Only weeks ago, Russia were rank outsiders to achieve any measure of success at the World Cup. But their unexpected surge at the tournament has made the country hungry for more.
Russia faces Croatia in the quarter finals on Saturday (9pm local time) in a match few Russians would have predicted prior to the tournament.
“I’m as surprised as all Russians because just two days before the tournament no one was expecting this team to have any decent results,” said Nikolai Sapryn, a Russian football journalist and commentator with Mayak Radio, who has worked on five World Cups to date.
Aleksandr Golovin of Russia celebrates with team mates after scoring his team's fifth goal during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. Source: AAP
“I think now the Russian players are proving that they’re worthy, that they deserve their salaries and praise because now they’ve achieved something that countries like Spain, Germany, Australia, who were expected to perform better, couldn’t achieve.”
The official message from the Russian team camp is one of unity and confidence. But just days prior to the tournament, it was a very different story as the squad was pilloried in the media for poor performances. Russia also sorely lacked competitive experience, having already qualified as hosts.
At the national team’s penultimate training session, midfield Aleksandr Golovin said the Sbornaya - as the side is known in Russian - always had faith they were better than their FIFA ranking of 70 suggested.
"Even before we knew that everything was possible, even before the beginning of the tournament, we all understood that we could reach the final. We seriously counted on this and see this as the real state of things for us now," he said.
And heroes have already been made this campaign. Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev’s name is still being chanted on the streets of Moscow after his penalty shootout heroics against Spain in the Round of 16.
And Russia’s coach, Stanislav Cherchesov, has recently become a cult figure in Russia, with an affectionate parody song dedicated to him and his iconic moustache going viral on social media.
“[National unity around the team] is getting stronger and stronger. Even the players feel it,” said Nikolai Sapryn.
“They get messages via social media. They’ve been greeted and congratulated and have many new followers and supporters. And this is an incredible thing that’s probably only possible when the World Cup is taking place in your country.”
And when Russia takes to the field against Croatia, there’ll be dreams of emulating the 1966 USSR team, that progressed to the World Cup semifinals.
“People were talking not so good about our team but the team proved that we can play that we can be proud of them,” said Moscow local Svetlana.
Whilst another local, Alexei, who attended Russia’s opening match against Saudi Arabia in Moscow, said: “Our attitude has changed somewhat because for many years the team didn’t have many good results. But kudos to them. We believe in them and hope they’ll continue playing good football.”
