Sochi: Russians woke up to the reality on Sunday morning that their team were out of the World Cup after a loss on penalties against Croatia in the quarter-final the previous night. But the Russian team left the tournament with their dignity intact after a string of fine performance that humbled innumerable critics. Russia avoided the misfortune that befell on Brazil four years ago in the form of a 7-1 thrashing at the hands of Germany.
The magic of playing at home was in full display in every match here as screaming fans of the home team goaded and pushed it to give its all. Russia probably played their best match of the tournament on Saturday but the dreaded penalty spot did them in.
After the match ended all square (2-2) in open play, the momentum was surely with Russia as they had been the team to force a shootout. And, the confidence with which they took their penalties in the previous round against Spain foretold another romp against a Croatian team that appeared mentally fragile.
But Fedor Smolov missed Russia’s first penalty to hand the advantage over to Croatia straightaway. Although Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, who had been heroic in the defeat of Spain, saved one, the miss of Mario Fernandes pushed Russia closer to the exit door. By stroking home Croatia’s fifth penalty, Ivan Rakitic drove the final nail in the coffin of the home team. In four shootouts so far in Russia, the team that took the penalty first has not won. After a period of mourning, Russia would be back on its feet because its football team had been a credit to it at the World Cup.
