FIFA World Cup: Roaring start for Russia

Yuri Gazinskiy (12th minute), Denis Cheryshev (43rd, 90+1), Artem Dzyuba (71st) and Aleksandr Golovin (90+4) scored for the host, which enjoyed a near-perfect first day. It overcame the injury suffered by forward Alan Dzagoev in the middle of the first half. But his substitute Cheryshev scored a brace and young Golovin made two assists and a goal to more than make up for Dzagoev’s absence. Russia was impressive from the beginning and threatened the Saudis with fierce counter-attacks.

Aleksandr Golovin fired in a beautiful cross from right to the centre of the box from where Yuri Gazinskiy headed it in at the left post past Abdullah Mayoof to make it 1-0. Four minutes later, off another counter-attack, Alan Dzagoev delayed his shot, allowing Mohammed Alburayk to block but the ball deflected before being parried away by Mayoof.

It later suffered a big blow as Dzagoev had to leave the field after picking up a hamstring injury. Two minutes from time, Saudi Arabia was caught by a counter-attack again and this time it proved costly. Roman Zobnin led the counter-attack for Russia before passing it on to Cheryshev, who employed a left footed shot from the centre of the box to the top left corner to make it 2-0. After the 2-0 lead, the second half saw less action. 

While Russia didn’t need to up the ante, it managed to contain the Saudis. Russia got its third goal from Dzyuba, who scored in the 71st minute, one minute after coming as a substitute for Fedor Smolov. 

Golovin made his second assist of the game as his cross from right saw Dzyuba outjump Saudi captain Osama Hawsawi and head it in. Russia didn’t relent and got its fourth goal in the injury time as Cheryshev got his second of the day. A couple of minutes later, Golovin fired a sumptuous free-kick to the right post from just outside of the box to make it an overwhelming 5-0 victory.

RESULT: Russia 5 (Gazinskiy 12, Cheryshev 43, 90+1; Dzyuba 71, Golovin 90+4) bt Saudi Arabia 0