Russia won their opening two matches at the tournament beating Egypt 3-1 and thrashing Saudi Arabia 5-0 to book their place in the latter stages of the competition for the first time since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

"The whole country was saying negative things about the Russian national team after their failures in friendly matches, and our team have made a breakthrough at the World Cup. It's nice that the people started believing in their team, speaking positively of them, and the wide margin of victories speak for themselves. The players have enormous energy, I wish they would continue playing this way," Adiyev said.

The Anzhi manager added that Russia would face tougher opponents in the knockout stage, no matter who they come up against.

"Whoever our opponents in the knockout stage will be, they will be stronger. But we play at home, and the fans' support will give the players an emotional push even in a match against a stronger team. We hope that our team will get past the round of 16 successfully," he said.

Russia will play Uruguay, who also secured their place in the round of 16 after defeating Saudi Arabia 1-0 on Wednesday, in their last Group A encounter.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicked off on June 14 and will continue until July 15, with the matches set to be played in 11 cities across Russia.