World Cup Match Review - Russia vs Saudi Arabia: We Wrote Them Off Too Early

How do you keep the mouth of critics, who have wrote you off even before the tournament started, shut?

Russia only needed 2 things: Robbie Williams, and a 5-star performance.

In the run-up to the game, most of us already expected nothing less than a draw or a win with a one goal margin. Russia qualified as hosts, and are ranked as the lowest team in the tournament, while Saudi Arabia are the 3rd team to qualify from the AFC group. A lot would have expected Saudi Arabia to give the hosts a run for their money in the opening game.

Saudi Arabia only started brightly at the first 5 minutes, before it shifted Russia’s way. A huge boost came the form of the tournament’s first goal, from Yuri Gazinsky after just 12 minutes. That kicked Saudi Arabia back to focus for a brief moment, attacking the Russians’ half for a good 10 minutes, with nothing to show.

Russia were then given a scare after midfielder Alan Dzagoev was forced out through what seems like a hamstring injury. Up steps Denis Cheryshev, former Real Madrid youngster, who currently plies his trade in Villareal. Once touted as the “Russian Messi”, his impact to the game was instantly felt, as he got himself a goal late in the first half.

The second half was a more subdued affair, with some glimpses of brilliance from the two sides. One takeaway from the start of the first half was Saudi Arabia upping the ante, with a great chance to pull one back missed by Taisar Al-Jassim after a great cross was delivered in, with Igor Akinfeev clearly beaten. Little did Saudi Arabia know, that Russia had a few more cards up their sleeves. Cue Artem Dzyuba, Russia’s veteran striker. Within moments of coming on, he finished a delicious cross to put the game to bed.

The 4th and 5th goals for Russia, scored by Cheryshev and Golovin respectively, was just to inflict more wounds on what is already the mark of the end of Saudi Arabia’s campaign. Don’t be surprised that both the goals would be shortlisted as goals of the tournament, come the end in July.

The hapless beating of Saudi Arabia raised many questions in the world of football. Amongst the many questions are: “How did the lowest ranked team of the tournament, beat a team that qualified as the 3rd best team in their continent, this easily?”, “Isn’t Saudi Arabia the underdogs?”.

Thank the media for priming almost everyone, that the underdog tag actually went to Russia. Be honest with yourself, readers: When you saw RUS v KSA as the opening match, did a voice in your head go: “Ah, it’s just 2 of the lesser teams. It’s probably going to be a draw”? I’m sure I did.

The takeaways from this superb performance by Russia points out the healthy mix of experienced and fresh meat. Sergei Ignasevich was the oldest in the squad at age 38, putting up a dominant display at the back, along with goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev. Up front, there’s a difference in creativity, as compared to the Russian squads of yesterdays: with the likes of the Miranchuk twins (benched last night), Cheryshev, and Golovin, who, at 22, produced a man of the match performance, with 2 assists, and 1 free kick goal for himself to take home.

Questions also started being raised at how easily Saudi Arabia were dispatched off by Russia, raising quick conclusions that the gulf in class between the European and Asian continents is wider than we all thought it was. I for one still have hope for the other Asian teams, and just because of one result, the whole continent shouldn’t be written off just like that.

We already know now what is to happen if you were to make early assumptions about the games in this World Cup.

Nevertheless, the win sees Russia keeping the trend of host teams being unbeaten in the opening matches of their respective World Cups, and hopefully, a great kick-start to what could be an exciting World Cup for all.