Hosts Russia opened their World Cup campaign and with a 5-0 thrashing of a woeful Saudi Arabia, a result that will delight a nation desperate to enjoy their moment on football's biggest stage. According to FIFA's rankings there was little between these teams as they kicked off, which suggested it would be a competitive game. Sadly, the rankings also suggested it would not be high on quality, as Russia came into the tournament as the lowest-ranked hosts in history, at 70th. The Saudis were a whole three places higher but not for much longer on this evidence.

Saudi Arabia poor
Saudi Arabia looked like a team coming off the back of three losses in friendlies and Russia looked like a team delighted to be playing them after their own seven-game winless run. The opening goal came after just 12 minutes and it told the story of the whole game. A Russian corner failed to beat the Saudi defender at the near post but was cleared straight back to the corner-taker, former Chelsea player Yury Zhirkov. He passed to Roman Zobnin, who swung in a decent cross from the left only for the Saudis to make it look like a precision dart. Yury Gazinsky was given a free header he accepted it with pleasure.