, and not long after, Dmitri Poloz was also close to scoring.
In the 15th minute, the Russian players asked for a penalty, but in a controversial episode, the referee decided that Marinovic had taken the ball without a foul.
However, despite the efforts of Anthony Hudson's team, the only goal of the first half was scored by Denis Glushakov after a great combination, as the opponents' defenders failed to clear the ball off the goal line in time. The goal was ultimately credited to New Zealand representative Michael Boxall.
That was the most important moment of the first half. After that, the Russians continued to attack, but the players greeted the halftime break with a scoreboard showing 1-0.
After the break, the Russian national team continued their attacks. In the 48th minute, Marinovic had to once again demonstrate his reflexes, and later he had to rescue his team multiple times.
The second goal into the New Zealand net fell in the second half of the game - then the Russians launched a great attack from deep in their half, and after a fantastic pass from Aleksandr Samedov, Fedor Smolov doubled the lead.
The score could have been 2-1, when Ryan Thomas made a great shot, and immediately after Yuri Zhirkov cleared the ball from the goal line. However, the Russian defense held strong and secured the first victory.
Smolov was later named the Man of the Match.
Result:
Russia 2 - 0 New Zealand
[1-0] 31' Michael Boxall (own goal)
[2-0] 69' Fedor Smolov
