MOSCOW: Russia’s prospects of coming up with a competitive team as they host the World Cup in June and July appears to no further forward.

Stanislav Cherchesov’s men suffered a clear 3-0 home defeat in Moscow in the second game in the rebuilt Luzhniki stadium which will stage the Opening Match and the final of the World Cup.

Russia started brightly but Brazil broke them down in the second half with a 13-minute blitz that yielded the three goals from Miranda, Philippe Coutinho and Paulinho.

Brazil were missing the injured Neymar who hopes to recovered from a foot injury in time for the finals.

Russia open the World Cup against Saudi Arabia on June 14 and will need to improve to offer the home support anything to shout about on the evidence of their display against Brazil.

England win

In Amsterdam England beat Holland for the first time since Euro 96 by scoring a 1-0 victory with Jesse Lingard’s first goal for his country.

Lingard struck in the 59th minute to cap a promising team performance as Gareth Southgate’s men kept a third consecutive clean sheet against quality opposition.

The Dutch never seriously threatend Jordan Pickford in England’s goal.

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