How Russia reached the 2018 World Cup quarter-finals; team stats, key players, tactics

Topics: FIFA World Cup, Russia, Croatia, Igor Akinfeev, Denis Cheryshev, Artem Dzyuba

Hosts Russia shocked the world with their win over heavyweights Spain, and now they aim to go one step further and snatch a spot in the semi-finals by beating Croatia.

At the time of Stanislav Cherchesov's appointment in 2016, Russia's football federation had a singular, but very ambitious goal: to reach the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.

This naturally raised eyebrows. After all, Russia has a poor record on the biggest footballing stage, especially since the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. In fact, Sbornaya has not only missed out on half of the last six tournaments (in 1998, 2006, and 2010) but also has never gotten past the group stage.

That is, until now. Here's a look at how Russia managed to make it into their first quarter-finals as an independent nation.

How they got here

Unlike the 31 other teams competing at this summer's tournament, Russia fortunately didn't have to go through a grueling qualifying campaign to seal their spot. Nonetheless, as hosts, they came into this competition keenly aware of how badly host nation South Africa did in the 2010 edition and were determined to avoid the same kind of embarrassing fate by crashing out of their group.

Russia's 2018 World Cup so far

It goes without saying that Russia has surprised the vast majority of fans worldwide by even getting to this juncture. At the start of the tournament, the hosts wasn't even expected to get out of their group, but two wins over fellow minnows Saudi Arabia and an Egypt side still reeling after Mohamed Salah's injury set them up comfortably to qualify for the round of 16.

That marked the first time Russia secured a spot in the knock-out rounds since 1986, when the team was still operating under the umbrella of the Soviet Union. While the team had already exceeded expectations, no one could have predicted the outcome of their clash against Spain.

Certainly, one could forgive La Furia Roja fans for already looking forward to the quarter-finals. With a whopping 60 ranking spots between the two sides (Russia is 70th while Spain is 10th), this was supposed to be a very straightforward win for the 2010 World Cup champions.

Well, it didn't turn out that way, and to the shock of all, Spain's players were on the early flight home, while Russia will take on Croatia - another surprising side - in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

Here's how Russia has fared so far at this summer's World Cup:

Games: 4

Wins: 3 (one via penalty shoot-out)

Losses: 1

Goals scored: 9

Goals conceded: 5

Leading goalscorer: Denis Cheryshev and Artem Dzyuba (3 goals each)

Results:

Group stage, matchday one: Russia 5-0 Saudi Arabia
Group stage, matchday two: Russia 3-1 Egypt
Group stage, matchday three: Uruguay 3-0 Russia
Round of 16: Spain 1-1 Russia; Russia win 4-3 on penalties

Notable Stats

Russia was ranked 70th in the world at the time they took on Spain - which makes the hosts the lowest-ranked side at this summer's World Cup
Russia is into the quarter-finals for the first time since the Soviet Union broke down in 1991
This is also the first quarter-finals appearance overall since they qualified in 1970 as part of the Soviet Union
Odds in favor of Russia? Perhaps....
...because the last five host nations to feature in a World Cup quarterfinal have all progressed to the semifinal (Italy 1990, France 1998, South Korea 2002, Germany 2006 and Brazil 2014)

Key Players

Igor Akinfeev - The team's skipper, who plays his club football for local side CSKA Moscow was arguably the hero of the day as his performance, including an impressive kick-save, sealed Russia's spot in the quarter-finals.

Denis Cheryshev - For the versatile winger, the match against Spain must have been even more emotional as his spot-kick proved to be the deciding factor. Why? Well, he's spent his entire playing career in Spain due to his father's career as a footballer.

That includes a spell at Real Madrid, where he played alongside players like Spain's skipper Sergio Ramos. With three goals so far, he's Russia's joint-top goalscorer and will hope to add more to that tally as the hosts look to knock Croatia out of the tournament.

Artem Dzyuba - The big striker also has three goals, including a penalty against Spain which leveled the scores for Russia during the round of 16 clash. Dzyuba, who plays his club football for Zenit, netted during Russia's wins over Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and will certainly be a huge handful for Croatia's defense to contain during Saturday's clash.

Tactical approach

Russia has primarily used a 4-2-3-1 formation, although they switched to a five-man backline against Spain to try to soak up more pressure in a 5-3-2 setup. The hosts could opt to go back to the initial 4-2-3-1 option against Croatia or could stick with the five-man defense (or some other variant) to try to clog up the midfield and prevent Luka Modric from being able to do his work in the middle of the park.

Where to watch Russia vs Croatia

This looks set to be a very intriguing clash between two Eastern European nations not many had fancied for a spot in the final four. But as thing stand, either Russia or Croatia will be battling for a potential - and historical - spot in the 2018 World Cup final, so it's certainly a game fans and neutrals alike will not want to miss out on.