Match Report - Spain vs Russia: Favourites Spain deservedly knocked out by a Russian side who replicated Cold War spirit.

After an exciting first day of the knockout stages, many people, including myself was expecting the second to follow the status quo as favourites Spain headed to Moscow to face hosts Russia in their highly anticipated but also preferred last-16 tie. However, this was not to be the case as the tournament in Russia is becoming the World Cup that just keeps on giving as the night ended with the whole Russian squad and backroom staff racing to the fans to celebrate reaching their first World Cup Quarter-Final since 1970 when they were formally the Soviet Union. 

The surprise exit of Spain has swung the tournament right open with one of the unlikely candidates for place in the final will now have the chance to perhaps become the first unexpected World Cup winners in history. This prospect will seem exciting for the fans of Croatia and England, but there are now fans currently still celebrating in Russia with a belief that they could now win the iconic trophy. 

While this dream would be some story if it came a reality, I must admit that technically the Russian’s struggled to match the quality of a poor Spain side who seemed to be spiraling back into their pre-2008 history. Spain looked like they had run out of ideas and had no sense of direction, which is expected of a team who lost their manager two days prior to their first group match - a move that will now be the focus of their exit. 

Individual faults shaped Spain’s first three games in Russia and there was no change for their brief time in the knockout stages. David De Gea’s blunder in their game against Portugal which cost them three points and then Sergio Ramos’ catalogue of mistakes against Morroco that went unpunished would be followed up by Gerard Pique keeping his hand in the air like an eager primary school child when he went up to defend a corner and of course the ball clattered onto his arm to deny Russia a clear opportunity. The Referee had no choice but to give a penalty and give Russia a lifeline back into the match to which Dyzuba made no mistaking of wasting. 

The Spaniards dominated possession in their typical fashion, which saw them clock over 1000 passes and have 79% possession. Throughout the game, they were like a sheep in wolfs clothing as despite dominating the ball and looking fancy they only created 3 chances in the 120 minutes. Isco’s performance was a prime example of Spain’s boring display as he completed a total of 132 passes but only 12 of them went in a forward direction. 

The lack of direct play was only emphasised when a 30-yard run by Spanish substitute, Rodrigo was the highlight of the second half. Bowing out to a team who are technically inferior and were tipped to be a disaster at this World Cup must be one of the lowest moments in Spain’s international history. 

Despite Spain’s poor performance, there is no doubt that Russia deserves enormous credit for shutting out the Spaniards. While in some patches just breathing seemed to be enough to stop Spain, Russia did stick to a game plan of sitting deep, defending in numbers and allowing Spain mess about it with it in the middle of the pitch.

The Soviet Union were always great at deceiving the USA on how strong they were and there was no doubt that the Russian players replicated that same spirit tonight against Spain. The eight-man Russian defence formed an iron curtain in front of their goal pretended to stand strong while at every interval players where helping each other stretch off cramps or drinking fluids. Spain are renowned for having the best play-makers in the World, but this Russian side stopped these players in believing that there was any play to make and they deserve enormous credit for it. 

In the end, Spain’s fate was sealed by two horrific penalties by Koke and Ispas in the shoot-out. With their performance being so dire and the team having so many internal problems I am sure by the next World Cup people will be struggling to remember who missed the penalties that deservedly sent Spain packing. Instead, the stories will be about this Russian side who have become the surprise package at their own World Cup by knocking out one of the tournament favourites in the first knockout round.