With an emphatic 3-0 win, Uruguay glided to the top of Group A, relegating their opponents Russia to the second group qualifying spot for the knockout stage.

Russia had scored eight in their previous two games but there was no way they were going to break down the renowned Uruguayan defence in those numbers.

In truth, the hosts were hardly in the game and as early as the 9th minute they were a goal down.

Luis Suarez lined up a free kick outside the box and cleverly did not go over the wall but low and around it, into the far bottom corner.

Uruguay were two up after 23 minutes when a shot by Diego Laxalt deflected off defender Alan Dzagoev and into the net.

It went from bad to worse for Russia when Igor Smolnikov was given his marching orders 10 minutes before the break for a second yellow card offence.

Two goals down and a man down, Russia fared slightly better on resumption but Uruguay still dominated possession without much to show for it.

They were deserving of another and it finally came in the 90th minute – yet another late, late goal in the tournament.

Lucas Torreira’s corner was met with a thunderous header by Diego Godin and Igor Akinffev did well to save the shot. However, it fell unkindly at the feet of Edinson Cavani, who did the necessary to make it 3-0.

Whether they ran out of steam, were the inferior side or finally met their match, this Russian effort was sub par. One hopes they did not peak too early.