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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Despite the beards and snipes before the World Cup on the quality of Russia and comments politically related to the hosts, they crowned the whole, having exceeded expectations and injected a good dose of enthusiasm
The Russians as organizers did not need to qualify for the World Cup and their ranking of 70 in the world was the lowest of all teams in Russia, even lower than that of international football hopes in Saudi Arabia. for the coach Stanislav Cherchesov who defeated the team that defied all forecasts and made the pride of the nation.
Their exit in the quarter-finals against Croatia, among the most qualified teams, was further evidence that Russia had never intended to
The Russians have lost only once during 90 or 120 minutes of football and it was in their last group match against Uruguay while they had already qualified for the playoffs. ge.
"We trusted each other." I think people have started to trust us, but they are in love with us. "
" From the first second, I got this team together.
OPEN SALVO
Russia had delivered the perfect opening salvo, scoring five more goals than the Saudis. The opening match of the World Cup immediately drew the attention of the spectators on football
which was quickly followed by a 3-1 victory over Egypt and l 'et et et et et et et et et et. Cherchesov's team who beat his ticket for the round of 16. 19659002] Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia had never managed to break through the group stage and its defeat against Uruguay which exposed some of the qualities they lacked, including included in attack, was of little importance at this time.
Cherchesov then devised a clever game plan to counter Spain's passing game, which He allowed Russia to sneak between the 2010 World Champions and the last eight.
They gave them possession and despite playing four times fewer passes than the 1,137 in 120 minutes, they managed to exclude them from their box. Spain possessed an impressive 75% possession, but could not get rid of the strong Russian defense, tilting when goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev saved two shots on goal in the shootout.
This tactic was reversed against Croatia. They all scored and scored two goals before equalizing in the second half overtime, which revived their hopes of a fourth-place finish, the first since the USSR race in 1966
He won 4-3 on penalties to qualify for a semi-final against England, leaving behind a large number of the 48,000 spectators at the Sochi Fisht Stadium in tears
but their performances gave Russian players the status of national hero. To be proud of a race no one had planned less than a month ago
(Report by Karolos Grohmann, edited by Amlan Chakraborty)
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