For the full England-Spain game report, as reported from Sweden by Harjeet Johal, click here.
FINAL: France 3 – Russia 1
Group C and Day 3 finally resulted in the pair of wins in the EURO tournament. France kicked off their tournament with a fairly convincing win over Russia, though their known weaknesses (finishing, closing out games) still shone through.
France had plenty of chances in the first half, but it took over twenty minutes for them to finally get a shot in the back of the net. Marie-Laure Delie was the hero of the first half for Les Bleues who, in the 21′ minute, swept past Alla Sidorovskaya and fired one into the corner of the net. She would get her second only eleven minutes later, with an easy finish on a low Le Sommer cross into the box. Russia would make two subs after the second goal, perhaps as punishment for leaving Delie wide open on that offensive play.
Le Sommer would tack the third goal on for France in the 67′ minute, thanks to another clinical put-away a cross from Thomis.
The game was notable for its relaxed pace, with France content to stay lowkey against an opponent they had surely beaten. Subsitute Thomis was the only one who added any notable speed to the pitch for Les Bleues, a decision that would cost Bouhaddi the clean sheet in the 84th minute. Wendie Renard appeared to have already checked out to the locker room, and Elena Morozova was able to net a consolation goal for Russia.
Bruno Bini said after the match Renard’s slip up could actually help France. “It might be a blessing in disguise that we conceded. If we’d won 3-0 or 4-0, perhaps people would have got carried away. This brought us back down to earth. Any mistake can cost you immediately, so this will help us. It’s just the first match and we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves.”
Lineups:
France: Bouhaddi (GK), Renard, Boulleau, Georges, Soubeyrand (C) (76′ Catala), Franco, Bussaglia, Le Sommer, Thiney (66′ Necib), Delie (61′ Thomis), Abily; Head Coach: Bruno Bini
Russia: Todua (GK), Petrova, Savchenkova (35′ Pozdeeva, 68′ Skotnikova), Terekhova, Sochneva, Sidorovskaya, Kostyukova, Medved (35′ Gordeeva), Tsybutovich (C), Korovkina, Morozova; Head Coach: Sergei Lavrentyev
Officials:
Referee: Jenny Palmqvist (SWE); Assistant referees: Helen Karo (SWE), Tonja Paavola (FIN); Fourth Official: Esther Azzopardi (MLT)
Scoring Summary:
By half: 1 2 Final
France 2 1 3
Russia 0 1 1
21’ FRANCE: Delie
32′ FRANCE: Delie
67′ FRANCE: Le Sommer
84′ RUSSIA: Morozova
Match Statistics:
By team: France Russia
Shots on goal 12 2
Shots 20 4
Corners 7 2
Fouls 8 6
Yellow cards 0 2
Red cards 0 0
