Sports
Russian legends overcome Spaniards
Published 02 February, 2009, 15:52
Russia has won the inaugural Legends Cup title after beating Spain, which brought together football legends of yester-year on the miniature indoor pitch in Moscow.
Russia and Spain were rated as favourites before the tournament, and there was no surprise that these sides went head-to-head in the final. The hosts had more chances in the decider, having a bigger squad and the home crowd behind them.
It took Russia just four minutes to break the deadlock. Dmitry Alenichev opened the scoring. Spain had some chances to equalise later on, but Russia's defence was stalwart. The hosts then doubled their lead after a controversial free-kick. Former futsal star Konstantin Eremenko made it 2-0.
This episode seemed to demoralize the Spaniards, as they allowed Russia to score two goals straight away. Spain pulled one back, though, through former Real Madrid winger Jose Amavisk, but their keeper Toni was having a nightmare and conceded three more afterwards.
The visitors changed their goalkeeper during the break. It did help as Contreras produced some saves early in the second half.
Meanwhile, the game failed to be a friendly one at some stages. Sergey Kiryakov was sent off for a reckless challenge, while a fight kicked off between Sergey Yuran and Jose Amaviska.
It was only until the end of the game that the players focused on football again. First Alenichev completed his hat-trick, and then Amaviska hit the final nail in the coffin seconds before the whistle, making it 8-4 to Russia.
After the game the players insisted all those second-half incidents had been just part of the game.
