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.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: IscoThe only light in the darknessIsco 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. Isco completed 5/5 of his attempted take-ons in the first half vs. #RUS.The rest of the #ESP team completed four, #RUS completed just two. 💃 pic.twitter.com/KCdEQyxnro— Squawka Football (@Squawka) July 1, 2018