Euro 2020 Match 17: Russia v Wales - Fourth Draw Leaves Group B Wide Open

The following article provides an oversight for matches and tournaments taking place in 2020.

Euro 2020 Match 17: Russia v Wales

Fourth Draw Leaves Group B Wide Open

June 20, 2020

Russia 2 Wales 2

 

Russia and Wales produced the fourth draw in Group B to leave the final Match Day the most crucial of any.

 

Wales swapped their goalkeeper to Danny Ward in the hope of gaining three points against Russia.

 

Gareth Bale got them off to the ideal start in the fifth minute as he took on the Russian defenders, and when they could not take the ball off him, he then curled the ball across the face of goal, hitting the post before entering the goal area.

 

Needing to wrestle back a goal, Russia worked the angles to get in behind the lines defence, before Yuri Zhirkov shot on goal, but was unable to defeat Ward.

 

Artem Dzyuba then set up Alexei Ionov, who tried to slide a shot on goal, only to miss the mark.

 

Bale then, in the 15th minute, got onto a poor goalkeeping pass, only this time the Russian defence managed to close him down.

 

Instead of Bale, it was Player of the Match Joe Allen’s turn to fool the defence on the by line. As Guilherme went to dive on the ball, he passed back to Daniel James, who made no mistake with the open goal.

 

Just after the half hour mark, Aaron Ramsey was found with a through ball and his left footer, shot first time, needed a choice Guilherme save.

 

Down at Russia’s end, Dzyuba tried the same as Ramsay, but from the tight angle, he was only able to slide the ball well over the crossbar.

 

After the break, Russia got back a goal with Zhirkov’s perfect cross from the left wing finding the header of Aleksandr Golovin. The attacking midfielder made no mistake.

 

By the 53rd minute, Russia had drawn level, with this being the third time this had occurred in the group so far this tournament. Ionov received the ball deep in the box and turned and shot first time, bringing his side back into the match.

 

From there, neither side looked like they wanted to win, with the ball mostly played in the middle, and both sides reading the play with ease as possession swapped back and forth. With ten minutes remaining, Bale worked behind the Russian defence and shot, requiring a deft Guilherme save.

 

Russia put the Welsh defence under pressure late, only for the game to end 2-2.

 

	Group B	Pl	W	D	L	Pts	GD
1	Russia	2	0	2	0	2	0
2	Wales	2	0	2	0	2	0
3	Switzerland	2	0	2	0	2	0
4	Croatia	2	0	2	0	2	0

 

Nothing can separate these four sides, and so the final matches will determine who progresses. Russia tackles Croatia, while Wales returns to Switzerland in the hope of securing a place in the Round of 16.