Kerzhakov: We want to win over our fans

Three-time quarter-finalists and one-time semi-finalists Russia – they finished fourth in 1966 – have endured what must have seemed like an eternal wait to return to the FIFA World Cup™ finals since their last appearance, at Korea/Japan 2002. Back then, a teenage Aleksandr Kerzhakov came on as a substitute for the final eight minutes of the team's last group-stage fixture, a 3-2 loss to Belgium that condemned them to exit the tournament at the first hurdle. Little was he to know that it would be quite so long before he would get another bite of the World Cup cherry.