Russia got their own World Cup off to a dream start on Thursday, with a stupendous 5-0 dismantling of Saudi Arabia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow yesterday. [spacer height=”30px”]
All the glamour, showbiz, festivity and euphoria in the air was overshadowed by an even more decorated showing by the Russian Football team in the opening match of the world cup vs Saudi Arabia. [spacer height=”30px”]
With the entire world’s focus on Russian’s and their performance in the opening night, players of Moscow really ensured that it was worth everyone’s attention by putting in a goal scoring spectacle which almost nobody in the world had expected. [spacer height=”30px”]
But then again this is the World Cup 2018 : the biggest sporting spectacle on the planet and it was back right there in front of us and reminding everyone what we had been missing for the last four years. [spacer height=”30px”]
By ensuring once again that a Fifa World Cup host nation has never lost a game on the opening night, the Russia team under the eyes of their President Vladimir Putin ensured that the world rose at the end of the match to appreciate an absolutely delightful performance from the host nations something which will have delighted Putin greatly. Well they don’t play that bad now do they. [spacer height=”30px”]
Let us look at some of the key things that we learned from the game that we absolutely cannot miss : [spacer height=”30px”]
Russia aren’t so terrible at football are they : [spacer height=”30px”]
“the worst Russian team I have seen in my life”
[spacer height=”30px”]That is what Andrei Kanchelskis used to describe this present Russia team which took the field as the host nation. Beating the minnows in Saudi Arabia isn’t an exact excellent of gauge of how good a team they are, yet by putting on such an grand attacking spectacle like that showed that its ain’t all that gloomy for the home supporters.[spacer height=”30px”]
While their attacking performance was indeed credible what was even probably a bigger achievement was the fact that Russia had managed to restrict the Saudi’s from taking a single shot on target during the entire match. Thats saying something for a team which had been described by their national press as “doomed to fail”. [spacer height=”30px”]
Greatest World Cup Performances: Jens Lehmann – Every Goalkeeper’s dream!
[spacer height=”30px”]Golovin is a Jewel whose price rose with each passing minute in the game : [spacer height=”30px”]
There is a reason a player is linked with Arsenal, PSG, Juventus all at the same time and with a couple of more performances like that, he will have his stocks rising through the roof.[spacer height=”30px”]
In a market like this it doesn’t take much to become rarely affordable and the way Golovin seems to have kicked off his auditioning to the world it certainly wont be long before he there playing in the Champions League with one of the top teams in the competition. [spacer height=”30px”]
Aleksandr Golovin's #WorldCup game by numbers vs. #KSA
66 touches
25 passes completed
5 chances created
4 tackles
3 interceptions
2 assists
1 goal [Stats via Sqwaka] @UnaiEmery_ Ask Gazidis to get him on the phone and sign the darn thing ASAP you hear me pic.twitter.com/vFi1IDNHKq— Arsenal Fans Network (@Real_Arsedevils) June 15, 2018
[spacer height=”30px”]Having come into the World Cup as one of the Wonderkids to watch out for, Golovins seems to have certainly lived up to the hype and then some more. [spacer height=”30px”]
With Stats like that from every match and a brilliant curler like that to cap of the magnificence of the night, its highly recommended for clubs interested in him such as Arsenal ( Gazidis speaking to you) and others to agree a deal with him as soon as possible else rising letting his stocks rise so much that we as usual end up being priced out of a move and Golovin of Russia becomes our latest addition to the almost signed contingent. [spacer height=”30px”]
https://twitter.com/MundoHincha/status/1007307208726646785
[spacer height=”30px”]Russia have an actual chance of qualifying from the group A despite being the lowest ranked team in the Cup : [spacer height=”30px”]
With a World ranking of 70 and some calling for their inclusion to be unfair, their performance on the night has showed one thing and that is International Rankings really do not reflect anything. [spacer height=”30px”]
With immense attacking intent and capabilities like that, diverse goal scoring capabilities, staunch and resolute defense Russian have put themselves in a situation giving themselves the best chance for qualifying from the group with this opening match victory in the Russia vs Saudi Arabia fixture. Certainly from no angle do they look like a 70th placed team, instead they seemed like men on a mission hell bent on making Russia proud. [spacer height=”30px”]
Alan Dzagoev’s injury proved to be the silver lining for the team : [spacer height=”30px”]
Up until he had to be replaced Alan Dzagoev ran the show at the heart of the midfield. On the 23rd min when he went down on the ground clutching his hamstring the entire team of Russia seemed to be at a loss. Yet with Dzagoev out, the team managed to improve their performance due to the presence of Aleksander Golovin at the heart of the midfield.[spacer height=”30px”]
https://twitter.com/utdxtra/status/1007344806266331136
[spacer height=”30px”]Tasked with playing centrally, Golovin managed to slot in perfectly as the primary playmaker thus improving the entire teams structure and fluency with the ball. Creating a total of 5 goal scoring chances right after his shift into the central role shows how the entire teams performance improved due to better balance and fluidity in their attack with Golovin at the heart of it all. [spacer height=”30px”]
Injuries can be really unfortunate but if the replacement turns out to be an improvement it becomes quite a remarkable scenario. [spacer height=”30px”]
Revealed: Top 5 Greatest Comebacks in FIFA World Cup History
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Dennis Cheryshev the deserved man of the match for deftness and utter brilliance : [spacer height=”30px”]
On you come as a substitute to replace the most decorated International in the team, Your country is the hosting the very World Cup you are playing and it is the opening night, no pressure yeah and that is how Dennis Cheryshev took the game by the scruff of the neck, head on relaxed and calmly playing the best game of his life to make his country proud. [spacer height=”30px”]
A Real madrid reject by profession, Dennis on the night played as if he was a starting XI player for the biggest club in the world. With a bit of fortune in his favor and even more skilled enough to create his own fortune, Dennis with utter deftness and expert trickery created the beautiful opening for himself by sending two Saudi Defenders on vacation and finishing off for his first goal quite proficiently and accurately. [spacer height=”30px”]
⚽️ Goal❗❗ #Russia 4-0 #SaudiArabia
Dennis Cheryshev scores.
AMAZINGLY SUPER GOAL❗❗#WorldCup pic.twitter.com/SpKVuTiuT6— Football GIFs (@FootballGIFs4) June 14, 2018
[spacer height=”30px”]If that was amazing, the second was even more so out of the world. A cool calm unexpected curl with the outside of the boot reaching the back of the net past the outstretched arms of the desperate keeper. Two excellent finishes from the man of the hour ensured that the World speaks volumes of his country Russia and subsequently his performance. [spacer height=”30px”]
