Football Fever Every time.
Previous results: Tied Portugal 3-3; beat Iran 1-0; tied Morocco 2-2.
Best World Cup finish: Champions, 2010.
Notable: Under Hierro, Spain has not played as well as it did under Julen Lopetegui, who was fired just two days before Spain opened World Cup play against Portugal. He was fired after news leaked that he had agreed to become Real Madrid’s coach after the World Cup.
FIFA world ranking: 10. ELO world ranking: 2.
Previous results: Beat Saudi Arabia 5-0; beat Egypt 3-1; lost, 3-0, to Uruguay.
Best World Cup finish: Fourth place, 1966.
Notable: Russia’s first-game explosion gave it the most goals and best goal differential in the tournament, and it’s already in the round of 16 — a nifty accomplishment for a team that former player Andrei Kanchelskis called “the worst Russian team I have ever seen” before play began.
FIFA world ranking: 70. ELO world ranking: 45.
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| The Russian players are excited to reach the quarter-finals. Photo: Reuters |
Spain 1, Russia 1 (Russia advances, 4-3 on penalty kicks)
Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow
Setting off a massive celebration in Moscow and across the country, Russia advanced to the quarterfinals on Sunday by upsetting Spain, 4-3 on penalty kicks, after regulation and 30 minutes of added time ended in a 1-1 draw.
The upset is one of historic proportions. Russia entered the World Cup with the lowest FIFA ranking (70) of any team in the field of 32 and FIFA reported it was the third-biggest upset in terms of ranking differential (60; Spain came in at 10 in the FIFA rankings) in World Cup history. It is the biggest upset in the knockout stage.
(South Africa-France in the 2010 group stage was the biggest upset, with a ranking difference of 74; Nigeria-Spain in the 1998 group stage was the second biggest with a 70 ranking differential.)
The victory puts the host country’s team into the quarterfinals, where it will face the winner of the Croatia-Denmark match at 2 p.m. Friday in Sochi.
Here’s how the penalty kicks broke down:
1-1: Andres Iniesta puts the ball in the net for Spain and Fedor Smolov does the same for Russia.
2-2: Gerard Pique’s kick is good and so is the attempt by Sergey Ignashevich.
2-3: The first big break occurs as Igor Akinfeev stops Koke and Aleksandr Golovin’s kick is good.
3-4: Sergio Ramos and Denis Cheryshev both convert.
3-4: Akinfeev gets a foot on Iago Aspas’s kick and it’s all over. Russia is through to the next round, bouncing Spain from the tournament.
***
In-game updates
Players on Russia’s bench urge fans to cheer even louder and, in the 114th minute, the game gets chippy as players jostle for position in front of the net. It gets physical, but referees and VAR determine there’s no infraction to be called.
This feels for all the world as if it’s headed to penalty kicks. Spain has its chances in the second 15-minute session but is repeatedly frustrated by Russia’s defense.
Neither team can break through in the second half and we’re headed into extra time, two 15-minute sessions.
If the score is still tied after that, the teams would go to penalty kicks.
The second half is underway with the score tied and the loser going home, in case you’d forgotten that this is the knockout stage. Spain is controlling the ball in the early stages of the second half, but just keeps passing the ball and is at a loss against Russia’s pressing defense. The crowd reacts with boos.
Artem Dzyuba ties it on a penalty kick in the 41st minute, sending his kick into the net as David De Gea dives the wrong way. Not only does the kick tie the score, but it also seems to energize Russia just before both teams head to the locker room. The Russian players aren’t the only ones finding new energy: the crowd is into the game now, too.
The kick comes after Gerard Pique gets a yellow card when he and a gaggle of players leap for a kick in front of the net and it strikes Pique’s hand.
Russia finally gets something going in the 35th minute, but Roman Zobnin’s shot sails just wide. Spain maintains its 1-0 lead, which came on an own goal coming off an attempt by Sergio Ramos on a free kick in the 11th minute.
Sergey Ignashevich was in the cluster in front of the net and the ball glanced in off him. The free kick came after Yury Zhirkov was called for colliding with Nacho.
A special guest (minus the Cup)
Vladimir Putin isn’t in Luzhniki Stadium, Alex Ovechkin, recent hoister of the Stanley Cup along with the Washington Capitals, is in the house for this game, according to the live Instagram story posted by his wife, Nastasiya Ovechkina.
Ovechkin isn’t the only hockey guy rooting for Russia, either.
Team profiles
Spain
Russia
Read more about the World Cup:
Exit Lionel Messi, enter Kylian Mbappe as France powers ahead in World Cup
Cavani, Uruguay top Ronaldo, Portugal, 2-1, earn trip to World Cup quarterfinals
Ranking the eliminated World Cup teams by sympathy factor
Croatia, Mexico and Belgium loom large in knockout round
How a ’70s British pop dud — about Texas! — became a European soccer anthem
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