Prolific hosts win nation over – but questions linger
Pressure is still on team from sceptics on all sides as Uruguay await, writes Oliver Brown in Samara
On the banks of the Volga, the citizens of Samara gathered yesterday to salute their conquering Sbornaya. Fresh from two victories amid the bright lights of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia have taken their unlikely hit show on the road for today’s Group A curtain-call against Uruguay.
It was a steamy, broiling afternoon, although you would not have known it from looking at coach Stanislav Cherchesov, who was swaddled in his thick team coat. A native of North Ossetia, where the mercury often nudges 95F (35C) in the summer, he said: “You think it’s hot? No, no. I’m wearing this jacket because it’s beautiful and I want to show it off.”
It was a statement full of the patriotism that now surrounds his once unloved side. While they had been regarded as World Cup makeweights by many of their own fans, jaded after defeats by Austria and Qatar, they now find themselves the nation’s toast.
Striker Fyodor Smolov, who remembers only too well the backlash that followed a tepid friendly draw with Turkey earlier this month, said sarcastically: “After that game I stopped following the mass media. Yes, we are probably the worst people in the country. But now? It is us who are in first place and we are happy with what we have done.”
If the atmosphere had an edge, it was less because of the extremes of public reaction than the unwanted scrutiny. Just when Russia should be euphoric at the ease with which they swept aside Saudi Arabia and Egypt, they are assailed by uncomfortable questions about how they have morphed from a side ranked below Guinea into one who have raced into the last 16. Collectively, Russia’s players are running further in matches at this tournament than any other team.
Given fresh allegations yesterday that Russia covered up a positive drugs test by Ruslan Kambolov, initially named in the World Cup squad, it is a surprise statistic that warrants further investigation. Yet Cherchesov would have none of it, snapping when asked whether his players had been subject to any additional tests over the past fortnight. Eduard Bezuglov, the team doctor, said that the hosts had provided over 300 samples – a number he claimed was twice as many as given by England.
Despite Russia’s first advance to the knockout phase since they competed as the Soviet Union in 1986, Cherchesov was adamant that they would not allow their intensity to dip for the Uruguay game in the thick Samara heat. “We are preparing in exactly the same way,” he said. “Qualification doesn’t mean a thing. Our medical team will advise us. No special changes are expected.”
He can be sure that the Russian government will be following today’s events with the closest interest. For all that Vitaly Mutko might be a disgraced figure in many Western eyes, given his alleged role as the enabler of state-sponsored doping and his subsequent dismissal as head of the World Cup organising committee, he remains deputy prime minister with unofficial responsibility for sport. “We would like to get to the next stage from first place,” he said. “Our mission has still not been accomplished. ”