Russia v Slovakia, Wednesday June 15
Lille, Live on BBC, 2pm
The second round of Euro 2016 kicks off on Wednesday afternoon when Russia meet Slovakia at the Stade Pierre-Maruroy in Lille (kick off 2pm – BBC 1). Both sides will be looking to bounce back after underwhelming starts to their campaigns.
Russia – the story so far
Russia opened up their Euro 2016 with a spawny 1-1 draw with England, where they were outplayed for the vast majority of the match, and only rescued a point in the last minute thanks to a Vasili Berezutski header. On the plus side for Russia, they will feel that the upcoming games against Slovakia and Wales will provide less of a test than their opener, but you’d have to feel that they will need to make significant improvements if they’re to make any impact on Group B.
Russia will be looking to their star man, the Zenit St. Petersburg striker Artem Dzyuba to help them get off the mark against Slovakia. Dzyuba scored 8 goals for Russia during qualification, and his teammates will be looking to him to kick start Russia’s campaign.
Slovakia – the story so far
Slovakia went down 2-1 in their first group match to Wales, but will take plenty of positives from the game despite going down to Hal-Robson Kanu’s scuffed strike.
Were it not for some exceptional Welsh defending Marek Hamsik would have given the Slovak’s the lead inside the first 10 minutes, and throughout the game they were a constant threat to the Welsh backline.
Whereas Russia looked likely losers in their match, and ended up with a point, Slovakia looked likely to earn at least a point, but ended up going home with nothing. You’d have to feel that against Russia it will be their best chance to pick up a victory, and provided they can be a little more clinical in front of goal you’d have to fancy their chances.
Recommended bets
- Artem Dzyubaanytime goalscorer @
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