England and Russia started their quest for the European Championships and the final result would have left both the dressing rooms with different tastes.
England were denied a narrow win with a stoppage time equalizer from the Vasili Berezutski, frustrating the three lions.
Roy Hodgson raised some eyebrows with his team selection as Jamie Vardy was left on the bench and Harry kane played as the lone striker with Lallana and Sterling operating on either sides. England created numerous chances in the first half, Danny Rose drilled a dangerous looking ball in , fortunately for the Russians no one was attacking it.Wayne Rooney impressed in his new midfield role pulling the strings and showed his versatile passing abilities.
Probably the best chance of the first half was a series of exchanges between Lallana and Kyle Walker while the shot was ultimately pulled wide by Lallana.
The England defense looked pretty sturdy throughout the first half and Russians hardly tested Joe Hart, if Russia’s lack of attack was a major talking point of the first half ,Harry Kane taking the England corners was surely another one of them.
England Started the second half where they left off pushing forward in search of the opening goal, while the Russians sat back and defended.Sterling was brilliant down the left hand side and made numerous dangerous looking runs. Rooney came close to opening the scoring only to be denied by Igor Akinfeev and the post.
England’s goal however came from the most unlikeliest of sources, a brilliant free kick from Spurs midfielder Eric Dier in the 73rd minute gave the England fans even another reason to be loud. The goal was followed by a bizarre substitution with Jack Wilshere replacing Wayne Rooney , who was probably England’s best passer on the night.
Just as England were looking to see out the game, Russia won a corner which was defended well , however the resulting run move saw Vasili Berezutski score deep into stoppage time , earning a vital point for his team.
Even though England dominated the game, they were forced to pay for their lack of finishing, the Russians on the other hand will be delighted to snatch a point form what looked like a damning defeat looking at their performance.
