Russia delivers win for Vladimir Putin to open Confederations Cup

New Zealand are now without a win in 10 Confederations Cup matches and struggled to make an attacking impression.

Head coach of Russian Federation national team, Stanislav Cherchesov, has President Vladimir Putin's words helped inspire his players to victory in their Confederations Cup opener against New Zealand.

St. Petersburg, June 18: Hosts Russia defeated New Zealand 2-0 in the Group A opening match of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup football tournament here on Saturday (June 17).

When the goal came, it had an ugly finish after two pretty pieces of individual skill once the All-Whites defense needlessly lost the ball. A three-player race to meet the rebound off a post saw the sliding Boxall's trailing right arm get the final touch in a bundle of bodies.

A chest-high pass to forward Dmitry Poloz was deftly guided into the path of Denis Glushakov who chipped the ball over onrushing goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic.

First, Aleksandr Samedov's corner found Viktor Vasin, whose diving header from 12 yards struck the inside the post before being hacked clear off the line by Michael McGlinchey.

Fyodor Smolov both began and ended a counter-attack which put the result beyond doubt in the second half, with Russian Federation now turning their attention to a game against Portugal on Thursday.

This year's tournament is held between June 17 and July 2 at four stadiums in Russian Federation and they are Spartak Stadium in Moscow, St. Petersburg Stadium, Fisht Stadium in Sochi and the Kazan Arena in Kazan.

Ten minutes before kickoff, both teams lined up in front of the main stand to listen speeches by Putin and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

Cherchesov felt Putin's pre-match speech inspired his players. Portugal has won six of its last seven games.