They never dreamed of their coming home. Even before their national football team, the lowest ranked in the history of the FIFA World Cup with a distant 70, began their campaign, the Russians were just celebrating the staging of the quadrennial jamboree for the first time on their soil, and had hardly any expectations from their lackluster home team.

One could hardly spot any member of the current Russian squad in any of the billboards, flexes, posters, banners and various outdoor advertising campaigns related to the 2018 FIFA World Cup across Russia. The likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo prevailing over their Russian counterparts in those massive advertising campaigns across Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Sochi among other places, underlined the low expectations that the Russians had in their own team.

The team that once reached the pinnacle of European football and the highest echelons of world football, thanks to the likes of Lev Yashin, Valeriy Voronin, Igor Netto, Viktor Kolotov, Oleh Blokhin, Oleg Protasov, Rinat Dasayev, Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko and very recently, Andrey Arshavin, was staring at an early exit and wasn’t getting any favorable ratings from the pundits as well as the punters.

Since their 4-2 win over S. Korea in Moscow in October last year, the Russians witnessed a seven-match winless streak starting with their drab draw against Iran before being beaten by Argentina and a spirited 3-3 draw against Spain in Saint Petersburg in November last year. 

Their losing streak continued in 2018 as well as, in the run up to the World Cup finals, they were successively beaten by Brazil, France and Austria before playing a dull draw against Turkey at home. 

The performance card and absence of any star value for the home side was nothing but insipid and unimpressive and the fans showed the more appropriate approach of not expecting anything from their seemingly hopeless host side.

The almost low-key, short and sweet opening ceremony on June 14 was followed by the kick off as Russia were taking on the minnows from Asia, Saudi Arabia, in the opening game of the tournament at Moscow’s landmark Luzhniki Stadium.

On the 12th minute, Yury Gazinsky scored his maiden international goal to set the ball rolling and his classic opening act was followed by a double strike from Denis Cheryshev's double as the hosts began their campaign with an easy 5-0 win. 

The cakewalk was followed by two tough encounters as an in-form, fit again Mohamed Salah and his Egyptian side and the indomitable Uruguayans were coming up next. A victory over Egypt and a defeat against a Cavani-Suarez tango were still good enough to propel the Russian hopes to the second round. 

A mighty Spain, the 2010 World Cup champions and one of title contenders, were having troubles off the field with their coach Julen Lopetegui being sacked on the eve of the team’s departure and was replaced by Fernando Hierro. However, they overcame a group, which also included Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, to set up the second round contest against the home side. 

The game saw Spain playing their trademark tiki taka but failing to find the way to the goal, courtesy a rock-solid Russian defence and their captain-cum-goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev. 

The gritty Russians, with an increasing fan-following at home after making it to the knockout round, and buoyed by the presence of a partisan home crowd, eventually sank the Spanish Armada and accomplished the mission impossible of making it to the quarterfinals, thanks to Akinfeev’s heroics during the tie-breaker.

Up against Luka Modric’s Croatia, the side that toyed with a fancied Argentina, led by another LM10, Lionel Messi, during the group stage and overcame a feisty Denmark in the second round, the Russians were hoping against hopes for yet another miracle. 

They didn’t leave any stone unturned during their magnificent 2-2 draw until the end of the extra-time against the prolific Croats but Akinfeev’s heroics in yet another tie-breaker fell just a goal short of a repeat of 1966 when a legendary Lev Yashin led his erstwhile USSR to the final four.

Their hopes were shattered in the quarterfinal but the heroics of a rather unfancied and underdog side were good enough to win hearts at home and abroad. After all, Stanislav Cherchesov’s boys can say da svidanya to all their dejected fans, holding their heads up high.