Lacklustre Russia lose to Austria, Japan suffer home shock to Ghana
LONDON: World Cup hosts Russia continued their miserable run when they slipped to a 1-0 defeat in Austria and Japan suffered a blow when they lost 2-0 at home to Ghana in coach Akira Nishino’s first game in charge.
Defeat for the Russians came after a poor seven-month period in which they failed to win in six consecutive games, conceding 10 goals in their last four matches.
Alessandro Schopf scored the only goal midway through the first half after good work by Marko Arnautovic and Stanislav Cherchesov’s Russian team looked short of quality.
Sergei Ignashevich returned to the starting side after a twoyear absence but did little to improve their defensive woes.
Ignashevich became the oldest player to appear for Russia at 38 years and 320 days, surpassing ex-soviet Union keeper Lev Yashin, who played his last international at 37 years and 267 days.
Russia, who failed to get past the World Cup group stage in 1994, 2002 and 201, are in a relatively weak-looking Group A alongside Saudi Arabia, Uruguay and Egypt.
New-look Japan suffered a 2-0 home defeat by Ghana to leave new coach Nishino with tough decisions to make less than three
weeks before their first match in Russia.the Blue Samurai will open their World Cup Group H campaign against Colombia on June 19. Poland and Senegal are the other teams in their group.
Nishino deployed a new formation with three central defenders, two wing-backs and two inside forwards supporting a lone striker. However, Ghana captain Thomas Partey scored and debutant Emmanuel Boateng converted a penalty.