MOSCOW, July 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Russia will try to keep their unlikely
dream alive on Saturday when the host nation face Croatia in their first
World Cup quarter-final since 1970.
It has been an enchanted summer for the world’s largest nation as it hosts
the biggest event in sport.
Russia’s once-hapless team have suddenly turned into giantslayers who
dispatched 2010 champions Spain in the last 16 and are now seriously
contemplating reaching the July 15 final.
The World Cup itself has been blissfully free of the hooligan battles and
racist monkey chants that blighted Russian domestic league and international
matches.
And President Vladimir Putin has managed — if only briefly — to stem the
tide of Western media criticism by presenting Russia as a fun-loving and
welcoming place.
“Many stereotypes about Russia have simply collapsed,” Putin told a group
of high-profile former players at a Kremlin reception on Friday.
European bookmakers still expect Croatia and their elegant midfielder Luka
Modric to prevail in the quarter-final in the balmy Black Sea resort of
Sochi.
But Russia’s players are exuding a breezy confidence that comes from
having avoided the fiasco many fans had initially feared.
“Even before the tournament started, we all knew we could reach the
final,” said star midfielder Alexander Golovin. “Now, we are seriously
counting on it.”
Few Russians agreed with Golovin when they entered the tournament as its
lowest-ranked nation and without a win in eight months.
A thumping start in which Russia scored eight goals in wins over Saudi
Arabia and Egypt generated mostly surprise and relief.
A 3-0 loss to Uruguay that gave Russia the unenviable matchup with Spain
was met with resigned shakes of the head from fans familiar with defeat.
But coach Stanislav Cherchesov worked up a rousing defensive effort
against the Spaniards that pushed the match into extra time and eventual
penalties with the score tied 1-1.
“You have to know how to suffer,” silver-haired midfielder Alexander
Samedov said of the constant Spanish pressure. “We showed that we could.”
A winning left-foot save from ‘keeper Igor Akinfeev produced the moment of
magic that brought fans from Kaliningrad to Kamchatka pouring out onto the
streets in astonished glee.
Cherchesov and the players know they have already won over the nation and
secured their place in Russian football history.
The coach and his masterful moustache have turned into an internet meme
that has come to symbolise Russians’ love affair with their team that has
defied the odds.
They are the first post-Soviet team to either make it out of a World Cup
group or win a knockout game.
The hosts have played their hearts out and are probably not as big an
underdog against Croatia as they were in the game they just won.
A victory on Saturday would see Russia face either England or Sweden in
only their second World Cup semi-final since 1966.
Not too many Russians are optimistic enough to look that far ahead.
Just 17 percent told a state pollster they thought Russia could actually
win the entire tournament — about the same number as the day after their
Saudi win.
Yet seven out of 10 say they now are watching matches and the atmosphere
has grown more electric by the day.
Akinfeev said the opening game crowd in Moscow’s intimidating Luzhniki
Stadium resembled a polite audience listening to a “chamber orchestra”.
“Against Spain, the stadium breathed as one,” the new hero said. “We are
nothing without their emotions.”