After all the excitement and build up to the World Cup it finally got underway this evening and for Russia it could not have gone better. Once the opening ceremony was out-of-the-way with Robbie Williams, it’s was the Russia team that when out singing “let me entertain you” with a five-star performance over Saudi Arabia.
From the opening whistle they pressed, attacked quickly and it seemed as if Saudi Arabia were just not going to be able to cope with the pace of the second. They couldn’t and although they played some good passing football in the middle of the park in the opening stages, it was Russia that were doing all the running and creating. It paid off too, when they took a short corner and got the ball whipped in for Yury Gazinsky to nod in the opening goal of the 2018 World Cup in the twelfth minute.
All the talk before the game was about how terrible Russia are and why they currently so bad, having not won any of their last seven games in preparation for this tournament. Saudi Arabia have not been in great form themselves recently either, but in their qualification campaign they were scoring for fun at time.
The first half continued with Russia looking more likely to get a second then a Saudi equaliser and so it proved. When Denis Cheryshev, who’d come on as a replacement for the injured Alan Dzagoev twenty minutes earlier, scored on the stoke of half-time to make it 2-0 after some more good build-up play.
What a start for the Russia’s, it could not have gone better for their team, their President Vladimir Putin who was sat in the stands and of course all of their fans in the stadium, those watching on television in both Russia and around the globe.
It would only get better as well and although the football wasn’t as good in the second-half, with Saudi Arabia seemingly having given up, Russia scored three more including two in injury time. First up Dzyuba scored a header which was pretty much his first touch of the ball, having just come on with around twenty minutes to go. Cheryshev then grabbed himself a second late on before their star man Golovin made it five.
It’s a great start for Russia and with them being hosts they dealt with the pressure superbly, it was a huge win too with Egypt and Uruguay still to play. For Saudi Arabia, they have to improve massively if they are to get anything out of their next two games, otherwise they could be the first team going home.
Russia 5–0 Saudi Arabia
Gazinsky Goal 12′
Cheryshev Goal 43′, 90+1′
Dzyuba Goal 71′
Golovin Goal 90+4′
Next fixtures for Russia and Saudi Arabia:
Tuesday June 19th: Russia v Egypt (Group A) – St Petersburg, 7pm
Wednesday June 20th: Uruguay v Saudi Arabia (Group A) – Rostov-on-Don, 4pm
