Ranked 70th in the world and having lost seven straight friendly matches, Russia were generally not expected to perform well at the World Cup, even on home soil.

However, the team coached by Stanislav Cherchesov try hard to prove critics wrong. Following the victories against Saudi Arabia (5:0) and Egypt (3:1), they have had the best start of all World Cup host teams in history!

Previously, the best were Italy in 1934, who also scored eight goals in their two opening matches, but conceded twice.

Russia are not yet mathematically certain to go through, but there is hardly and doubt that they will progress from the group.

Actually after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia have never done it before. They have played at three World Cups, in 1994, 2002 and 2014, but each time failed to reach the Last 16.

The only time Russia progressed from the group at the major tournament (World Cup or EURO) was at EURO 2008, where they went on to reach the semi-final.

So years ending with “8” seem to bring luck to the Russian team. But let us wait a bit until they technically secure their promotion…