Substitute Pavel Pogrebnyak’s second-half strike gave Russia a 1-0 win over Serbia on Wednesday in their final friendly before vital Euro 2012 qualifiers next month.
The FC Stuttgart striker scored in the 53rd minute, reacting quickest when visiting goalkeeper Bojan Jorgacevic spilled a long-range drive from Tottenham’s Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Serbia’s best chance fell to Chelsea defender Slobodan Rajkovic, who glanced an unchallenged header wide from six yards on a 38th-minute corner. Serbia’s Milos Krasic spurned a chance to equalize soon after the hosts took the lead, blasting straight at Igor Akinfeev after finding free space to the right of the penalty spot.
The result, which ends a string of three friendly matches without a win, may please Russia coach Dick Advocaat, but first-half injuries to captain Andrei Arshavin, who left the field after a clash of heads, and Alexander Kerzhakov give cause for concern ahead of two Euro 2012 qualifiers.
Russia are in a three-way battle for Group B with the Republic of Ireland and Slovakia, who all have 13 points from six matches. They host Macedonia on Sept. 2 before receiving the Republic of Ireland four days later.
Serbia lie third in Group C on eight points, a further eight adrift of leaders Italy and three behind second-placed Slovenia who have played one game more. They are to play Northern Ireland, currently second-bottom but with two games in hand, in Belfast on Sept. 2 and host the Faroe Islands on Sept. 6.
In Wednesday’s match, Serbia coach Vladimir Petrovic made six changes to the side that drew with Australia in June, but was still without the injured Nikola Zigic, Neven Subotic, talisman Dejan Stankovic and Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic.
Advocaat made eight changes to the team that plodded through a dull 0-0 draw in June against Cameroon, including the return of former Chelsea wingback Yury Zhirkov, who signed this week for Russian Premier League club Anzhi Makhachkala.
Arshavin nearly put the hosts ahead in the 13th minute, charging through on a fast counterattack and sending a left-foot drive toward the top corner that Jorgacevic tipped around the post.
Serbia were mainly reduced to speculative efforts, with new Blackburn signing Radosav Petrovic firing wide and Manchester City’s Aleksandar Kolarov dragging a left-foot shot past the post from 20 yards.
Zenit St. Petersburg striker Kerzhakov limped off with an ankle injury on 25 minutes, substituted by Pavel Pogrebnyak, while Arshavin was replaced by Diniyar Bilyaletdinov five minutes later after colliding with Milos Ninkovic. It was unclear how serious the injuries were. Bilyaletdinov whistled a left-foot shot just over after Pogrebnyak beat a defender down the left flank to centre a pass to the Everton winger two minutes after the break.
Teams:
Russia: Igor Akinfeev, Aleksandr Anyukov (Roman Shishkin, 46), Vasily Berezutsky, Aleksei Berezutsky, Yury Zhirkov (Sergei Ignashevich, 68), Igor Semshov, Denis Glushakov, Konstantin Ziryanov (Dmitry Torbinsky, 82), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Roman Shirovkov, 84), Andrei Arshavin (Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, 31), Alexander Kerzhakov (Pavel Pogrebnyak, 26).
Serbia: Bojan Jorgacevic, Nenad Tomovic, Slobodan Rajkovic, Nemanja Vidic, Aleksandar Kolarov, Zdravko Kuzmanovic, Zoran Tosic (Milan Jovanovic, 46), Milos Krasic (Bosko Jankovic, 68), Radosav Petrovic (Nenad Milijas, 68), Milos Ninkovic (Vaseljko Trivunovic, 47), Marko Pantelic.
