When Russia’s comedown finally came, it played to a full house. Tens of thousands of Russians turned out on a work day to the Fifa Fan Fest in Moscow for a familiar scene: Russia playing like Russia.

And the Russians knew the script. “I knew this was going to happen when we came up against a real opponent,” said Ilya Kabanov, 19, a university student. “It was a bit like a fairytale. The fairytale is over.”

“Run!” screamed one man before delivering an unprintable torrent of abuse at Stanislav Cherchesov’s side. It did not help. Russia lost 3-0 and had Igor Smolnikov sent off. “We have once again seen the Russian team we knew before the World Cup: toothless, powerless, good for nothing,” wrote Alexey Pushkov, a lawmaker who usually directs his venom at the west.

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It was a reality check for a Russian team that had made an auspicious start. Successive wins over Saudi Arabia and Egypt, in which they scored eight goals, had convinced the normally sceptical Russian public that this year could be different. Maybe hosting a World Cup would work its magic.

And so Russians, who spent much of the run-up to the tournament disparaging the team, came out in droves to cheer them on. The Fan Fest, a zone with a 140-metre screen and a panoramic view of the iconic Moscow State University, became so popular that Fifa eventually suggested viewers go to watch the game somewhere else, like a bar.

“There will be no queues for drinks and food, and the atmosphere of unity and intense football passion is just as good as in open-air fan zones,” Nikolai Gulyaev, head of Moscow’s sport and tourism department, told Reuters.

To call them fairweather fans would not do the day justice. The sunshine was brilliant and the mood was like a town picnic for all - mothers with buggies, a group of sales managers who got out of work early, fresh-faced students on summer holiday, families, migrant workers, men with tattooed thighs and imperial flags, young women mugging for selfies and a smattering of the foreigners who have transformed Moscow in recent months.

But this was a decidedly Russian affair, a steady march toward defeat that should have seemed so obvious that it is a wonder why anyone dared to hope at all.

“The main thing we forgot is that this is Russia,” said Roman Krasinsky, 18, smoking behind one of the party tents out at the back.

Edik, who carried a ukulele, tried to talk his friend Roman and their classmates Olesya and Ksenia into leaving early in the second half to go drinking with friends.

“This is boring,” he argued.

“Then what did we come here for?” It had taken them a half-hour to get in. They settled it with rock, paper, scissors. Then Roman reneged. “I’m staying,” he said, walking away.

It was something like a national moment of flagellation. In a Moscow courtroom the anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny watched the game on a MacBook before having his suspended sentence for fraud extended (he says it is politically motivated).

Vladimir Putin skipped the match, his press secretary told journalists, because he was too busy.

“Unfortunately he can’t [attend] because of his working schedule,” Dmitry Peskov said. He may have chosen the right moment to get out. It was Putin who smiled his way through Russia’s 5-0 victory over Saudi Arabia, leaning to shake the hand of his guest Mohammed bin Salman.

It may be better that Russia received this wake-up call before the knockout stages, at a moment when they can take a punch and perhaps recover before encountering some of this tournament’s premier teams.

“We’re going to get Spain,” said one fan, burying his head in his hands at the prospect of the now confirmed meeting with the Group B winners and 2010 champions at the Luzhniki Stadium on Sunday. “At least we’ll go out against the best.”