Russia's coach warns against euphoria #FifaWorldcup2018

Cherchesov pointed out that nothing is achieved yet, citing the experience from last year’s Confederations Cup where Russia went out after a first win against New Zealand by losing the other group matches to Portugal and Mexico. Picture : Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

Cherchesov pointed out that nothing is achieved yet, citing the experience from last year’s Confederations Cup where Russia went out after a first win against New Zealand by losing the other group matches to Portugal and Mexico. Picture : Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

Published Jun 16, 2018

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MOSCOW: Russians celebrated their team’s unexpected 5-0 triumph over Saudi Arabia in the World Cup opener into the early hours of yesterday while coach Stanislav Cherchesov and his team are firmly keeping their feet on the ground.

The big win, after a series of seven games without success in the run-up, was a morale-booster for the whole country even though the Saudis were a harmless opponent at the Luzhniki.

“Give me Five. We love you,” titled the Sport Express paper yesterday, and the Kommersant daily celebrated a “fairytale start.”

“Rossiya, Rossiya” chants echoed through the fan zone near Red Sqaure long after midnight as Russian fans could proudly mingle with those from other nations who had gathered in the capital.

But, after taking a congratulating phone-call from the nation’s president Vladimir Putin, Cherchesov pointed out that nothing is achieved yet, citing the experience from last year’s Confederations Cup where Russia went out after a first win against New Zealand by losing the other group matches to Portugal and Mexico.

“The World Cup is just beginning. We won 5-0 and got three points. We could have played 1-1 and nothing would have changed. This is a tournament,” he said.

“At the Confed Cup we won 2-0 but it didn’t bring us very far. We should turn the page, forget this game and focus on the next step.”

Like in last-year’s tune-up tournament Russia faced the on-paper easiest opponent first, with now Egypt on Tuesday and Uruguay on June 25.

Cherchesov spoke of “a crescendo” as the matches become more difficult, and warned that Egypt will not be easy in St Petersburg even if their Liverpool star forward Mohamed Salah is not fit to play after his Champions League final injury.

“Without him they are a respectable team, with him even more,” he said.

Russia have injury worries of their own as forward Alan Dzagoev limped off mid-way through the first half with what appeared a left hamstring injury. Cherchesov expressed fear he could miss the rest of the tournament.

But Cherchesov also made the right decisions with his subs as Villarreal’s Denis Cheryshev came on for Dzagoev to score a brace, and Artem Dzyuba also scored off the bench, with Iury Gazinsky and Alexandr Golovin contributing the other goals.

Saudi coach Juan Antonio Pizzi spoke of a “shameful performance” by his team and that Russia did nothing out of the ordinary.

Cherchesov didn’t object but politely pointed out that “he probably overlooked how much more disciplined, compact and mature we played” compared to previous games.

The biggest World Cup opening match win since 1934 was sweet for the battered Russians and Cherchesov also had to explain they hadn’t tried to deceive anyone in the run-up.

“We haven’t been kidding anybody,” he said. “To be good is one thing, to be good at the right time and place is another thing altogether.”- DPA

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