Manager: Stanislav Cherchesov
MVP: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow)
Best WC Result: 4th place, 1966
The hosts will have their work cut out for them. A poor run of form has seen expectations dip and a squad defined by its mixture of aging legs and lack of experience means that the fabled home team bias will have to be working overtime to make this one happen. Still, they have a few tidy players—CSKA’s fancied Aleksander Golovin and powerful striker Fyodor Smolov among them—and the pride of a particularly prideful nation behind them.