TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - After bulldozing Saudi Arabia 5-0 in World Cup’s curtain raiser, Russian Manager, Stanislav Cherchesov, publicly asked his players to forget about the victory and focus on the remaining group matches. The host nation is to face two other group matches against relatively strong opponents, Egypt and Uruguay.
Speaking before the press, Cherchesov also expressed his concern about the hamstring injury that hit his top player Alan Dzagoev. The playmaker limped off on pitch after making a solo run and was soon substituted with former Real Madrid player, Denis Cheryshev
Nevertheless, Cherchesov said that the result was better than expected, given the fact that the Russians started the competition as the lowest ranked country and under domestic skepticism.
Earlier last night, Russia managed to net the second biggest amount of goals in the opening night of World Cup since Italy won 7-1 against the USA back in 1934. The host nation will be tasked to repeat the winning trend when they face Egypt next Tuesday.
ANTARA