Brazil vs. Russia: An appetizer for Tuesday’s smorgasboard

Russia were on top of Brazil for most of their friendly encounter at Stamford Bridge, but the Brazilians turned on the style in the dying minutes. Viktor Fayzulin’s second half goal, combined with Hulk’s entrance into the game, sparked a Brazilian resurgence and allowed them to score a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw.

From the opening kick through the first 15 minutes of the game, Russia were dominant and unlucky not to score. Their first big chance came in the 3rd minute, when Julio Cesar saved a free kick from Fayzulin. The Russians could have had a penalty in the 10th minute when a ball hit the hand of Fernando, but the referee allowed play to continue. During that same move, Roman Shirokov set up Alexander Kerzhakov in the penalty area, but the Zenit striker missed wide.

Brazil of course are already in the next World Cup as the hosts and Russia on had one qualifier on the schedule during this break.

Russia still haven’t played their one scheduled qualifier against Northern Ireland thanks to two separate postponements due to snowfall and freezing conditions in Belfast. At this point they’ll probably be happy to just get on a pitch and actually play after the events of the past few days.