he first chance, with Sebastian Boenisch almost replicating Joleon Lescott «s goal for England from a free-kick whipped in from the right by Ludovic Obraniak, only to be denied when Vyacheslav Malafeev managed to keep the header out with his legs. Robert Lewandowski followed that with a well? Struck shot from distance that only missed by a few feet, before Eugen Polanski put the ball in the Russian net but was recalled for a borderline offside. A correct decision, but an extremely close call.were patiently passing the ball around in a manner reminiscent of Spain, except that the final ball was usually the one that let all the approach work down. When they went into slightly more direct mode they almost opened the scoring just before the half? Hour, Andrey Arshavin just failing to get the crucial touch needed in front of goal to Aleksandr Kerzhakov »s wonderfully inviting cross from the right.this point the match was quite scrappy and in danger of being upstaged by the almost tangible fervour of the fans, not to mention earlier events outside the stadium which would have displeased the watching Michel Platini, so it was not entirely out of character when Russia took the lead eight minutes before the interval with an undistinguished goal from a routine set? piece.Zhirkov won a free? kick on the left, Arshavin sent over a cross and Alan Dzagoev nipped in front of Lukasz Piszczek to head past Przemyslaw Tyton. That instantly dampened the atmosphere and lowered any expectations of an upset. Poland and their home crowd had been let down by an error of basic defensive organisation, not by anything scintillating the Russians had managed to produce, and the pained expression of Franciszek Smuda, their coach, indicated as much.Blaszczykowski did manage to bring a save from Malafeev before half? time, but Poland «s attacking attempts had become sporadic, and as in the opening game against Greece they seemed to wilt after making a promising start.all that Poland opened the second half with an extremely promising attack, interpassing between Polankski and Lewandowski taking the latter right through the heart of the Russian defence. The Borussia Dortmund striker had a brief but clear sight of goal but needed to shoot first time. Instead he took a touch and ended up forced wide to where he could not beat Malafeev. At the other end, Roman Shirokov made it all the way to the byline and seemed certain to find someone in the middle for a tap-in, yet managed to put his cross behind all the forwards Russia had up in support.seemed even more likely to go further ahead when Arshavin charged up the left wing just before the hour mark, shrugging off a foul by Piszczek in his determination to advance into the penalty area, only to play a vague pass inside that was too easily cut out. That turned out to be pivotal, for Poland used the possession to turn defence into attack and equalise. Piszczek redeemed himself with a clever pass to allow Blaszczykowski to cut in from the right, and as soon as a route opened up to goal he let fly with a left foot curler from the edge of the penalty area that Malafeev could do nothing about.and Kerzhakov combined neatly for the former to force a save from Tyton, then play went straight down to the other end and Malefeev had to make a stop from Polanski. With the score at 1-1 the game was anybody »s and at last the crowd was seeing some entertaining football. Russia rotated their attacking options before the end...
