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Hosts Russia begin World Cup with resounding victory

Writer's picture: Andrew ZarbAndrew Zarb


The 2018 FIFA World Cup™ has begun, and it began in style with hosts Russia recording an impressive win against Saudi Arabia, winning by 5 goals to nil against what was a poor Saudi Arabia team. The match was arguably a low-quality affair, despite the convincing scoreline, as although Russia did merit victory, Saudi Arabia were really poor to the point that they made Russia look like a world-class side, and they (Saudi Arabia) will have to play much better than they did today if they are even to get a point from their games, let alone qualify to the knockout stages.

It did not take long for the first goal of the tournament to arrive, with Yuri Gazinskiy opening the scoring for the hosts. Key player Alan Dzagoev went off injured for Russia with what looked like a hamstring injury. His substitute, Denis Cheryshev, doubled the lead 2 minutes before half-time after some rather weak defending by Saudi Arabia.

It was another substitute, Artem Dzyuba, who added to the scoreline with a good header - although the defending was again rather questionable by the Saudis. In what was arguably the best goal of the match and certainly a moment of quality, Cheryshev, scored his second and Russia's fourth goal of the game in injury time. With what was effectively the last kick of the match, Aleksandr Golovin made it 5 with a nice free-kick, although it is arguable that the Saudi Arabia goalkeeper could have done better with it - who looked very unconvincing in his handling throughout the match.

This is a big win for a Russia side who, although, were clearly superior to Saudi Arabia, have an ageing squad and neither the defense nor the goalkeeper were tested in any way, and they will certainly face sterner tests against Uruguay, who possess players like Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, and Egypt who boast the threat of Mohamed Salah. With the win being as big as it was, it certainly gives them a boost with goal difference, which could prove vital come the end of the group stages, as if they finish level on points, the tiebreaker used in the event that two or more teams are level on points is that of goal difference (that is goals conceded subtracted from goals scored).

Russia's next match is against Egypt on Tuesday 19th June at 20:00 CEST, whilst Saudi Arabia face Uruguay the following day at 17:00 CEST. The next World Cup match is tomorrow, when Egypt face Uruguay at 14:00 CEST.

(Image used is thanks to The Guardian).


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