A youthful England side produced a performance full of verve and skill but was punished for failing to convert its dominance into goals as Russia grabbed a late equaliser in their Euro 2016 opener in Marseille on Saturday.
The end of the Group B match, which finished 1-1, was marred by violence in the stands as supporters clashed after the final whistle and, despite a superb performance, England was left ruing the missed opportunities.
“I think we played well but we didn’t take our chances. The lads are disappointed not to get the win but we can take a lot of positives,” England captain Wayne Rooney said.
“We looked solid for 90 minutes. The performance was worthy of a win.”
Unable to convert possession into goals, England was hit by a late sucker-punch that condemned it to yet another poor start at the European Championship — in nine tournaments it has drawn five and lost four of its opening games.
Attack from word Go! In the beginning, England dominated most of the exchanges, producing chance after chance from open play and set pieces as it ran at the Russians. Adam Lallana, Rooney and Harry Kane all had decent chances in the first half, but more often than not their efforts flew harmlessly wide or straight at the keeper.
With England attacking seemingly at will, centrally and down the flanks, it seemed a matter of time before the deadlock was broken.
When the breakthrough finally came it was from an unlikely source.
Tottenham Hotspur’s defensive midfielder Eric Dier has not attempted a single shot from a free-kick in his 65 Premier League games, but in the 73rd minute he stepped up and smashed an unstoppable strike past keeper Igor Akinfeev.
With Russia having spent much of the game defending, Dier’s goal looked like it would be enough to claim all three points, but it was not to be as Russia’s skipper fashioned an equaliser with the team’s second effort on target in the whole game.
Defender Vasili Berezutski did not manage to find the net in any of his eight qualifying appearances, but his looping header at the death was enough to give his side a share of the points that it hardly deserved.
For almost the entire game Hodgson’s decision to go for youth over experience in his squad looked like it might be vindicated, but Berezutski’s goal cast a shadow over England’s fortunes.
