Russia beat 2010 champions Spain on penalties in the round of 16 on July 1 and reached the quarter-finals for the first time since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, but lost to Croatia, also in a penalty shootout, in the last eight.

According to the results of the poll, a total of 61 percent of the respondents were surprised by the victory in the quarter-final match, while every fourth respondent said that they expected such an outcome.

FOM added that one third of the respondents believe that the team won thanks to luck and 25 percent of them think that the national side won because of their professional skills.

The poll was conducted among 1,500 respondents aged 18 or older on July 7-8 with the margin of error not exceeding 3.6 percentage points.

 The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicked off on June 14 with the final showdown between France and Croatia set to take place at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium on Sunday.