World Cup 2018: 5 key takeaways from the Mundial so far

#1 Russia take the world and their fans by surprise

The hosts have been the surprise package at the World Cup

Expectations were understandably muted in Russia ahead of the World cup with fans not expecting the hosts to advance out of their relatively easy group ahead of Uruguay and Egypt and beating the Saudis was the most they expected out of their team.

This was understandable considering that they were the lowest ranked team going into the tournament (they rose above Saudi Arabia in rankings a day before the World Cup), were missing some key players and had uninspiring performances in the friendlies before the World Cup.

A relatively easy group and inspired performances from the likes of Dennis Cheryshev and Aleksander Golovin, however, have propelled the Sbornaya to the top of their group and from no-hopers into an unpredictable and dangerous opponent.

Cheryshev has been the leading man, scoring two goals after replacing the injured Alan Dzagoev in the 5-0 demolition of Saudi Arabia and one goal in the 3-1 win against Egypt.

Spain or Portugal probably awaits them in the round of 16 and both teams would be wise not to take them lightly as they would be under no pressure to perform, having already exceeded expectations by qualifying out of their group and anything from now on would be a welcome bonus.