MOSCOW, June 27. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian national squad did its utmost to leave the group stage of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but despite all its efforts the national squad was knocked out from the tournament following the 1-1 draw against Algeria.
It was indeed different team Russia on Thursday night comparing with its two previous games in Brazil as the Russians switched from its marshy defensive style to aggressive offensive powerplay, which proved to be correct on the sixth minute into the game with Alexander Kokorin burning the Algerian net to put his team with 1-0 lead in the decisive match for the spot in the Last 16 stage.
It was only 15 minutes into the second half, when Algeria’s forward Islam Slimani answered the Russian team with a goal to draw the score to 1-1 draw.
The Russian squad needed nothing but victory at their clash with the Algerians on Thursday night at Curitiba’s Arena de Baixada to advance to the next round, where the Russians may face strong Germany.
However, the victory over Algeria was not be the only factor to decide Russia’s fate in the championship as in another game on Thursday night match Belgium had to brush away the pressure of attacks from stubborn South Korea and win the match. The match ended with Belgium’s 1-0 victory over the Soth Korean team.
The Russian national squad experienced a string of setbacks over the past decade failing to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany and 2010 championship in South Africa to the great dismay of the Russian football fans.
The Russians managed to finish their long-awaited World Cup’s opener with a 1-1 draw against South Korea and then missed a goal with only two minutes remaining against Belgium’s Red Devils on June 22.
Being rumored to be the highest paid national coach in the world, Italian phenomenon Fabio Capello managed to help the Russian national team to qualify for the current World Cup in Brazil. He celebrated his 68th birthday last week during the Russia vs. South Korea match.
On the eve of the Russian team’s match against South Korea, the Russian state-run pollster WCIOM provided data showing that 25% of Russians believed that the country’s national football team would battle through to the final match of the 2014 World Cup. Seven percent said the team would fail to clear the group stage.
The current World Championship in Brazil is also of particular interest for Russia since it was chosen for the first time ever to host the next World Cup in 2018.
The country won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup over three years ago in a tight race against the joint bid from England, Portugal and Spain and the joint bid on behalf of Belgium and the Netherlands.