Fabio Capello will be confident heading into this summer after his team put in a solid performance on Wednesday. Armenia attackers Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Yura Movsisyan were well-contained by Russia, who put in an excellent defensive performance in a 2-0 home victory.
Russia vs. Armenia: Final score 2-0, simple and efficient from Fabio Capello’s side
Russia are looking ready for the World Cup. Then again, England looked pretty good at this point in 2010.
Buda Mendes
Alexander Kokorin scored the opener with an impressive backheel, capping off a pretty move in the 21st minute. After an exchange of passes in the center of the park, the ball was played out wide for Aleksandr Samedov, who hit a square ball towards the near post. Kokorin made the perfect run and applied an even better finish.
Russia doubled their advantage in the 43rd minute after Samedov was taken down in the penalty area by Artak Yedigaryan. Dmitriy Kombarov stepped up and buried the spot kick, giving Russia a 2-0 lead heading into halftime.
Capello made four changes at the break, switching up what was largely an experimental team. Though his team looked good after the break, none of the new additions made enough of an impact on the game to find Russia a third goal. However, Samedov continued to be dangerous on the right flank for the rest of his time on the pitch and was the clear man of the match.
Russia: Akinfeev, Kombarov, Berezutsky, Ignashevich, Eshchenko (Kozlov 46’), Glushakov, Shirokov (Denisov 46’), Faizulin (Dzagoev 46’), Zhirkov (Kerzhakov 46’), Kokorin (Shatov 63’), Samedov (Shennikov 75’)
Goals: Kokorin (21’), Kombarov (penalty 43’)
Armenia: Berezovskiy, Artak Yedigaryan (Hovhannisyan 67’), Arzumanyan, Haroyan, Mkoyan (Hambardzumyan 79’), Mkrtchyan, Pizzelli, Ghazaryan (Papikyan 83’), Mkhitaryan (Dashyan 63’), Sarkisov (Artur Yedigaryan 46’), Movsisyan (Adamyan 87’)
Goals: None
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