TASS, Samara :
The Russian national football team is playing at matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup much better compared with its performance at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, Stanislav Cherchesov, the head coach of the national side, said on Sunday.
“We look much better compared to the (2017 FIFA) Confederations Cup, where we were also in a decent shape,” Cherchesov told journalists in Samara.
“We should not exclude the motivation, since it is our home World Cup. It explains why we play better than some other teams.”
At the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, held last summer in four Russian cities, the Russian national squad defeated New Zealand 2-0, then missed the victory against UEFA Champions Portugal 0-1 and finally lost to Mexico 1-2, failing to qualify for the next round.
Earlier in the day, a total of 22 players from the Russian squad appeared for a training session on the pitch of the 45,000-seat capacity Samara Arena amid hot summer temperatures hovering around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).
The practice was held ahead of their final group stage match against Uruguay on Monday.
The head coach of the Russian national squad also told journalists that the team was not making and selective predictions regarding the next opponent in the round of Last 16.
“We are not having any preferences,” Cherchesov said. “The (Group B) matches of Portugal (against Iran) and Spain (against Morocco) will be played after us (on Monday).”
“We played against both of them (Portugal and Spain) in the past and looked decent in both matches, so it will all eventually be just like the god of football decides.”
Both Russia and Uruguay already secured places in the next Round of Last 16 of the global football championship, each enjoying wins over opponents in their two previous group stage matches.
Tomorrow’s match will decide on the winner of their Group A, which also enrolls the teams from Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Russia’s possible opponents in the Last 16 will be decided on Monday and they are currently Portugal, Spain and Iran. A total of 32 national football teams are participating in the 2018 FIFA World Cup held in 11 cities across Russia between June 14 and July 15.
Russia is holding its first time ever edition of the FIFA World Cup, which kicked off in Moscow with a spectacular opening show at the Luzhniki Stadium on the night of June 14.
The country selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup and they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.
