“Exhale!” screamed the top line in the Russian daily Sport Express. As Russia steamrollered their way to a 5-0 thrashing of a helpless Saudi Arabia side on Thursday, the local press breathed a collective sigh of relief – the kind of deep breath needed after all the oxygen spent billing this team as Russia’s worst ever.
With expectations so low, the national side’s convincing victory was a revelation. “They played like Atlético Madrid,” declared Sports.ru, one of the country’s most popular sport websites, lauding Russia’s stout defence and pacey attack.
Football is supposedly this country’s national sport, but berating the national team – in bars, online, at the bathhouse – comes a close second. So when Russia delivered a magisterial performance on Thursday night the morning papers wheeled out their psychologist couches to figure out just what had happened.
“There were simply no optimists left in the country besides those required to be,” the leading daily Sovetsky Sport wrote. “And when nothing at all is expected, something awakens in our capricious football character.” Chalk it up to the Russian soul.
Still, there were voices to remind the country this was not Portugal, Uruguay, or even Egypt that Russia had defeated.
“Guys, have you not forgotten that this was Saudi Arabia?” tweeted Vasily Utkin, a popular sports commentator. By way of a warning, Sovetsky Sport even took the extra step of printing the results when Russia trounced Tunisia in 2002 and the Czech Republic at Euro 2012 before falling to weaker sides in their next matches.
“I’m sure that the team will just take this as part of their warm-ups. The team shouldn’t celebrate, the people should celebrate,” Sport Express wrote.
But it looked like a celebration. Every goal was vindication, each maligned player had his moment. Komsomolskaya Pravda, the popular and outspoken tabloid, praised the defensive midfielder Yury Gazinsky, that “most inauspicious choice of [Stanislav] Cherchesov before this World Cup”, for the header that put Russia 1-0 ahead.
Denis Cheryshev’s late lofted shot, knocked from the outside of his left foot into the top-right corner of the goal, was a “marvel”. And Sports.ru asked: “Is Golovin a genius?” The answer? “Definitely – in this match.”
Golovin was singled out for special attention, and Russian journalists reacted with some shock to the rush of foreign reporters looking for a star player on Russia’s side before the match.
“‘Who is Golovin?!’ the poor photographers and cameramen shouted in panic before the game,” Komsomolskaya Pravda reported. “And all the Russians understood, finally, who the real star of our team is: Smolov? No. Akinfeev? No. Artem Dzyuba, God help him. It’s Golovin!” As one online wit wrote on Twitter: “Russia haven’t been this strong on the left wing since Lenin and Stalin.”
In Russia, your fortunes can change in a moment. Days ago, Dzyuba had to beg the press and the country to support the national team. A rogue Russian lawmaker before the game even suggested making criticism of the national side a criminal offence.
But what really mattered was the scene up in the VIP box, where Vladimir Putin and Mohammed bin Salman sat watching the game with Gianni Infantino smushed between them. As Russia racked up the goals, Putin would shrug and smirk, before leaning across the table to shake the hand of the Saudi crown prince.
His press secretary told a state news agency later that Putin had not apologised to Salman for the victory. “These are emotions!” Dmitri Peskov said. “People don’t apologise when they win at sport.”
