FIFA World Cup 2014: Russia 1-1 South Korea - As it happened...

Zee Media Bureau/Rajdeep Saha

Welcome to our live coverage of the World Cup Group H game between Russia and South Korea at Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba. The Group H opener marks the clash between two teams who are expected to give in their best and gain some vitality in the Group. ============================================================== For linking stories: ==================================================================================== OUR FULL COVERAGE ON WORLD CUP 2014» Russia`s Team Profile» Russia`s squad» South Korea`s Team Profile» South Korea`s squad» Full list of Group Standings» Fixtures & Results» ==================================================================================== Belgium will be the happiest of the lot today. Everything in Group H has gone in their way so far. Capello will be wary of his side dropping two crucial points but will take the draw given the evenness of the game. Both teams were held off by their opposition and a solitary point looked like a good share. It's all over. Full time Its Russia 1-1 South Korea. Both sides will be happy enough with the point. Russia gifted South Korea with the goal but got in back to equalise on time and share the spoils. Russia play Group H leaders Belgium next where as South korea play Algeria. 90'+4- Kokorin gets round the back, looks up, decides the angle is too narrow for a shot, and finds Samedov at the back post instead. 90'+3- Russia press South Korea back into their own area, but can't break through. Last moments here. Time ticking away, though. 90'+1- Samedov budges the ball in, but it is headed clear. We've got four minutes of added time to play. 90'- Four minutes added We enter the final minute of the game with four minutes of injury time more. 89'- Koo concedes a central free-kick 50 yards from goal after flopping on the ball and grabbing it in an attempt to win a free-kick. He's booked and Russia have a good chance from a set piece. 88'- Kombarov, whose delivery from the left has been about as useful an attacking weapon as Russia have had, is Kokorined over the bar. 85'- South Korea are getting more of the possession and it looks like they have weathered the Russian storm in the latter stages. Will they get a vital point? 83'- Substitution for South Korea. Son is replaced by Kim Bo-kyoung. And with Han off injured, South Korea are temporarily down to 10. 81'- We enter the final ten minutes of the second half and its 1-1 here. 80'- Ki swings it in. It's half cleared. The ball is swung back in. Akinfeev grabs it with both hands.. 79'- Lee Keun-ho, who is a substitute in the game wins a corner for South Korea. 77'- Korea will hope to see off anything here. A point is still vital for the Asian team. 75'- We are heading for a brilliant last 15 minutes in the match. Who would have thought 1-1 at this stage with the way the match was heading. But the fans have gone electric. Capello stays the same after the Russian goal. He needs a win and that's simple. 74'- Goal Its Russia 1-1 South Korea. Kerzhakov Madness in the South Korean box. Dzagoev skips clear and flashes in a shot. Jung saves superbly. A defender hacks clear, straight into the chest of Eschenko, and the ball drops to another substitute, Kerzhakov this time, who swivels and scores. 71'- Substitution Denisov replaces Glushakov in central midfield. And Hong is being carried off – perhaps it was more than cramp. He's replaced by Hwang Seok-ho. 70'- Substitution Kerzhakov replaces Zhirkov. 69'- It was a routine of take for any goalkeeper, but Akinfeev's horror night continues. He has been very poor today. Capello must be shocked and so the entire stadium especially the Russian fans. 68'- Goal Russia 0-1 South Korea. Lee Keun-ho scores for South Korea. The substitute Lee Keun-ho thrashes in a shot. Akinfeev should simply gather, but he spills it. And this time he spills it over his head and into the net. 66'- Kombarov whips in a cross. Jung does very well to fist the ball clear. 63'- What started to look promising at the beginning of the second half has gone down on the same path like the majority of the first half. We need a goal, but doesn't look like it will be coming any soon. 62'- Kombarov takes aim from range and the South Korea keeper can't hold it. In fairness, it did bounce a little awkwardly for him. Both goalkeepers not having a good night so far. 61'- Hong gets on the end of Ki's inswinging delivery, but can only direct his header into the turf. 60'- Yun, the QPR left-back, charges forward and wins a free-kick off Eschenko. We have approached the hour-mark here and its still goalless. 59'- Substitution for Russia. Alan Dzagoev replaces Oleg Shatov. 57'- Kinfeev's handling has been very poor – a free-kick from fully 40 yards from the centre-half Kim slams straight into the keeper's midriff then pops out again. And he has to scramble to recover. 56'- Substitution for South Korea. The ineffective Park is replaced by Lee Keun-ho. 54'- Faizulin taps the ball past full-back, Eschenko who looks to be 10 yards away. 53'- Son runs at Shatov and wins a corner. The corner finds Ki Sung-yeung whose tame header is seen going over the cross bar. 51'- Ki's turn to shoot from distance and again Akinfeev can't gather cleanly at the first attempt. He recovers just in time to scoop up the ball ahead of the onrushing attackers. 50'- Koo pings one at goal from 30 yards and Akinfeev fists the ball away. Another shot on target for South Korea, but its the goal that is needed. Good positive start though! 49'- Both teams will believe they have got a chance to seal this match as its still a stalemate so far. 48'- Koo looks to skip around Ignashevich but the experienced old pro just levers him off the ball for the goalkeeper to collect it safely. 47'- Good start to the second half. Two close shaves in the space of a minute. Faizulin lofts a shot at goal, which Jung tips over. Berezutski gets on the end of the resultant corner and nods into the side-netting. 46'- We are underway with the second half between Russia and South Korea. There is some much needed pace to be witnessed and hopefully second half gives us that. So in the halftime its 0-0. Capello will look for some answers and get his team get into a much penetrative mode in the midfield. Rather a slow game here and both teams will liken to pace things up a little bit after halftime. Hopefully we have a goal in the second half. 45'+1- Its halftime Korea had some good chances in the latter stages of the first half but bad finishing saw them fail to even be on target. 45'- One added minute. 44'- As we approach halftime its still Russia 0-0 South Korea. 43'- Lee and Park exchange neat passes, but can't break through the Russia backline. 42'- Corner for South Korea. Lee Chung-yong takes the shot as its parried away by the well looked Russian defence. South Korea enjoying some freedom for now and look to be getting a hold in the game. 40'- Good spell of ball there in the Korean right defensive half by the Russians until they lose possession after a clueless pass. 39'- Son gets into a shooting position on the edge of the box. He is really good to watch with the ball at his feet. Unfortunately when the ball leaves his feet on this occasion it heads off into the queue stand. Wild wild shot! 37'- Song goes up for a header and sort of deflects of Kokorin. 34'- The corner is headed clear by the Russian defence. Not much to separate the two teams. Russia have the more shots on target which collectively are few though. 33'- Koo finds space outside the area and fires in a shot. It gets a deflection which whistles past the post. Corner for South Korea. 32'- Kokorin turns on halfway and zips forward before feeding the ball to Zhirkov on the left. He hits his shot pretty miserably wide from 25 yards. 31'- Ignashevich strikes a free kick and his thunderous shot sees Jung spill it, but he spills it safely. We have approached the half an hour mark and no goals yet! 29'- Yellow Card Ki clatters into Samedov and earns the referee's card. A yellow though! 26'- Shatov bursts from midfield with the surprise factor of Giger's Alien bursting from John Hurt's stomach. Unlike the Alien the can't take full advantage of the situation … although he has won a corner. 24'- Han raises the pulse with a thundering tackle. It wins South Korea the ball 40 yards from goal, but they can't make the most of it. 22'- Nothing much happening. Both teams are looking to get hold of possession and through that penetration. 21'- The closest either goalkeeper has come to a workout – Kombarov's deep cross finds Samedov sliding in at the back post but in can only sends his effort looping across and away from goal. 18'- Son flops theatrically under pressure from Eschenko. Nothing doing. 17'- A cross-field ball finds Zhirkov in space on the left. He works the ball inside and things are looking vaguely dangerous until Shatov's loose pass. 13'- Its still goalless here. There hasn't been any clear cut chances. 12'- Yellow card for Song Heung-min. The referee thinks he pulled down Samedov in midfield and cautions him. 11'- Son makes a surging direct run from left to right. He reaches the edge of the box and needs to look up for options but instead opts to stick his head down and go for goal. It's rather far too ambitious and goes wide. 9'- A cracking ball inside the full-back from Lee Chung-yong is millimetres from the toes of Park. Korea setting the play early on. 8'- Good in-swinging corner by Kombarov but there is nobody to get a connection on the ball. 7'- First corner of the match for Russia. Capello's men are beginning to dominate. Eschenko finds Samedov running in behind his full-back. He can't capitalise on that, but a few moments later his team win a corner after Kim's mistake. 6'- Fayzulin whips in a better cross, but it's well handled by Hong. 5'- Samedov gets a yard or two of space down the right flank, but pings his cross straight into the first defender. And as the ball breaks out to Eschenko he whelps the cross out for a throw-in on the opposite side. 4'- Bolton winger Lee Chung-yong shows great feet as he glides away from two tackles in the centre-circle but he can't find a team-mate. It's a fairly steady opening in very humid conditions in a compact. 3'- Yun sends a throw-in to the feet of Son on the edge of the Russia box, but his control is loose. A scrappy start here for Korea and they will look to address that. 1'- Korea have the possession after a loose pass from Zhirkov hands them the ball. Its kick-off time as the match goes underway. Expect plenty of action on the cards. The players have come out from the tunnel as we have the national anthems being sung. Team Line-ups Russia: Igor Akinfeev; Vasili Berezutski, Sergey Ignashevich, Andrey Eshchenko, Dmitry Kombarov, Yury Zhirkov; Denis Glushakov, Alexander Samedov, Victor Faizulin, Oleg Shatov; Alexander Kokorin South Korea: Jung Sung-ryong; Lee Yong, Yoon Suk-young, Kim Young-gwon, Hong Jeong-ho; Ki Sung-yeung, Han Kook-young, Lee Chung-yong, Son Heung-min, Koo Ja-cheol; Park Chu-young Referee: Nestor Pitana Asia`s South Korea has the talent to challenge anyone at this World Cup, but recent history doesn`t suggest that they have the capacity to do it. They were poor in both of their warm-up friendlies, they made a coaching change because of their poor performance in qualifying. Meanwhile, Russia are looking like a well-oiled machine under Fabio Capello. Capello likes a defensive style of play and that was visible in Russia`s World Cup qualifiers.Russia alongside Belgium are the favourites to go through and Capello will eye a victory to start with. South Korea should be a great litmus test -- if they win, they`re favorites to get out of the group, but Group H should be wide open if they don`t. After Belgium`s 2-1 scrappy win in the Group`s opener against Algeria, Russia will be wary of the Korean threat.Capello will not take this match lightly at any cost as he knows winning one match at a time gives them a chance to top the Group. Expect a good match with some goals in it. Russia are the favourites and will look to get their campaign started on a winning note.