World Cup rewind: Russia are … good?

If you haven’t heard, there’s a World Cup going on. We’re here to help, with a daily recap of the biggest news.

Russia, ranked 70th in the world, a team many, including many Russians, feared would become only the second host nation ever to fail to make it past the group stage of their own World Cup, won their second match out of two on Tuesday, scoring three goals in the second half against Egypt to all but guarantee their spot in the round of 16.

The wins are less surprising than the nature of the wins. Going through is one thing, going through with the best goal difference in the tournament something else. Denis Cheryshev is tied with Cristiano Ronaldo for the Golden Boot, Aleksandr Golovin looks like a star and old-man Yuri Zhirkov continues to roll back the years.

The day’s other two matches were equally noteworthy, as Japan and Senegal became the first countries from their confederations, AFC and CAF respectively, to record wins at this World Cup. Japan’s victory against Colombia was also the first time an Asian team has ever beat a South American team at a World Cup.

There was some element of fortune involved, as Carlos Sanchez was sent off within five minutes for a deliberate handball in the box, but after Shinji Kagawa’s penalty was cancelled out by a Juan Quintero free-kick later in the first half, Japan began to take over the game, making their man advantage count in the second half.

Senegal’s win was much more convincing. They were disciplined, well organized and decisive on the counter against Poland, who had the support of about 75 percent of Spartak Stadium in Moscow. M’Baye Niang benefitted from some weird/lucky timing to score his second goal, right after being waved back on the field by the refs after receiving treatment for an injury.

Next: The best player on every team at the World Cup

Senegal’s first goal was lucky as well — Idrissa Gueye’s shot took a big deflection off Thiago Cionek to wrong foot Wojciech Szczesny and roll into the back of the net — but it was deserved win for a team hoping to match their run to the quarterfinals in 2002. That may be a step too far, but they stand an excellent chance of topping their group.

Wednesday’s action begins at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, where Portugal take on Morocco (8 a.m. ET) in Group B. That’s followed by Uruguay’s match against Saudi Arabia (11 a.m. ET), in which Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani will presumably do their best to match Russia’s goal difference. Spain play Iran in the final match of the day (2 p.m. ET).