FIFA World Cup 2018: Russia Vs Saudi Arabia

It is fair to say that expectations were relatively low for the first match of the 2018 World Cup with the hosts Russia facing a Saudi Arabia side that were something of an unknown to the wider world. Russia had of course not played a competitive fixture since they hosted the Confederations Cup last summer, a tournament in which their performances could perhaps be best described as insipid.

With that said it is unlikely that anyone predicted that the hosts would run our 5-0 winners with some excellent examples of finishing and interplay in the final third of the field. Russia were excellent going forward although in all honesty they were not tested defensively by a Saudi Arabian side who were tidy in possession for short periods but at no point looked as though they would break through the Russian defensive block. All of this was achieved despite a first-half injury that forced Alan Dzagoev off of the field, given that Dzagoev was expected to be one of the key players for the Russians during the tournament this could well have been a huge negative, instead they handled the setback well and continued to find ways to play through the Saudi defence.

It remains to be seen whether Russia can continue this form going forwards against Egypt and then Uruguay in the final group game but if they are able to get a positive result in the second group game then there is a real chance that we could see the hosts progress to the latter stages where with home support they could provide a difficult obstacle.

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The first surprise came with Russia opting for a four-man defensive unit as opposed to the five-man defensive line that we were initially expecting. Alan Dzagoev played centrally as the main link to Fyodor Smolov in attack with Alexey Miranchuk consigned to a place on the bench.

The main surprise in the Saudi Arabian line up lay in the fact that Juan Antonio Pizzi left out Fahad Al-Wuwallad who had been expected to play a key role in the attack for the Saudi side.