Sports Desk/ Muhammad Shakib
The FIFA World Cup 2018 embarks on with a goal-fest. The host Russia initiates their tournament with a victory over Saudi Arabia by 5 goals to nil in the first game of this year’s tournament. The first match of group-A kicked off at 9 pm in Bangladesh time at Luzhniki Stadium in Russia capital Moscow.
Both the sides began to put pressure on the opposite’s defensive lines as the match official whistled the kick off. The Arabian side tried to penetrate the Russian defense until the first ten minutes. The Russian midfielder Yuri Gazinsky scored the first goal of the game as well as of the tournament with an outstanding header from a chip ball by the winger Golovin to put the home side in a lead in the 12th minute of the game.
The host team kept the pressure on the Arabians and finally doubled their lead with a fantastic solo goal from the substitute player Denis Cheryshev who denied the Arab defense and put the ball into the net on the 43rd minute of the game.
The Arabians tried their best to put their name in the score sheet in the first half of the game and continued in the second half. The Russians marked their third goal as another substitute Artem Dzyuba dribble passed the Arab defenders from a loose ball and put his name on the score sheet on the 70thminute of the game.
The game was already slipped away from the Arabs when on the injury minutes (90’+1) Denis Cheryshev with an outstanding long range shot scored his brace for the day to lead the Russians by 4 goals.
Conceding 4 goals were not a painless matter for the Arabians and just in time Saudi midfielder Taisir- Al- Jassim got his first yellow card by making a serious tackle just outside the penalty box. With the set piece the Russian winger Aleksandr Golovin gave the home side a 5 goals’ celebration and with the goal the referee whistled the game to an end.
Earlier the match the world of football witnessed a colorful but dull inauguration ceremony of the 21st FIFA World Cup 2018 where famous musician Robbie Williams performed. Later on the President of Russia Vladimir Putin expressed his gratitude and wished all the teams a good luck for the tournament.
Photo: Collected