Russians continue to defy the odds
Fifa World Cup Feisty hosts stand firm as ineffective Spain endure death by a thousand passes
If you want next week’s lottery numbers, ask a Russian. If you need a big image makeover, the 2018 World Cup hosts will sort you out. Everything they touch, on and off the pitch, is turning to gold. How long can their luck last?
Russia’s fans swarmed to the Luzhniki Stadium expecting to watch their team go out. They came hoping to achieve respectability. And when 38-year-old centre back Sergey Ignashevich scored into his own net after 11 minutes, the last rites on Russia’s campaign were ready to be read. A Mexican wave was seen not long afterwards. Oh well, at least they made it out of the group stage as the tournament’s lowest-ranked team.
Yet on they go, these hard runners, these odds-defiers, to a quarter-final in Sochi, as The Kremlin’s winning streak continues. The world came here reluctantly, or perhaps ambivalently. The stink from the 2018-22 joint bidding race conspired with geo-political turmoil and oppressive domestic policies to cause visitors to wonder what they were getting themselves into. In the event, the darker realities have been nicely packed away: not least, the nationalistic hooligans who were so expertly ‘disappeared’ by Russia’s police and security services.
Some were doubtless kicking their heels abroad or yanking at their tethers at home when Igor Akinfeev saved Iago Aspas’ penalty with an outstretched leg to set off a party across 11 time zones. You can imagine how those thwarted thugs received the Mexican wave and this latest
display of benign Russian patriotism.
The 5-0 crushing of Saudi Arabia was the first clue that Russia’s team might keep pace with their country’s organisational drive. Then came a 3-1 win over Egypt to secure qualification, followed by a discomfiting 3-0 defeat to Uruguay, by which time the team’s impressive running stats were being scrutinised.
A great World Cup (so far) had produced a Russian surge to the knockout rounds. But that surely was going to be the end of that, especially when Russian manager Stanislav Cherchesov left his top scorer Denis Cheryshev on the bench for the Spain game and removed Artem Dzyuba, his best striker, after 65 minutes. Not forgetting the injury to Yuri Zhirkov, which removed him at halftime.
All through the game, Russia watched the Spanish carousel, stuck in their own half, blocking and defying, with only the odd breakout. Outgunned by Spain, Russia walked the path of pragmatism, on which Spain ended up face-down.
Halftime brought relief from Spain’s relentless circular passing, but it was also reached with Russia level. Dzyuba’s penalty from a hand ball by Gerard Pique prompted his salute: one hand gripping his crown, the other in a military salute. He took the fight to Pique and Sergio Ramos and set the tone for the siege.
A team without household names defied Spain’s attempts to inflict death by a thousand cuts. Fernando Hierro’s men exchanged 1137 passes — and what did they have to show for it? Ignashevich’s own goal. Even that was transitory because the old man scored his penalty in Russia’s 4-3 shootout win — a spectacle that turned the Luzhniki delirious.
Russia’s wonderfully businesslike coach came up with the plan to smother and mug Spain.
“They are better than us in many ways. Had we chosen a different tactic, we wouldn’t have fared so well,” Cherchesov said. “This was the only way out.”
Cherchesov played the tough old coach routine but there was a lot more going on beneath the surface. He chose not to watch Dzyuba’s penalty in regular time and turned his back on the shootout, too.