In Marseille, two more teams from Group B entered into battle. Fans of England and Russia had already clarified their relationship, and a little later the footballers had to do the same. Interestingly, "Three Lions" had never won the first match of the European Championship before this evening.
Team line-ups:
England: J. Hart, K. Walker, G. Cahill, C. Smalling, R. Sterling (87' J. Milner), A. Lallana, H. Kane, W. Rooney (77' J. Wilshere), E. Dier, D. Alli.
Russia: I. Akinfeev, S. Ignashevich, I. Smolnikov, V. Berezutski, G. Shchennikov, F. Smolov (85' P. Mamaev), R. Neustadter (80' D. Glushakov), A. Kokorin, A. Golovin (77' R. Shirokov), O. Shatov, A. Dzyuba.
The entire match is being broadcast live on the internet by LRT television.
From the very beginning of the first half, the English played better. They controlled the situation, while the Russians tried to find their chances in counterattacks and set pieces.
Defender Kyle Walker made several excellent runs, but one of his passes ended with a shot by Adam Lallana saved by the goalkeeper, and Lallana missed another chance.
Danny Rose was active on the other flank, and his teammates Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling also found themselves in dangerous situations.
However, Roy Hodgson's players were unable to break through the Russian defense in the first 45 minutes.
After the break, the game opened up and became more open. The Russians created several dangerous attacks right away, and the English managed to earn a couple of penalties.
Leonid Slutsky's troops revived and finally began to look like they were fighting for victory rather than defending and settling for a draw.
However, the English team stepped up their game again - initially Wayne Rooney fired a very dangerous shot, which was saved by Igor Akinfeev, and in the 73rd minute the fans finally saw the first goal. It was scored by Eric Dier with a penalty shot into the top corner of the goal.
After that, the game was typical - Russia attacked, and England tried to double their advantage in quick counterattacks, but neither side succeeded for a long time.
When stoppage time began, it looked like England would rewrite history, but Vasily Berezutsky still managed to head the ball to Denis Glushakov, who scored into the empty net and equalized for his team.
So, England will have to wait at least another four years for a triumphant start to the European Championship.
Result:
England 1 - 1 Russia
[1-0] 73' Eric Dier
[1-1] 90' Denis Glushakov
Best player of the match - goal scorer Eric Dier:
.@ericdier is your @carlsberg Man of the Match! #ENGRUS #EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/wRd1djqcBv — UEFA EURO 2016 (@UEFAEURO) June 11, 2016
Shot statistics:
FT #ENG 1-1 #RUS shots 15v6 (via @StatsZone https://t.co/LbTCuXbJZ1): pic.twitter.com/0BgAsdlXPl — Stats Zone (@StatsZone) June 11, 2016
Passing statistics:
FT #ENG 1-1 #RUS passes: 367v318 (via @StatsZone https://t.co/LbTCuXbJZ1): pic.twitter.com/5pFD4YWgBQ — Stats Zone (@StatsZone) June 11, 2016
Group B table:
