World Cup shock & awe: Team Russia isn鈥檛 that bad
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Russia can afford to dream.
The host nation defied critics and confounded expectations by easing past Egypt 3-1 on Tuesday, all but assuring its place in the last 16 of a World Cup for the first time since the Soviet era.
The free-scoring Russians — who have now struck eight times in just two matches — have lifted the home fans, who in turn have inspired the men in red on the pitch, for so long under-achievers at the highest level.
“Can you believe it?” Moscow’s Sport Express newspaper asked.
“We waited a very long time for this,” said Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov.
They certainly have.
Russia’s football team has been the poor relation of the nation’s ice hockey sides and Olympic legends, whose victories have long been a source of huge national pride.
President Vladimir Putin said that he expected Russia to lift the golden World Cup trophy when he helped secure the hosting rights in 2010. But he arguably had to say that.
He was being wildly optimistic but the players gave the fans precious little reason for hope as the World Cup approached — coming into the tournament as the lowest-ranked nation, down at 70th in the world.
Russia was winless in seven games ahead of its opener, with almost its entire defense out with injuries.
It had managed just one shot on target in its last two warm-ups and was getting whistled off the pitch by frustrated fans.
The nation was preparing for the worst by the time the World Cup kicked off last week but instead Russia ripped up the form book and performed a miracle.
It put five goals past Saudi Arabia, with two-goal Denis Cheryshev emerging as an instant star, before limiting Egypt’s star forward Mohamed Salah to just one goal from a penalty kick in its second game on Tuesday to stand on the brink of qualification.
Fans, who had been pleasantly surprised after the performance against the Saudis, are now starting to believe, wondering how far this group of players can go.
The gushing words of encouragement and support for coach Stanislav Cherchesov and his charges came thick and fast after their win over Egypt.
The government-run RIA Novosti news agency called the team “23 happy brothers”.
A grinning Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev posted a photo on Facebook of him watching the Egypt game with his Belarussian counterpart Andrei Kobyakov.
“Victory!” he wrote.
Russia still has one more group match left to play, against two-time World Cup champion Uruguay in Samara on Monday.
Yet it knows it has pretty much sealed its passage out of Group A and is set to play in the knockout stage for the first time since 1986. Once there, it can expect a last-16 date with either Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal or Spain, one of the favorites for the tournament.
Few dare to look ahead much further because victory against either would be a shock and a monumental success.
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