Hosts Russia whipped Saudi Arabia 5-0 in their FIFA World Cup Group A opener at the 81,000-seater Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Thursday to send their fans into wild celebrations. The goals were scored by Yuri Gazinskiy (12), Denis Cheryshev (43, 90+1), Artem Dzyuba (71) and Aleksandr Golovin (90+4) as the hosts made the Saudi Arabia team run like headless chicken.
In the second match of Group A, Jose Gimenez thumped home a powerful 89th-minute header to give Uruguay a dramatic victory over heartbroken Egypt. The match was looking to be a low-key goalless draw on Friday when the goal came.
Uruguay struggled to impose themselves until the latter stages when keeper Mohamed El-Shenawy saved brilliantly from Edinson Cavani, who also hit the post with a late free kick, before Gimenez secured their first win in a World Cup opening game since 1970 when they went on to the semi-finals.
| Group A Points Table | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Matches | Won | Draw | Lost | GF | GA | GD | Points |
| Russia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 3 |
| Uruguay | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Egypt | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| Saudi Arabia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | -5 | 0 |
Egypt certainly needs Mohamed Salah back as they lacked inspiration up-front. On the other hand, Uruguay needs to get their strikers involved as they go deep in the tournament. Egypt will eye three points when they play hosts Russia next while Uruguay will be happy with the start and face minnows Saudi Arabia next.
FIFA World Cup 2018, world’s biggest sports extravaganza, is a month-long tournament to decide the best football team in the world. It will come to an end on July 15 when the final is played. In the first match of FIFA World Cup 2018, hosts Russia faced Saudi Arabia in Group A at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.
Source: Zee News