Stanislav Cherchesov’s team beat the rival with a minimum score of 1: 0
The second and so far the most important match was played by the Russian national team at the European Championship. In the second round of Group B, Stanislav Cherchesov’s squad met with the Finnish team, which beat the strong Danish team in the last round. Lose Russia now, and the chances of getting out of the group became illusory. But ours won. How St. Petersburg met victory, saw the correspondents of “Komsomolskaya Pravda”.
Before the game, both the stadium and the main fan zone on Konyushennaya Square were crowded. Both the Russians, and among them were very colorful characters, and the Finns, went to support their teams. The latter turned out to be quite a lot, more than the Belgians in the first St. Petersburg match – the proximity of the Northern capital to Finland affected. Many Finnish fans have come by bus or private car.
Most of the guests from Suomi were charged with foam and modestly sang songs under the supervision of the Russian and Finnish police – as in the case of the Poles, special security officers arrived in the city.
By the start of the whistle, there were 25 thousand Russians in the stands of the arena and about five Finns. In the fan zone, the ratio turned out to be completely different, here 99% supported the Russian national team. The Hermitage cat Achilles also came to Konyushennaya, predicting our victory.
Already half an hour before the start of the game, the fan zone was packed full – an endless sea of white-blue-red capes, hats, T-shirts, scarves and wigs stretched as far as the eye could see. At first it even seemed that only Russians came to root for their own people. As it turned out later, it didn’t seem.
– All ours are at the stadium now! – told us a girl named Emilia. Emma is from Finland, in St. Petersburg recently – she moved to work. Emilia admitted that she is not fond of football – except that she can look at some world championship in the mood – but today she came to Konyushennaya out of a sense of national duty. And she tried, it seems, for everyone in the stands – she sang the anthem, ran, jumped, waved a flag and applauded at every dangerous moment so that she almost knocked her palms down. She was echoed by three friends, but not so actively.
– You understand, this is our debut – for the first time the national team of Finland participates in Euro! – explained Emilia. – In general, hockey is much more important to us, but today we could not help but come! We are unlikely to win, but we must support our own. And if we suddenly win, let’s go to the Palace Square to celebrate!