Russia destroy Kazakhstan in first pre-Euro friendly
Published 23 May, 2008, 21:02
Russia have hammered Kazakhstan 6-0 in their first warm-up game before Euro 2008, with half a dozen different names on the score sheet.
This was Russia's farewell to the fans, before leaving for Germany to continue their preparations for the finals in Austria and Switzerland. However, the stadium was less than half full.
Hiddink said he would treat the match like a training session, and the match certainly felt like that for the first 25 minutes, with neither side creating any openings.
Russia were awarded a penalty midway through the first half. Pavel Pogrebnyak sent the keeper the wrong way to put the hosts into the lead.
Guus Hiddink's side continued to enjoy most of the possession, but had to wait until just before the break to double their advantage.
Pogrebnyak turned provider, and Vladimir Bystrov fired home at the second attempt.
Hiddink made four substitutions at the start of the second half and his side took time to settle.
However Kostantin Ziryanov made it three just before the hour mark, the Zenit midfielder taking advantage of some woeful defending.
Russia kept up the pressure, and with five minutes to go, the floodgates opened. Three goals came from Lokomotiv players with Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Dimitry Torbinsky and Dmitry Sychev completing the rout.
Russia's next warm-up match is against Serbia on Wednesday in Germany.
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