RUSSIA PLAYS BEST MIDFIELDERS IN THE WORLD,LOSES TO CROATIA

RUSSIA PLAYS BEST MIDFIELDERS IN THE WORLD

The game is played in Sochi in Russia which has being  the site of several world cup  of 2018 iconic moments so far with the home team cheered on by a capacity crowd.

It was the first tournament meeting between both sides but both have played two drawn up games in the past during the qualifiers.

Russia threatened as early as the 4th minute as a shot ricochet a croatian defender while the resultant kick did not yield much dividends .

Croatia soon turned defence into an attack as they tried to carve out an opening of their own without much success.

The interchange of passes in Croatia's midfield which is its greatest strength was evident as Russia persevered in the 10th minute.

As the game wore on,both teams attacked each other in waves without packing the bus or seating deep,for Croatia  there has being nothing like the 1998 World Cup when it qualified for the first time and even went as far as the semi finals but since then it has not made it beyond the first round.

4 shirted Croatian headed amiss with the Russian goalkeeper at his mercy in the 28th minute of the encounter.

In the 30th minute ,six shirted Russian idol started the build up from the flanks and after a quick interchange of passes with one of his colleagues ,Denis Cherychev just let fly with a left footed hooked shot as Moscow came alive to salute a great goal from a great son of the soil and this was his fourth of the championship..

Oleg Salenko is the other Russian legend to have scored more goals than Denis Cherychev and this was against Lions of Cameroun in 1994,he had bagged 6 goals in that champonship..

Then a flowing move by Luka Modric,arguably the best playmaker on the planet at the moment was finished off by a clean and sharp header on target by Kramaric .Kramaric had always won each time he scored for Croatia.

In the 49th minute ,the Russian coach rose to his feet and challenged his boys to stop making school boy errors as they almost got  caught out on a Croatian counter attack.

A bizarre incident took place in the  57 th minute as Akinfeev was beaten and a quick  interchange of passes saw a shot canon off the wood work of the Russians to the relive of those of them watching at the stadium as they kept their cup hopes alive..

In the 70th minute a header by Fernandez missed target narrowly for Russia though it appeared that he was in an offside position.

The Croatian goalkeeper appeared to have suffered from a muscular cramp with his nation not being able to do a 4th change till the  added minutes.

Then both sides rested and then the battle for the added 30 minutes of extra time began.

Corluka came into replace his injured team mate as Croatia tried to enforce themselves in the closing stages of the match.

A mix up in croatia's defence sees Russia almost scoring but their penalty appeal was turned down however as Croatia persevered .

Almost the next minute Croatia scores in the 101 minute as Vida made hay while the sun shined for his nation..

In the 111 minute Russia tested their opponents resolve and then a handball incident happened as the home side pressed forward to get a likely equalizer in the dying minutes.

It was Russia's hour of need ,an expectant nation  waited and then the free kick that was awarded due to the handball was taken and Mario Fernandez scored via text book header as the stadium erupted in an earthquake of joy as Russia including Kremlin came alive.

The entire Russian nation was simply in a bubble as they saluted and celebrated that goal in an unending frenzy .

Russia was taking the first of the penalties and the team that has being in this position had missed three times in the fiesta so far.

Subasic saved from the first kick from Russia ,then Akinfeev heroics began again or so it seems as he caught a beauty but Fernandez missed the next kick for Russia as trouble loomed for the home side..

Modric almost missed with Akinfeev putting his hands on it but narrowly missed catching it and this went on as Croatia refused to give up with celebrations finally going on all through the night after Ivan Rakitic struck the last kick for his nation.