Russia's Alan Dzagoyev celebrates his first of two goals on Friday (AP Images)
The second game of Euro 2012 took place in Wroclaw, Poland, and had a lot to live up to after the dramatics of the first match. In the end it really didn't have the drama, but it certainly provided the goals. The Czech's porous defense hung Petr Cech out to dry as the Russians ran rampant at full time.
It was actually the Czechs who settled first in the match, having some possession and making it difficult for the Russians to make anything out of it when they had the ball. However, the men in red finally broke through on 15 minutes. Alexander Kerzhakov headed a cross into the post and Alan Dzagoyev stepped up and smacked the ball into the net to give Russia a 1-0 lead. It wasn't the end of the first half nightmare for the Czechs either. They gave up the ball to Andrei Arshavin in the 24th minute. The Arsenal man shuttled a pass through Kerzhakov and on to Roman Shirokov, who calmly chipped the ball over the Chelsea 'keeper to make it 2-0 to the Russians, which held into halftime.
The Czechs did make interesting for a little bit in the second half. In the 52nd minute they managed to cut the lead in half. Jaroslav Plasil sent in a gorgeous ball to Vaclav Pilar that opened up the Russian defense. Pilar easily worked the ball around the Russian 'keeper and slipped the ball into the goal to make it 2-1. After that the Czech side really got their act together, but couldn't find the equalizer.
The Russians finally finished the match off late on. In the 78th minute Roman Pavlyuchenko grabbed a loose ball and passed over to Dzagoyev, who calmly finished off his second goal of the match to make it 3-1. Pavlyuchenko himself would put the final nail in the coffin as he blasted a shot into the top of the goal on 82 minutes to make it 4-1 at full time.
Unfortunately, the match itself ended up being overshadowed by unruly fan behavior and alleged racism. It just doesn't look like the tournament is going to be able to shake this. First off, Russian fans were filmed fighting with and beating on Polish stadium staff after the match. As a result, 4 members of the stadium staff were hospitalized, according to Bloomberg News. Also, UEFA monitors at the match reported that Russian fans racially abused Czech defender Theodor Gebre Selassie, who is black. UEFA has already charged the Russian soccer association with the beatings of the stadium staff, and they are seeking more evidence on the racism claim. Apparently the fight started when the stadium staff tried to confront Russian fans who were using fireworks. Punishments may range from fines to expulsion form UEFA competitions for repeated offenses.
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