2018 World Cup has officially kicked off with the game between host Russia and Saudi Arabia, and home fans couldn’t have wished for a better start of the tournament. Russia national soccer team not only managed to win but also did it in a convincing manner, scoring five goals and conceding zero.
It was a high flying start for Russians since Yuri Gazinsky scored the opening goal in the 12′ minute with a powerful header. After recovering from the initial shock, Saudi Arabia tried to get back into the game, but couldn’t find a way past Russia’s defense. Russia patiently waited for the opportunity to strike from a counter attack, which paid off in 43′ minute when Denis Cheryshev, who entered the game for injured Alan Dzagoev, scored a lovely goal.
The second halftime continued in the same fashion, with Russia being a better opponent majority of the time. They managed to extend their lead in 71′ minute when another substitute, Artem Dzyuba, scored a header after poor reaction of Saudi Arabia’s defense. Russians didn’t stop here since Denis Cheryshev and Aleksandr Golovin scored a goal each in added time for the final result of 5-0.
While this is certainly a great start for Russia at 2018 World Cup, their coach Stanislav Cherchesov won’t allow his players to get carried away.
“We are not getting ahead of ourselves” – said Cherchesov after the game. “We saw that we are on the right track but we should forget this game and concentrate on the next one.“
Saudi Arabia coach Juan Antonio Pizzi, on the other hand, doesn’t think Russia played a spectacular game and blames his own team for putting out a shameful performance in the game.
“I don’t think they did anything to surprise us,” – said Pizzi. “They won without doing much — a poor [Saudi Arabia] performance explains this result.“
You can check out the game’s highlights below.
