World Cup gives a glimpse of a happier Russia

The entire Russian team is defying expectations: It's going to the round of 16 for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union

Artem Dzyuba, No. 22 on the Russian national soccer team, has scored a goal in each of Russia’s winning games against Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the 2018 World Cup. He is probably the most fitting symbol of the event, which is all about surprising external transformations.
 
The lumbering, six-foot-five-inch son of a cop and a shop assistant from a Moscow concrete slum was once accused of stealing cash from a Spartak Moscow teammate (he denies it) and exiled to a second-rate Siberian club. Now, he’s almost 30 and nearing the end of his soccer prime. He spent the