World Cup CHECK | “Sbornaja” under pressure at home World Cup

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union (1990/91), Russia's national football team has, with one single exception, consistently disappointed in major tournaments: in 2008, the "Sbornaja" were only stopped in the semi-finals by eventual European champions Spain at the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland. Otherwise, the selection from the largest country in the world was always eliminated in the first phase of the tournament.

“We have to be a worthy host,” demands Russian team boss Stanislav Tscherchessov, for whom the minimum target set for the round of 16 at the home World Cup should not be a problem given the opponents in Group A – Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Uruguay. But in the first knockout round there are already chunks like European champions Portugal or former world champions Spain.

Before the World Cup, the Russians will have another one from May 21st ten-day training camp in the Stubaital , where they had already prepared for the Confederations Cup last summer. Their penultimate friendly opponent is Austria on May 30th in Innsbruck, where ex-goalkeeper Chertschessov celebrated three championship titles (2000 to 2002) and also worked at the beginning of his coaching career (2004 to 2006).

Cherchesov is not without controversy The 54-year-old Ossete took over the Russian selection in July 2016 after the disappointing European Championship in France, where, after a 1-1 draw against England in the opening game, there were bitter defeats against Slovakia (1:2) and Wales (0:3). Chertchesov was therefore called upon as a firefighter to stabilize the unsettled team. Last year's Confed Cup was similarly disappointing, with Russia missing out on the targeted semi-finals with just one win out of three games and third place in Group A.

After this failed World Cup dress rehearsal, the pressure on the “Sbornaja”, which has almost exclusively consisted of players from the Russian Premier League for years, has increased even further. To reach the round of 24, the Russians will probably have to win as many World Cups as they have in the past 1994 years - namely two: in 6 in the USA they won their last, already meaningless match against Cameroon 1-2002. In 2 in Japan they were also eliminated early in the group after a 0-XNUMX opening win against Tunisia. “Think step by step” This placement was also the maximum in Brazil in 2014, when goalkeeper Igor Akinfejew and Co. had to be content with a 1-1 draw against outsiders Algeria and South Korea and lost 0-1 against Belgium - even though, according to media reports, Russian players were doped at the time meant to be. So it's no coincidence that Chertchesov prefers to look forward, but not too far forward. “We have to think from step to step,” is the credo of the trainer with the distinctive mustache.

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World Cup CHECK | “Sbornaja” under pressure at home World Cup

In our series “Teams in Portrait” we will introduce all participants of the World Cup in Russia in detail. Let's start appropriately with the host nation.

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