Russia Has Enough to Beat Heat
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Russia’s Women’s World Cup debut is proving to be surprisingly successful, exceeding even its coach’s highest hopes.
“It would be naive for us to set ultimate goals like winning the World Cup. We wanted to produce a good impression and to gain experience,” Yurii Bystritzkii said. “The concrete task was to qualify for the quarterfinals. This was, indeed, the case.”
It was, indeed.
Substitute Elena Fomina scored twice and captain Irina Grigorieva continued her brilliant play with a goal and an assist as Russia overwhelmed Canada, 4-1, Saturday before an announced crowd of 29,401 at steamy Giants Stadium and qualified for the quarterfinals.
Grigorieva scored in the 54th minute with a 23-yard shot taken on the run and set up Fomina just outside the 18-yard box in the 66th minute, five minutes after Fomina replaced Tatiana Egorova and infused energy into a lineup that had been conserving energy because of the heat.
“It’s very hard to adapt,” Grigorieva said of the temperature, which was 88 degrees at game time. “In the second half, we still found strength enough to go at full speed, and there were good substitutions, maybe, for players who were most tired.”
Russia, which finished second in Group C, will face China Wednesday at Spartan Stadium in San Jose. “We fight on,” Grigorieva said. “We are fully aware China is a very hot favorite to win this Cup but we will fight down to the wire and play as good football as we can.”
In winning, Russia (2-1-0) also earned a berth in the Sydney Olympics.
“Of course, Sydney is looming and is dominating all our thoughts,” the 27-year-old midfielder said. “We shall do our best.”
The heat and a strong attack by Canada (0-2-1) tested the Russians early. “We had a couple of chances but we just could not finish,” Canada’s Charmaine Hooper said. “It’s really frustrating.”
