On Saturday, they face an equally important match with Germany, in which a victory would put them on the verge of qualifying for South Africa.

Both were hard games, as England are England and Germany are Germany. However, the problem with the Germans is, however bad they may be playing, they always seem able to get the result they need.

As with the match against England, Saturday's game will be played on an artificial pitch. CSKA and Spartak Moscow both play their home games at the Luzhniki Stadium, while all the players in Russia's squad would have played on this surface over a dozen times.

The Germans, who arrived in the Russian capital on Thursday evening, have been training on a similar surface back home, but Russian midfielder Sergey Semak says he doesn't think the pitch will give the home side a particular advantage.

“The pitch will be the same for both sides. There are some players on our team who don't particularly like playing on this pitch. But we have to play on this surface, so there's not much we can do,” he said. 

Russia have no injury worries ahead of this winner-takes-all clash. Hiddink must decide, though, whether to give a start to key player, Yury Zhirkov, who has only played 69 minutes of first team football following an injured right knee.

Roman Pavlyuchenko is another player who's desperately lacking match practice. The Tottenham striker has only made one substitute appearance for his club side this season.

The former Spartak Moscow forward also appeared to pick up a knock in training, though he says he'll be fine.

It goes without saying that Saturday's match is crucial for both sides, but Sergey Semak says his side doesn't feel any extra pressure.

“We don't feel under pressure – we know that we have to win, if we want to qualify automatically,” he said.

The three points are imperative for both sides, and both Russia and Germany will have one final training session on Friday, ahead of Saturday's winner-takes-all clash.