Russia managed to hold strong against Spain in the round of 16, and eventually managed to eliminate to former World Champions. Despite the massive amounts of passes and high percentages of ball control, Spain looked outdated and uninspired. Russia will now continue their run to the quarter-finals, where they will meet with Croatia on Saturday. Croatia did struggle a bit against Denmark, and they also needed the penalty shoot-out in order to qualify to the next round.
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Russia did an excellent job against a seemingly huge team like Spain, as they didn’t get frustrated from the passing game. The truth is that Spain had a crushing 75% ball possession and completed a whopping 1031 passes! They even had 25 scoring chances with 9 shots on target. Spain even took the lead at the 12th minute when Ignashevich scored an own goal. But all that didn’t affect the Russians. They pulled even at the end of the first half, and even though they didn’t play good, they were rock-solid on the defense. The match went to extra time and eventually penalties, where Akinfeev was the hero as he saved two penalties to send Russia to the quarter-finals.
On the other hand, Croatia also had to settle their differences with Denmark at the penalty shoot-out. The match caught fire very early, as Denmark took the lead at just the 1st minute of the match. It was a weird and very lucky goal for Denmark, but Croatia managed to pull even at the 4th minute with Mandzukic. The two teams didn’t really risk much in the second half, and the match eventually went to extra time. Croatia had a massive chance to win the match at the 116th minute, but Modric missed from the penalty spot. The two teams had to settle things in the penalty shoot-out, where goalkeeper Subasic saved three penalties and Croatia are now through to the next round.
Get more details: Russia vs Croatia World Cup Match-Up