Russia celebrate after their world-title earning victory ©CPFWC

Russia edged Ukraine to a successful defence of their Cerebral Palsy Football World Championship final, taking a 1-0 victory in front of a near-capacity crowd at St George's Park in Burton upon Trent in England. 

After a minute's silence to remember the life Joel Richards, an English Football Association qualified level four referee who lost his life in last week's Tunisian beach attack, Russia immediately too control.

Viacheslav Larionov had the best of the early chances after narrowly missing from an Alexander Kuligin corner. 

Chances followed for both teams in a physical battle between two fierce rivals in both a sporting and a political sense.

The Russians remained on top, however, and had succession of near-misses, including Lasha Murvanadze striking the crossbar after some excellent build-up play.

Ukraine were lucky to go into the break all square but were unable to change the flow of the game after the half-time as Russia continued to dominate.

Russia were too strong for Ukraine in a repeat of their Paralympic final victory ©CPFWC
Russia were too strong for Ukraine in a repeat of their Paralympic final victory ©CPFWC

They were eventually rewarded when Kuligin tapped home on the rebound after a blocked shot by Dmitrii Pestretsov. 

That forced Ukraine to raise their game and, in a frenetic final few minutes they had a number of chances to take the contest to extra-time.

Russian goalkeeper Vladislav Raretckii produced a string of good saves before Oleh Len hit the crossbar with the goal at his mercy with just five minutes to go.

The final whistle blew soon after with the Russian lead secure, as they won by the same scoreline as at the Paralympic final at London 2012.

The bronze medal match which preceded the final was more one-sided, a Wanderson hat-trick giving Brazil to a 6-0 win over The Netherlands.

The forward capped a superb individual display with two assists as Fernandes scored two second half goals before substitute Evandro wrapped up the win in the 59th minute in match in which both sides also missed penalties.



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