Russia-Greece soccer match to be played at Euro Jun 14

INNSBRUCK, Austria, June 11 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian national soccer team have lost their opening match at the 2008 European soccer
championship against Spain, 1:4 (0:2). The match was played at the Tivoli Neu Stadium here on Tuesday night.
On the Spanish side, David Villa had to his credit a hat trick. He
scored goals in the 20th, 44th, and 75th minutes. Francesc Fabregas
distinguished himself by slamming a goal in the 90th minute. The Russian side responded with a consolation goal scored by Roman Pavlyuchenko in the 86th minute.
There were other scoring opportunities for the Russian side: after a kick by Konstantin Zyryanov the ball hit the goal-post and Sergei Semak failed to score from a most advantageous position.
However, even being two goals down, the Russians were playing in a too academic manner, without a serious pressure on the opponents, and without imposing tough going on them.
In estimates made by most analysts, this big defeat of the Russian
team was brought about by blunders in defence. The Spaniards scored their first goal after an error made by Denis Kolodin, the second one after an unsuccessful offside performance, the third one after a mistake of Roman Shirokov, and the fourth one again owing to Kolodin's mistake.
The Russian team is to play its next match at the Euro-80 against Greece on June 14.