Russia needs to leave the result achieved at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in history and start a campaign to accomplish new goals, Russia head coach Stanislav Cherchesov said on Saturday.
"Thank you very much for the reception. I thank the Ministry [of Sports] for the foundation it helped us to build… We started our campaign this year and in this house [during the reception] we are making one of the last steps [before moving on]… We need to leave our result [at the World Cup] in history and start a campaign to [achieve] new goals. It's only the beginning," Cherchesov said at the reception.
Russian President Vladimir Putin presented the players and coaching staff of the Russian national football team with awards on Saturday. The ceremony was held at the Grand Kremlin Palace.
READ MORE: Russia's Head Coach Vows Team Will Do Better at Next World Cup
"Now I understand the expression "I have no words," I didn't understand it before. I can say for sure that we were doing our job not because of the awards but for the sake of representing Russia. From the moral perspective, we managed to do it, from the sports perspective — not fully," Cherchesov said.
Russia goalkeeper and captain Igor Akinfeev thanked Putin for the infrastructure created in the country for the World Cup.
"We're very happy to be here. Thank you for the infrastructure that we have in our country. The World Cup was a success. This is a great event that we should be proud of, thank you," Akinfeev said.
"It's a great honor for us to be here. We're incredibly glad that we managed to make millions of Russians, most importantly — children, happy by just playing football," Ignashevich said.
READ MORE: Putin Invites Russian Football Team to Discuss World Cup Outcome — Kremlin
Cherchesov steered Russia to the quarter-finals of the home World Cup, which was the country’s best result at the tournament since the end of the Soviet era.
Russia hosted its first-ever FIFA World Cup from June 14 to July 15, with the games played at 12 venues across 11 cities.
