Russian Federation suffer further setback with 2-1 defeat by Slovakia

Marek Hamsik is “proud” of Slovakia after his man of the match performance inspired the nation to a first European Championship victory. Slovakia top the group on three points along with Wales.

Jan Durica in the centre of the Slovakian defence continued to throw himself about, chasing, harrying and covering shots in a desperate effort to protect his side’s slender lead.

Yes there has been rain in northern France over the last couple of days, but the decision to close the roof of the Stade Pierre Mauroy made no sense – especially when the smoke produced by a flare from Russian fans celebrating Glushakov couldn’t clear. / AFP PHOTO / PHILIPPE HUGUENPHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images Slovakia’s midfielder Vladimir Weiss celebrates a goal during the Euro 2016 group B football match between Russian Federation and Slovakia at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Lille on June 15, 2016.

A win against Slovakia would guarantee that on Monday, and Walker said: “It would be lovely to win the group”.

MORE ON EURO 2016:Sportsnet has you covered with in-depth coverage of Euro 2016 in France, which runs from June 10 to July 10. Russia, in the 66th minute, passed the ball well and won a corner.

In a week where it was threatened with expulsion from the tournament and its fans criticized for their behavior, Russia’s football players did little to convince they will be remaining in France at Euro 2016 much longer.

Four of Russia’s defensive backline that started against England, including goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, all play for CSKA Moscow – who are also coached by national coach Leonid Slutsky.

Governing body Uefa are not expected to enact Russia’s suspended disqualification from Euro 2016 following yesterday’s events, a sanction handed out earlier this week following violence at their match with England on Saturday.

Slovakia recorded another big win in qualifying for the European Championship when it beat two-time defending champion Spain 2-1 in 2014.

“If it’s going to be Sturridge or someone else we will do our best to stop them scoring and keep a clean sheet”. But this time they changed the roles and 28-year-old midfielder Marek netted another ball on the assist from Weiss increasing their team’s dominance over Russian Federation to 2-0.

Weiss – showing impressive composure to resist a shot with his left foot from a hard angle – cut back on to his right to wrong-foot the two covering defenders and angled his shot around Igor Akinfeev into the far corner.

Slovakia needed a victory to advance to the knockout stages, and it got it, winning 3-2.