Russia s Aleksei Miranchuk celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Euro 2020 soccer championship group B match between Finland and Russia at the Gazprom Arena stadium in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev, Pool)
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — With a slick one-two and a beautiful curling shot, Aleksei Miranchuk finally gave Russia something to smile about at the European Championship.
The left-footed playmaker produced the one moment of class in a chaotic game Wednesday to give Russia a 1-0 win over Finland and its first points at Euro 2020.
The pessimism that followed the Russians' 3-0 loss to Belgium in their opening Group B game was replaced by loud cheers and jubilant chants of "ROSS-I-YA" at the final whistle at Saint Petersburg Stadium.
A loss would have left Russia with an extremely difficult task to qualify for the knockout stage, given its last match is a trip to Denmark on Monday.
Now Russia is tied on points with the Finns, who missed the chance to reach the last 16 with a game to spare with a second straight victory in their first major soccer tournament. Their first victory was 1-0 over Denmark in a match marked by Christian Eriksen's collapse.
It came as no surprise that Artem Dzyuba was involved in Miranchuk's superbly taken goal, which wasn't in keeping with the overall standard of a game.
The big center forward was the focal point of all Russia's attacks, though this one involved him using good footwork instead of his renowned aerial prowess.
Miranchuk collected the ball on the edge of the area and slipped a short ball forward to Dzyuba, who laid it off deftly back to the playmaker. Miranchuk took one touch to cut inside Finland defender Daniel O'Shaughnessy and, with barely any back-lift, floated his shot beyond goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky and into the top corner.
Finland coach Markku Kanerva had expressed his concern ahead of the game that his players might still be traumatized by the incident involving Eriksen on Saturday.
Yet Finland, cheered on by about 4,000 fans who made the 200-kilometer (125-mile) journey from the Finnish border to St. Petersburg, was the better team in the early stages and had a headed goal by Joel Pohjanpalo ruled out by video review in the third minute.
Russia was humiliated at times by Belgium in its opening group game but found Finland's midfield — missing captain Tim Sparv — much easier to dominate, with Miranchuk and Aleksandr Golovin standing out.
Russia defender Mario Fernandes was taken to the hospital with a suspected spinal injury after landing on his back in a fall in the first half.
TOKYO — The $1.4 billion Tokyo national stadium, built by the Japanese government for last year's Olympics, is being viewed as a site for the track and field world championships.
FALMOUTH, MA – The police in Falmouth have identified the victim in an accident involving a car plunging into the ocean on February 20, NBC10 Boston reported.
PHILADELPHIA – The Federation of Hellenic Societies of Philadelphia and Greater Delaware Valley announced that the Evzones, the Presidential Guard of Greece will be participating in the Philadelphia Greek Independence Day Parade on March 20.
WASHINGTON — Nearly 50 defense leaders from around the world met Monday and agreed to send more advanced weapons to Ukraine, including a Harpoon launcher and missiles to protect its coast, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters.
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