MOSCOW (Reuters) - Two own goals in three second-half minutes from defender Kim Ju-young helped Russia to a 4-2 win over South Korea in a friendly international in Moscow on Saturday. The hosts of next year's World Cup were relieved to enjoy a confidence-boosting win in their first international test since they were knocked out of the Confederations Cup on home soil at the group stage in June. Russia had some bright moments but were grateful for lucky breaks in the second half against a team that finished second in their Asian qualifying group. As World Cup hosts, Russia have not had the opportunity to gauge their strength against Europe's best in qualifying and have been trying to compensate for the lack of genuine competition by playing friendlies. "Smolov and Kokorin tried hard, they tried to help the defence," Cherchesov said.

Source: The Star October 07, 2017 17:37 UTC