National Team Friendly

National Stadium
Spectators: 10300 (Terracing: 7725, Seating: 2369, VIP seats: 206) The mood of the audience was pleasant when Grigoriy Kudryavtsev made the kick off which started today's match. In the 2nd minute Eric Choupo-Moting shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Sergey Sabadash saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. 5 minutes into the match, U21 Northern Ireland's goal looked a bit too open when Grigoriy Kudryavtsev came free, but Jack Nolan reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. U21 Northern Ireland's Jack Nolan played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Grigoriy Kudryavtsev in the 6th minute of play. 8 minutes into the game, Eric Choupo-Moting cracked a shot to the right of the goalkeeper, 1-0. Sergey Sabadash was not in position, and could only watch the ball fly in. When U21 Northern Ireland's Eric Choupo-Moting in the 11th minute got a chance for a shot 11th didn't hesitate and placed the ball to the right of the goalie. A beautiful save bye U21 Russia's goalie prevented a goal. Sergey Sabadash took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Eric Choupo-Moting, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. U21 Northern Ireland's Jack Nolan played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Grigoriy Kudryavtsev in the 13th minute of play. 16 minutes into the match, U21 Northern Ireland's Eric Choupo-Moting sent off a blazing shot straight on target, a shot that Sergey Sabadash narrowly saved just below the crossbar. U21 Northern Ireland's attacker deliberately struck the ball against an opponent to win a corner for his team. The corner was taken by Achraf Hakimi in the 17th minute. The corner went over the outstretched arms of U21 Russia's goalie and right to Eric Choupo-Moting. He fired away a shot at goal, but the shot had too much spin, and it went just outside the goal. U21 Russia's manager breathed a sigh of relief on the sidelines as his team had managed to escape an almost certain goal. In the 19th match minute, U21 Northern Ireland was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Danny Clegg to maneuver through the defense. 21 minutes into the match, U21 Northern Ireland's goal looked a bit too open when Gleb Gorbunov came free, but Jack Nolan reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. Jack Nolan came out of the goal in the 26th minute to try and stop a shot by U21 Russia's Grigoriy Kudryavtsev. But to his dismay, Grigoriy Kudryavtsev quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 1-1. David Singleton charged in rather forcefully in the 29th minute of the match, and managed to knock his opponent down. The referee showed David Singleton the yellow card, and asked the players to shake hands before continuing play. In the 29th minute, David Singleton hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. Grigoriy Kudryavtsev took a chance and fired a shot far from the goal in the 30th minute, but it turned out to be a dangerous situation for Jack Nolan. U21 Northern Ireland's goalkeeper really had to stretch himself to stop the ball from crossing the goal line. After 34 minutes of play, U21 Russia's Grigoriy Kudryavtsev made it 1-2 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Jack Nolan was left in no man's land by his defense there! U21 Northern Ireland's attentive Eric Lambert managed to snatch the ball when Viktor Bityagovskiy made a throw-in in the 39th minute of the game. The crowd was extremely unhappy with the home team's performance in the first half. They were losing 1-2.

The players of the away team seemed most concentrated when Danny Clegg stepped up to make the kick off in the second half. 54 minutes into the match, Eric Choupo-Moting notched a goal, 2-2, to the right of U21 Russia's Sergey Sabadash. Sergey Sabadash was clearly disgusted with the effort of the defense and let the defenders know about it. Sergey Sabadash made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Eric Choupo-Moting in the 59th minute of play. Gleb Gorbunov who was well placed in front of the goal fired away a dangerous shot that in the 61stth minute tested the skills of Jack Nolan when he managed to save the team from getting behind. In the 62nd minute, Eric Choupo-Moting ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. Sergey Sabadash was frozen by the shot and now it was 3-2. U21 Northern Ireland made a substitution. Joseph Neill replaced Toby Coogan. U21 Northern Ireland made a substitution. Daniel Hawkins replaced Danny Clegg. U21 Russia's Igor Romanchenko was substituted for Daniil Fomin. Jack Nolan came out of the goal in the 68th minute to try and stop a shot by U21 Russia's Petr Klimovskiy. But to his dismay, Petr Klimovskiy quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 3-3. After 73 played minutes U21 Russia got a freekick which was hit by Gleb Gorbunov. 74 minutes in the game Konstantin Naumov did a throw-in, and the ball was quickly in game thanks to Viktor Bityagovskiy. Sergey Sabadash made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Keith Ripley in the 78th minute of play. U21 Russia's Sergey Sabadash played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Keith Ripley in the 79th minute of play. In the 80th minute, Gleb Gorbunov left the goalkeeper for dead before tapping the ball into the right side of the net. The U21 Russia fans were clearly happy with the effort and the scoreboard reflected the new score: 3-4. U21 Russia made a substitution. Grigoriy Bobrov replaced Gleb Gorbunov. After 85 played minutes U21 Russia got a freekick which was hit by Konstantin Naumov. In the 86th minute, Keith Ripley left the goalkeeper for dead before tapping the ball into the right side of the net. The U21 Northern Ireland fans were clearly happy with the effort and the scoreboard reflected the new score: 4-4. 93 minutes into the game, U21 Northern Ireland's Keith Ripley nearly tore a hole in the net with a booming shot. Sergey Sabadash made a valiant effort, but he could not reach the ball in time, 5-4.