Spain Out Of World Cup As Russia Wins, 4-3

Spain dominated the first 30 minutes, pressing Russian Federation heavily as the hosts struggled to advance beyond the halfway line in humid conditions.

The victory didn’t come easy for the Russians as they made a bad error early by giving Spain the lead courtesy of an own goal in the 12th-minute.

There hasn’t been a World Cup penalty shootout between two European teams since Italy beat France in the 2006 final.

The virtually unknown Igor Akinfeev became an overnight sensation after his heroics helped Russian Federation move past former champions Spain in a thrilling round of 16 encounter, taking them to the quarterfinals of the competition for the first time since 1970.

Yerokhin replaced fellow midfielder Daler Kuzyaev.

Since the match ended 1-1 after 90 minutes of regulation time, the issue rolled into overtime.

Instead, Spain seemed entirely incapable on increasing the pace as, minute by minute, home hopes grew from a long-shot dream, through a gradual realization that their highly-ranked rivals were not actually that unsafe, to eventual delirious celebration.

Rodrigo was Spain’s final substitution in extra time and livened up the game.

Spain dominated the last-16 match but after centre-back Sergei Ignashevich gifted them the opening goal on 12 minutes, Russian Federation drew level when Artem Dzyuba converted a penalty awarded for a handball by Gerard Pique shortly before half-time.

Russia’s ultra-defensive approach worked against a risk-averse Spain team that completed more than 1,000 passes, but nearly none into the penalty area.

“We’re living this dream and we’re getting ready”.

The fleet-footed Januzaj scored a spectacular goal when Belgium beat England to top their group.

The second half saw no change even though Cherchesov appeared to get a little more adventurous by bringing on three-goal scorer Cheryshev on the hour. “Our thoughts are all about being worthy and getting a result that might be a shock for everyone, but we’re striving for it”. I’m delighted what the medical department hase done. “It’s great to have 80,000 fans behind us”.

Russian penalty kickers were flawless against Spain’s struggling goalkeeper David De Gea. The equalizer came against the run of play.

Pique followed suit Iniesta’s shot with a score of his own before Sergey Ignashevich tied the count at 2-all.

The Spaniards went ahead in the 12th minute when Ignashevich backheeled the ball into his own net while attempting to rugby tackle Sergio Ramos to the ground as Marco Aesnsio guided a freekick towards the far post.

Croatia entered the match after impressing in the group stage, including a 3-0 dismantling of two-time champion Argentina at the same stadium.

The following day in Madrid, Felipe was sworn in as king after the abdication of his father, Juan Carlos. Referees and video officials have consistently penalized handballs in the box at this World Cup.

It was his third goal of the tournament. Russian Federation has completed the same number of passes in four World Cup matches combined, just 202 Sunday.

Spain XI: De Gea (GK); Alba, Ramos, Pique, Nacho; Busquets, Koke; Asensio, Isco, Silva; Costa. Yuri Zhirkov and Golovin are both likely to return to the starting line-up having been rested in that match.

La Roja’s best chance came through Andreas Iniesta, who was a substitute for the first time in the tournament.

They entered the tournament as the worst-ranked host in history – the 70th best team in the world, according to Federation Internationale de Football Association – but then beat Saudi Arabia and Egypt with two hard-running performances that surprised their own fans as much as anyone else.

Now our team will play the victor of Croatia – Denmark, it will be determined tonight at the match in Nizhny Novgorod.