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Why you should watch every team at the 2018 World Cup

By Harrison Hamm

Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring against Ecuador during their 2018 World Cup qualifier football match in Quito, on October 10, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Juan Ruiz (Photo credit should read JUAN RUIZ/AFP/Getty Images)
Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring against Ecuador during their 2018 World Cup qualifier football match in Quito, on October 10, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Juan Ruiz (Photo credit should read JUAN RUIZ/AFP/Getty Images) /
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ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA – MARCH 3, 2018: Zenit St Petersburg’s Alexander Kokorin in their 2017/2018 Russian Football Premier League Round 21 football match against Amkar Perm at Saint-Petersburg Stadium; the game ended in a 0-0 draw. Alexander Demianchuk/TASS (Photo by Alexander DemianchukTASS via Getty Images)
ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA – MARCH 3, 2018: Zenit St Petersburg’s Alexander Kokorin in their 2017/2018 Russian Football Premier League Round 21 football match against Amkar Perm at Saint-Petersburg Stadium; the game ended in a 0-0 draw. Alexander Demianchuk/TASS (Photo by Alexander DemianchukTASS via Getty Images) /

Russia

The hosts have a decidedly up and down history when it comes to soccer. At the same time as their hockey stars have failed to capture an Olympic gold medal, Russia have been in and out of the World Cup since the the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Their three appearances as an independent nation, in 1994, 2002 and 2014, did not see them get out of the group stage.

2014, especially, was a wild ride for a team looking to prove itself in the lead-up to their home showcase in 2018. They were placed in a group with Belgium, South Korea and Algeria — not easy, but manageable. After two draws, one loss and a whole bunch of storylines, they were eliminated.

They kicked off the group stage that year with a 1-1 draw against the South Koreans, a result that could have been improved if not for an Igor Akinfeev howler. A 1-0 loss to Belgium and Dominick Origi’s 88th minute winner in the second match sent Russia into a must-win game against Algeria and red-hot keeper Rais M’Bolhi.

Aleksandr Kokorin’s 6th minute opener for Russia had them sitting pretty, but with thirty minutes remaining, Akinfeev could not reach a free-kick and Islam Slimani slotted a header over him, scoring the equalizer that would prove decisive. Akinfeev and coach Fabio Capello contested that there was a laser shown in the CSKA Moscow keeper’s face on the play.

Algeria, a 2014 sensation that would be mere seconds from taking the eventual champions Germany to penalties in the knockout round, had knocked out the future hosts, yet another disappointment for the Russians.

This cycle, they send a veteran domestic-heavy squad. Akinfeev, a longtime stalwart, will captain it alongside 38-year-old CSKA defender Sergei Ignashevich. 34-year-old midfielder Yuri Zhirkov also promises to feature. They will look for Fyodor Smolov to put the ball in the net after he enjoyed another successful campaign for FC Krasnador in the Russian Premier League.

Russia don’t project as well as they would hope for their World Cup, but with an experience-laden squad and a place in what is probably the easiest group in the tournament, they have a chance to make a run on home soil.

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