Vasili Berezutskiy: 'Nerves contributed to draw with South Korea'

Russia defender Vasili Berezutskiy believes that his team will only improve after playing their first World Cup finals match in 12 years against South Korea on Tuesday evening.

A second-half equaliser from Alexander Kerzhakov earned Russia a 1-1 draw against their Group H rivals, and despite creating few clear-cut opportunities against their first opponents, Berezutskiy remains confident heading into his team's final two group fixtures.

The 31-year-old is quoted by FIFA.com as saying: "As you can imagine, we were all nervous, both with this being the first World Cup for most of us and Russia's first in a long time.

"However, experience was decisive as Alexander Kerzhakov is the only one who was here 12 years ago and he made the difference.

"Our team is not the youngest, so we have played in some big matches, but it was important to get this first game out of the way as you cannot compare the World Cup with any other tournament."

Russia face Belgium on Sunday before tackling Algeria in their final group fixture next Thursday.