Russia defies poor form to beat Romania in Chechnya
GROZNY, Russia — Three days after being criticized by Vladimir Putin, Russia ended a run of poor form Tuesday by beating Romania 1-0.
Magomed Ozdoev grabbed a last-minute winner in the friendly for the 2018 World Cup host.
Russia had won just one of its last 10 matches, triggering the Russian president to remark that “we haven’t seen beautiful play from the national team for a long time.”
In the first international game to be played in the formerly war-torn Russian region of Chechnya, Russia struggled for much of the 90 minutes due to poor finishing and good saves from Romanian goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon.