Today was the day the FIFA World Cup finally began. A day were many football fans like me had been waiting for for a long time. As is the tradition since 2006, the host country had the honor to officially kick the tournament off. Russia did so against Saudi-Arabia. These countries are the two lowest ranked teams on the FIFA World Ranking (70th against 67th), so it was not the match of the tournament we had all indicated as a must see game. But the opening games had been quite lively in the last tournaments, so there was hope this one was going to be as well.
I'm skipping over the opening ceremony. Whether you liked the show from Robbie Willliams or not, that is up to your musical taste. Not taking a standpoint on Putin's speech either. During the national hymn, the home fans gave their team the vocal support they hoped for. Russia started with 39 year old Ignasevich in defense. High hopes were put in the young Golovin from CSKA Moskou in the midfield. Saudi-Arabia started without their star player Al-Mullawad, the 'Arabian Messi'. The start of the game was rather nervy with a lot of sloppy passes. Saudi-Arabia tried to claim the ball, Russia opted a more direct approach. The home team was the most threatening. The opening goal of the tournament took less than 15 minutes. Golovin got a resit from a cleared corner to cross the ball in the box, midfielder Gazinski was unmarked to head the ball in. Poor defending from the Saudi's and the crowd was in delirium. Minutes later, a clear offside from right back Fernandes wasn't given, but his cutback pass got deflected. The joy was short lived when Dzagoev went down 10 minutes after the goal. It looked like a hamstring injury, so the tournament might be over already for Dzagoev. Cheryshev- one of the two 'foreign' players in the Russian squad- was his replacement.
The first period was of a rather poor level. A lot of sloppy passes on both sides. Saudi-Arabia tried to play combination football- there coach is a Spaniard after all- but lacked the quality to really threaten Russian goalkeeper Akinfeev. The true exponents of Saudi Arabia's impotence to me were their central defenders, both named Hawsawi. When they got the ball, they didn't seem to be able to give the simplest of passes, and Russia were more than happy to give them the ball on their own half. Right before the break, the game looked already decided. A poor clearance from the Russian defense became a perfect pass for their striker, who was a lot faster than the Saudi defense. He played in Cheryshev, who easily got past the two sliding defenders and banged the ball high in the goal. What a way to make your mark as a substitute. 2-0 at the break, and not many people gave Saudi-Arabia too many chances to get the back in the game at this point.
The second half was more or less of the same level. Saudi Arabia had a better spell in the first minutes of the second half. But one dangerous cross that could have been a goal if their striker Al-Sahlawi (16 goals in qualification) touched it, was the best they could offer. Bringing in Al-Muwallad didn't had any impact. Saudi Arabia gave a tame and helpless impression throughout the whole game. Russia didn't feel the need to go forward and defended their advantage with ease. Akinfeev didn't had to make a single save the whole game. It looked like it wasn't going to be an opening game we would remember, but Russia had saved the best for the last 20 minutes. They brought on the big striker Dzyuba, who only after a few minutes headed in a cross from Golovin to make it three. Two more goals from Russia in injury time made the humiliation complete for Saudi-Arabia. Cheryshev scored his second of the match with a beautiful strike with the outside of his left boot. A moment of class this game lacked for 90 minutes. Cheryshev will certainly be in the starting eleven the next game. Golovin, the absolute star performer of the night, added insult to the injury. His free kick made it 5-0, a forfait score. 1 goal and 2 assists for the 22 year old midfielder. On the wishlist of Arsenal this summer, and maybe more teams will keep an eye on him after today.
What is the conclusion of this first match? We can't complain about the amount of goals so far, but the level of play can only improve. Russia will be in delirium after this match and the score couldn't be better. In the group stage where goal difference can be decisive, scoring 5 goals is a major bonus they will have over Egypt. They can sit back and relax tomorrow and see what Egypt and Uruguay do. A draw in one of the two last matches and the round of 16 seems certain. But it is too fast to start praising the Russian team and admit any low expectations were wrong. This result is more an indication of Saudi Arabia's lack of quality. They were very willing to turn this match into a Russian party, and it seems very likely their tournament will be over already after their next match against Uruguay. Besides Golovin and Cheryshev, there weren't too many Russian players who showed high quality. Their next game against Egypt this Tuesday will be crucial. Russia will go in that game with tons of confidence, that's for sure.
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