FIFA World Cup 2018: Russia ready for kick-off

Russia and Saudi Arabia are the two lowest-ranked teams at the tournament by some distance and they are both in dire form. But their clash will set the tone for the global showpiece. 

Partly due to a lack of competitive matches, Russia has slipped to 70th in the FIFA rankings, which sounds shockingly low for a World Cup team until you glance up to see the Saudis, despite securing automatic qualification from a competitive Asian confederation, at 67. 

The opening ceremony will focus on a series of musical acts, with Robbie Williams headlining it. 

Around 500 dancers, gymnasts and trampolinists will also be performing in the extravaganza. Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov has been working overtime trying to rebuild his team, particularly defensively, after a cruel run of serious injuries to some of his most experienced operators, but the tournament has arrived without him showing much evidence of progress. 

His team last tasted success via a 4-2 victory over South Korea  and its most recent warm-ups brought defeat by Austria and a 1-1 draw with Turkey. In those games, Russia’s labored build-up play and careless passing looked light-years away from the irresistible, quicksilver side that lit up the European championship a decade ago.

That 2008 tournament, in which it reached the semi-finals, is something of an island of success for a nation which failed to qualify for the World Cups either side of it. That historical and recent lack of form means that few in Russia are holding out much hope of glory on home soil but the players will almost certainly be lifted by the occasion and by finally getting their teeth into a competitive match. 

If Russia is going to do it against anyone then it should be against a Saudi team coming off the back of successive friendly losses to Italy, Peru and Germany, though it showed patches of encouraging form and did beat Algeria and Greece in May.