Russian Soccer’s Foreign Agent

Denis Cheryshev, the home team’s World Cup star, spent most of his life in Spain—and he plays like it

Moscow

As the home team at this World Cup, Russia has taken great pride in the sheer Russian-ness of its squad.

While other squads relied on their nations’ diasporas to enlist better players and talent scattered across the globe, the team they call the Sbornaya could brag about being more Russian than onion domes and nesting dolls. Only...