Away goal keeps Slovenian dreams alive
Late goal gives Slovenia hope
In a two-legged situation, a 2-1 defeat is a million miles away from a 2-0 loss. The Slovenian team will have left the field at full-time with great confidence and hope of turning around the situation on Wednesday night. Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, the Everton player, struck twice to give Russia a two goal lead which looked like giving the Russians a strong base to defend in the second leg. However, an 87th minute header from Nejc Pecnik changed the situation and leaves the tie very much in the balance.
This tie appeared to be the most evenly matched of the four European based play-off games and the final score indicated that was indeed the case. Neutral football fans over the world will no doubt hope that talent like Andrei Arshavin or Roman Pavlyuchenko will be present in South Africa but on this form, Slovenia will do themselves justice. Even after pulling a goal back, there was time for Slovenia to bomb forward and only an excellent save from Igor Akinfeev prevented the first leg from being a draw.
With a partisan home crowd behind them and the knowledge that a 1-0 win will see them through to South Africa, there will be positive thoughts coming from the Slovenian camp in the next few days. Russia will need to have cool heads and keep their nerve but if one manager is collected enough to steer a team through a difficult match, it is Guus Hiddink.
Lets hope the other play-off ties live up to this level of excitement.
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