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Both the goals highlight massive gaps in Russia's rearguard
Slovakia outsmarted Russia's painfully static defence to secure a 2-1 win in their Euro 2016 Group B clash on Wednesday as they cleverly relinquished possession and struck on the break.
The Slovaks, who lost their opener 2-1 to Wales, needed only a couple of chances to score in the first half, pouncing on Russia's defensive frailties, with both goals highlighting massive gaps in their opponents' rearguard.
Defenders Vasili Berezutski, 33, and 36-year-old Sergei Ignashevich looked their age and then some as Slovak scorers Vladimir Weiss and Marek Hamsik were at times given far too much space to operate.
They twisted and turned, shook off defenders seemingly at will and could have added to their tally as Slovakian registered their first win in their maiden European Championship.
To make matters worse Russian full backs Igor Smolnikov and Georgi Schennikov poured forward in the first half only to be caught off guard at the back.
There was little in terms of coordination among the four defenders, which was surprising given that, apart from Smolnikov, the others all play for CSKA Moscow.
Russia, threatened with expulsion from the tournament by UEFA over fan violence in Marseille last week, were equally inefficient in defence in their 1-1 group opener with England, who wasted several chances before conceding a late equaliser.
Urgent repairs
That desperate Russian leveller seemed to have glossed over their need for urgent repairs in defence as coach Leonid Slutski opted to leave his four-man backline unchanged.
Slutski, juggling jobs with CSKA Moscow and Russia, took over from unpopular Italian Fabio Capello last year and was supposed to restore their unity as a team.Instead, he paid a heavy price for his decision to stick with his back four, with the Slovaks' flexible 4-1-4-1 formation soaking up early pressure while counter-attacking quickly.
Weiss and Hamsik played cat-and-mouse with the Russian defenders in the first half as they scored to secure Slovakia's first win of the tournament, leaving their markers in the dust.
Hamsik's 45th minute goal should be shown in every football academy to illustrate how not to defend, with nine Russian players in the box still somehow managing to let the Slovak unleash a superb curled shot, again from the left.
Lacking a obvious game plan, Russia failed to mount a serious challenge and left it late again to score through substitute Denis Glushakov and stage another desperate bid to equalise.
The latest scrappy performance from Sluktsi's men now sees them teetering on the brink of elimination ahead of their final game against Wales with the dream of a good Euro run in tatters.
