MOSCOW: Igor Akinfeev's name at international level has been marked by a calamitous error at the 2014 World Cup, but he remains Russia's best goalkeeper and is looking to make amends at Euro 2016.
As the clock ticked towards 70 minutes in Russia's opening group match in Brazil, South Korean Lee Keun-ho hit a speculative shot that looked an easy take.
But Akinfeev fumbled the ball which looped agonisingly into the back of the net. Akinfeev was left to clutch his head in disbelief.
"Not one goalkeeper, including myself I have to say, will ever be able to explain what happened until the end of my days," Akinfeev, 30, told the Sport Express daily last year.
"There is only one explanation and that is that it was a terrible mistake."
The blunder set the tone for a dismal World Cup for Russia. The team, under Italian coach Fabio Capello, managed just two points and crashed out.
Born just outside Moscow in April 1986, Akinfeev was just four when he caught the eye of junior team coaches at CSKA Moscow, the Red Army team.
In 2002 he helped CSKA's youth team win the Russian junior title.
Akinfeev was promoted and the next season made 13 appearance for CSKA's main side as they won their first league title since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
His confident performances attracted national coach Georgy Yartsev and he became Russia's youngest ever international goalkeeper in a 2004 friendly with Norway aged just 18.
Akinfeev did not make the squad for the European Championship finals that year, but another season at CSKA when they won the league title, Russian Cup and UEFA cup cemented his place in the national team.
He has never really given it up.
In 2007 Akinfeev was linked with a move to Arsenal but a cruciate knee ligament rupture sidelined him for almost six months. Hopes of a move to the English Premier League were dashed.
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