There is little expectation at home that Russia could go on to win the competition, but there is certainly optimism that they could qualify from the group stages for the first time since the break-up of the Soviet Union.
And they will certainly want to improve on their last showing in the finals in 2002 when, after beating Tunisia, they lost to Japan and Belgium and went out in the group stages.
FIFA's official analysis of their weaknesses highlighted a "lack of coherence in defence, poor finishing and a vulnerability to swift counter-attacks".
Russia is now heading to Brazil with a good mix of youth and experience, with coach Fabio Capello introducing new names to go along with the established internationals.
The vast majority of players will come from just a handful of clubs, with Zenit St. Petersburg, Dynamo Moscow, CSKA Moscow and Lokomotiv Moscow set to supply a large percentage of the squad.
The spine of the team looks solid.
Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev and the central defensive partnership of Sergey Ignashevich and Vasili Berezutskiy have played together for both club and country for almost a decade. The CSKA pairing are both in their 30s and a lack of pace in the centre of defence will be one area of concern for Capello.
Russia conceded only five goals in qualifying for Brazil and only Belgium, England and Spain conceded fewer on route to the World Cup.
Scoring goals could be the biggest concern for Russia and an over-reliance on forward Alexander Kerzhakov, who is the only player likely to be in Russia’s squad who has previously appeared at a World Cup.
While Kerzhakov is less than prolific now, his link-up play is key to the team. However, the emergence of 23-year-old Alexander Kokorin, who has scored five goals in 19 appearances, has helped to take some of the pressure off the Zenit St. Petersburg veteran.
The midfield reflects Russia’s strength with the underrated Igor Denisov providing stability, allowing Roman Shirokov and Denis Glushakov to move forward.
At Euro 2008, Ivan Saenko was the only Russian player in the squad who played his football outside of his home country and this is likely to be repeated six years on.
If recent internationals are anything to go by, it is likely Capello will pick his entire squad from the Russian Premier League.
This will give Russia continuity but perhaps also a surprise factor against teams who are not well accustomed to Russia’s domestic championship.
To qualify from the group stages is the minimum requirement for Russia and if they manage to avoid Germany in the round of 16, then their will be quiet optimism that they could even reach the quarter-finals.
(Edited by Mike Collett)
