"Ask any of the favorites, for example, Brazil, and they'll tell you that the main task is to make it into the knockout stage... And so will we, we're realists, we're not World Cup favorites but we want to reach the knockout stage... We want the country to be proud of us," Dzyuba told journalists.

Dzyuba also said fans that were unfair towards the Russian national team after their poor run of form in pre-World Cup friendlies, which were affected by their intensive training for the tournament.

"They [friendlies] may have frightened you. Look, France drew with the United States 1-1 and when [France head coach Didier] Deschamps says that they had had intensive training, everyone agrees... When the Russians say that they play after intensive training, everyone starts to laugh," the 29-year-old striker said.

The player added that the team should not be judged by their performance in friendly matches as it is the World Cup that really matters.

"There are three matches [of the group stage], three finals for us, and only after them we will sum up the results," Dzyuba said.