FIFA World Cup 2018 : Round of 16 - Spain vs Russia

In another massive upset, host Russia buried title favourites Spain in a penalty shoot out, at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow. Almost everyone had thought & predicted, that the Russians had done credibly enough to have reached the round 16, but were surely at the end of the road against former World champion, Spain.

But Coach Cherchesov had drilled self belief into his boys, who sweated it out for a full 120 minutes,  getting full throated support form the galleries, under pouring rain. Spain played possession football as they ever do, & Russia did the chasing for most parts of the game, after conceding an early own goal by defender Sergei Ignashevich in a goalmouth melee. Spain playing the waiting game, passing relentlessly in the midfield & Russia chasing, the game was an eyesore, when, in the 40th minute, Russia earned a corner. Samedov sent in the cross & Dzyuba headed onto the flailing hands of Gerard Pique, as the referee blew the whistle to the dreaded spot. The crowd went wild in celebrations, as Dzyuba buried the ball past de Gea to equalise. 

The goal instilled a belief within the Russians, that they may actually conjure a victory, as the Spanish armada, launched waves of attack. However, the the bite was missing, as the tiki taka brand of possession rolled around the midfield & Russian box, without any positive outcome. The resilient Russians held on, as the game drifted boringly till end of regulation time & for the first time in this World Cup, extra time came into play. With scores remaining unchanged, came the Penalty shoot outs, & suddenly the hosts were certainly looking more confident. 

Russia converted four kicks successfully past an under confident Spanish keeper de Gea, while the Russian keeper, Igor Akinfeev blocked Spain's third & fifth attempts by Koke & Aspas. the mighty Spanish armada had got stuck in the Russian minefield, as a 78 thousand strong crowd went frenzy in celebrations. The home team had given birth to multiple heroes - Akinfeev, the goalkeeper who made those two spectacular saves, Dzyuba, who created & then converted the penalty to level the scores in the 1st half, the scorers from the penalty kicks, et all. This is the first time, Russia have reached the QF, since the break up of USSR. They now await the winners of Croatia vs Denmark. 

Spain, go home, absolutely heartbroken. Were they too complacent, or were they lacking in newer ideas to score, or was tiki taka losing its sheen, or was in internal conflict between players ??? - many stories will emerge, but this will stay as one of the biggest upsets of this World Cup. 

La Rojas have failed in their Russian test, as another sublime player of football, trudges back home.
Its Andres Iniesta - Spain, who has to exit after Toni Kroos - Germany, Leo Messi - Argentina & Cristiano Ronaldo - Portugal - & its only round of 16 !!!