Russia beat Saudi Arabia 5-0 at 2018 FIFA World Cup opening match

MOSCOW: The Russian national football team began its voyage at the 2018 FIFA World Cup with a confident 5-0 win over Saudi Arabia on Thursday in Moscow in the opening match of the much-anticipated football championship.

The match at the legendary Luzhniki Stadium in the Russian capital has a seating capacity of 80,000 and today’s attendance was reported at over 78,000 spectators.

Both sides looked confident at the beginning of the opening game of the global football championship, however hosts Russia, backed by the thunderous roar of supporters at the home stadium, opened the score into the 15th minute of the match. Assisted by Russian midfielder Alexander Golovin, his teammate Yury Gazinsky put a header into the left upper corner of the net behind SaudiArabian goalkeeper Abdullah Almuaiouf to put the score at 1-0.

About half an hour into the first half, Russia’s scoring midfielder Alan Dzagoyev boosted off for an offensive rush on the goal of the opponents, but fell down, obviously pulling a muscle. Head Coach Stanislav Cherchesov replaced injured Dzagoyev with Denis Cheryshev, who also plays as a left winger for Spain’s Villarreal.

Less than a minute remaining in the first half it was Cheryshev to up the score, shooting the ball into the upper left of the Saudi Arabian net to leave 2-0 displayed on the stadium’s huge digital screens as both teams retreated for the 15-minute break.

The teams continued testing each other in the second half, although Russia was still dominant in ball possession, just like in the previous 45-minuter. Half an hour in the closing half both teams made replacements with Saudi Arabia switching Abdullah Otayf for Fahad Almuwallad and Russia replaced Alexander Samedov with Daler Kuziaev.

Several minutes later Russia’s Head Coach Cherchesov opted for another replacement and sent in Artyom Dzyuba in place of Fyodor Smolov. The reshuffle brought an immediate result as less than a minute after hitting the pitch Dzyuba put a header into the right upper corner of the opponents’ net.

The score of 3-0 seemed to remain flashing unchanged until the final whistle in the game, but in the three-minute stretch of the added time Russia’s Denis Cheryshev upped the score to 4-0 with a swift shot of the ball over the Saudi Arabian goalkeeper.

This was not enough for the hosting team and less than a minute later Russia’s Alexander Golovin scored another goal with a free kick sealing the final score at impressive 5-0. Russia, placed in Group A, is playing its next Group stage match against Egypt on June 19 in St. Petersburg, while Saudi Arabia is facing Uruguay on June 20 in the city of Rostov-on-Don.

Russia selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup and they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15. Earlier, the long-awaited 2018 FIFA World Cup kicked off on Thursday in the Russian capital of Moscow with a spectacular opening ceremony at the legendary Luzhniki Stadium.

Less than an hour before the start of the official opening ceremony international supermodel Natalia Vodyanova from Russia and football legend Iker Casillas (the 2010 FIFA World Cup winner) brought to the pitch the 2018 FIFA World Cup Original Trophy.

The Trophy was brought to the stadium in a newly-designed travel case by Louis Vuitton, which had the lock and six clasps made in ruthenium - a strong dark-grey metal that has the chemical symbol Ru and was named after the host of this year’s FIFA World Cup. Minutes before the official opening ceremony began an artificial cover was rolled out on top of the playing field with actors rushing out on it.

The ceremony started with the performance of a classical music piece by Russian composer Pyotr Chaikovsky. Then, Britain’s famous pop singer Robbie Williams appeared on the field accompanied by Brazilian football legend Ronaldo.

Robbie Williams performed then famous hit "Let Me Entertain You" accompanied by dancers and freestylers.

As the opening ceremony continued Russian harpist and composer performed one of his musical themes, while a huge firebird was rolled out on the pitch and as it spread its wings Russian singer Aida Garifullina emerged on the back of the fairytale creature. Garifullina and Williams performed "Angels" in duo as the accompanying dancers were representing in pairs 32 participating national teams of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Following that song, an official ball of this World Cup, Telstar 18 by Adidas, was revealed to the full-packed 80,000-seat capacity Luzhniki Stadium. It was the exact ball, that was delivered earlier to the International Space Station (ISS) and brought back to Earth early this month.

The opening ceremony was wrapped up with Robbie Williams’ smash hit "Rock DJ" before the national football teams of hosts Russia and Saudi Arabia clashed in the opening match of the much-anticipated quadrennial global football championship.

"Dear friends, I welcome all guests of the legendary Luzhniki Stadium," Russian President Vladimir Putin said before the match. "I congratulate the whole international football family with the opening of the main football championship of the planet."

FIFA President Gianni Infantino addressed the spectators and football fans around the world speaking in Russian and English "Dear Russia, dear friends, welcome to the World Cup in Russia."