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It really seems to be a tournament of underdogs currently. With Germany, Argentina and Portugal having been knocked out earlier in the tournament, hosts Russia continued their surge towards the title with a victory over Spain in the Round of 16.
Spain maintained chunks of possession, often keeping the ball but offered zero penetration or momentum while going ahead. Russia managed to keep hold of them by applying a deep block, and frustrated the Spaniards by breaking their attacks and catching them on the counter regularly.
Despite having dominated with the ball, Spain were hardly convincing on the ball and it increasingly looked like they were keen to maintain the tempo of the game as it was without increasing the intensity. They somewhat lacked a driving force from the midfield, and neither were they able to break the midfield lines even with Andres Iniesta and Isco on the pitch.
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Russia played the game until the end and gambled by playing the game until the penalty shootout. They tired the Spaniards and used the home advantage to great effect too. However, their resilience and composure in the dying embers should be credited further as they have certainly raised their stocks with a legacy-defining victory against one of the best teams in the world.
5. Best: Isco
Isco was immense at the centre of the park for Spain, as his work-rate coupled with the knack of getting into advanced positions with his supreme dribbling and passing range meant that Spain could always churn out a chance or two through cramped situations. He delivered two key passes and had a whopping 197 touches on the ball.
The Real Madrid man completed nine dribbles too, often making his way out from the Russian press with some nifty footwork. He distributed the ball well enough, often shunting it wide or playing it through the middle by exploiting the small spaces between the Russian players.
The whole attacking game was based around him, as his knack of getting into the valuable half-spaces in and around the box meant that there was always a glimmer of hope of something productive transpiring from Spain’s attacking endeavours.
Defensively, he was ready to track back in order to win the ball and always came off deep to initiate attacks too. Overall, he was by far Spain’s best performer in their disappointing pre-quarterfinal performance against the hosts.
4. Worst: David de Gea
The best goalkeeper in the world took quite a stick and will have to do wonder to redeem his reputation on the international stage. After enduring his personal best season at Manchester United, where he walked off with the Golden Glove in the Premier League, De Gea was expected to take the World Cup by storm.
What we saw was an uncharacteristically nervy performance, which disappointingly sums up his entire World Cup. Right from the start of the tournament, David has never been at his best, and today, in addition, he was not as commanding as usual.
His inabilities to pull off even a single save throughout the game, combined with the fact that he let go off four goals in the penalty shootout meant that he is one of the crucial figures who failed to turn up in this match. His distribution wasn’t the best, neither was he vocal enough like he regularly is for Manchester United. He recorded only 50% passing accuracy and was simply, far from his best today.
3. Artem Dzyuba
Artem used his physicality to great effect today and was the focal point of all the attacking moves that Russia started today. He was the target-man, someone who would collect the crosses coming from the wings. Dzyuba was tenacious too, often dropping back to get involved in pressing and defending as a unit.
He was able to get at the end of the passes with some smart runs behind the midfielders and used his strong physique to hold up the Spaniards. After holding up the play, he calmly distributed the ball to the onrushing forwards or wingers, and then joined in the attacks too.
He was an absolute beast in the air, winning a whopping 13 aerial duels, something that facilitated and complemented Russia’s tendency to play long aerial balls once they recovered possession of the ball. Dzyuba was always involved in the defensive moves too, dropping deep in order to disallow the Spaniards from gaining any advantage through the corner-kicks or the set pieces.
He dominated in the air, used his brute strength to gain an advantage over the others on the field and displayed a whole lot of commitment and determination on the field to break off the opposing moves, whilst also keeping his composure and patience in possession of the ball.
2. Marco Asensio:
The young lad from Real Madrid was trusted to start a really crucial World Cup game owing to his impressive performances over the past year or so. Asensio had made a name for himself as an impact substitution, but his overall play today hardly had any positive impact on the game as such.
Playing as a wide forward of sorts, he should have used his pace and footwork to get the better of the wide defenders. He was expected to feed Costa with some testing deliveries from the flanks before shifting inside to take a shot or two himself.
However, Marco’s overall game was devoid of any sort of commitment or tenacity, as he hardly ever looked keen enough to drop down a line in order to collect the possession of the ball. Unlike Isco, he preferred staying up and waited for the appropriate delivery rather than trying to create something of note himself.
Asensio never looked like taking on the defenders too, as he preferred waiting for the appropriate service. His lethargic display certainly degraded Spain’s chances, and Asensio wasn’t even doggy or clinical in front of the keeper to justify for his poor off-the-ball movement.
1. Best: Ilya Kutepov
Yes, he is a centre-half and was the best player on the pitch for 120 long minutes.
In the first few glimpses, it was clear that Russia looked to defend deep rather than committing bodies ahead. Parking the bus is not at all an easy task and requires a lot of concentration, desire and the energy to maintain the same intensity over the course of the game.
Kutepov was colossal at the back, as he did not let Spain’s creativity mess with his ruthless attitude and strong challenges. Kutepov was the first to get to any lobbed or aerial ball into the box and made 10 clearances in total.
He also intercepted the ball six times, cleared the lines and ran back into his position quick enough to not let any adversary forward run behind him. Kutepov blocked three shots, tackled twice and stayed close to his marker in order to avoid getting booked for rash challenges.
He always seemed to make the right decision in difficult situations, and this cool demeanour coupled with a rugged mentality and playing approach made him the toughest nut to crack for all the flawless, creative Spaniards.
