that's not exactly the same thing. FIFA World Cup is held every 4 years. In order to get there you have to play Qualifying games, i am sure u r fully aware of that. And with all due respect to Brazil, I think the gap between Russia and Brazil in soccer is smaller that a gap between Russia and Denmark in hockey. Cameroun gave Argentina all they could handle in 1994, remember?
France in 2002 got their butts kicked as well by bunch of "nobodies". To summarize it all: Russia in soccer has a chance of beating Brazil ( a very small one, but it's still a chance ) where in hockey, teams like Denmark, Ukraine, etc have no chance at all to even be somewhat competetive against teams like Russia, Canada, etc.
P.S. Did u think Ukraine will make top 8 teams at the last FIFA world cup?