Uruguay handed Russia a World Cup reality check and sealed top spot in Group A with a 3-0 win over the 10-man hosts at the Samara Arena on Monday.
A Luis Suarez free kick and a Denis Cheryshev own goal gave Oscar Taveras’s side a two-goal lead before Russia’s Igor Smolnikov was sent off for two quick bookings.
Edinson Cavani rounded off a third successive victory for the South Americans, who finish the first phase with a 100 per cent record and are yet to concede a goal.
The hosts had exceed expectations to convincingly beat Saudi Arabia and Egypt but their bubble started to burst only 10 minutes into their final group game.
Suarez slotted a 20-yard free kick into the bottom corner, after defender Sergei Ignashevich had made the target bigger for him by abandoning his position at the end of the wall.
Russia had a couple of half-chances to equalise as Cheryshev stung the hands of Fernando Muslera and Artem Dzyuba headed into the ground and over from a corner.
Stanislav Cherchesov’s side had responded well but found themselves with a mountain to climb when Diego Laxalt’s hopeful shot took a massive deflection off Cheryshev and beat Igor Akinfeev’s despairing dive into the bottom corner.
A comeback was made nigh-on impossible when two reckless challenges from Smolnikov, only called into the team to give Mario Fernandes a rest at right-back, in the space of 10 minutes saw him dismissed with still nine minutes of the first half to go.
Although they held their own for much of the second period, Russia barely created anything that would trouble Uruguay goalkeeper Muslera on his 100th international cap.