Russia presents a thankfully restrained opening ceremony
By Dave Bowler
World Cup 2018 Diary 1 – The tournament got underway with the traditional opening ceremony, which was, thankfully, of a comparatively restrained nature. Mercifully, it contained no more than the statutory minimum of interpretive dance required at such events.
We veterans spent years watching the Cold War era May Day celebrations outside the Kremlin on TV. We were awestruck and disturbed by the synchronised might of the Soviet war machine. So seeing a parade of young ladies, cunningly disguised as mushrooms, representing each of the 32 nations was a welcome relief.
We were then treated to Robbie Williams prancing around the Moscow stage, singing about angels. The existence of which, of course, was not countenanced in the old communist days. This display could have tricked us into believing Vlad the Inhaler, Comrade Putin, had finally embraced capitalism and consigned the old ways to the dustbin of history. We were soon to learn otherwise.
What Lenin would have thought of the putsch aimed at ambush marketing rather than the aristocracy isn’t hard to imagine. Whilst Leonid Brezhnev will have been rotating in his grave, horrified by the lack of tanks marching down the left wing.
And so onto the football.
Russia opens World Cup 2018 with a win
Russia 5 Saudi Arabia 0 (Group A)
Once the game commenced, Russia did not need the military hardware to destroy the limp defensive shield employed by the Saudis. The host nation’s form going into the tournament had been largely awful. There were fears the occasion might be too much for them.
There need have been no such fears. From the outset, against a Saudi side with seemingly no tactical acumen of any kind, they simply tore things up. The plan was beguilingly simple. They let their opponents have the ball. The Saudis obligingly poured forward, and the Russians pinched the ball off them. Quicker than you could say “mutually assured destruction”, they were in on goal.
Russia got in front with a neatly placed Gazinskiy header after 12 minutes. From that moment there was only ever going to be one winner. The Russians quickly summed up the weakness of the Saudis. They grew in confidence, played neatly, and, gradually, rose to the occasion. A lovely bit of skill from Cheryshev enabled him to make it 2-0 just before the break. From there, it was bread and circuses, a trick the Russians have co-opted from the absent Romans.
The Dzyuba effect
The arrival of the giant Dzyuba up front in the second half was quickly rewarded with a thumping header for 3-0. Then the home side sealed the win with two injury-time goals, the first an absolute screamer with the outside of the left boot by Cheryshev.
The poor performance by the Saudis was sobering for FIFA. After basking in awarding the 2026 jamboree to the USA, Canada, and Mexico, making that World Cup a 48-team contest now looks even more ridiculous than it already did. Do we really need a competition with 16 teams worse than Saudi Arabia in it?
Spain 3 Portugal 3 (Group B)
A Ronaldo hat-trick was the exclamation point on a classic World Cup match. The rest of World Cup 2018 would have to go some to live up to the game that ended Spain 3 Ronaldo 3 in Sochi.
Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to score the 51st hat-trick in World Cup history and the 51st of his career. This doubled his total of World Cup goals spread over four tournaments inside just 90 minutes. That in itself is remarkable enough, but the goals that bookended the night, the one that gave Portugal the lead and the one that saved the day, were extraordinary.
First, an utterly nerveless and unsaveable penalty after a lengthy delay was impressive enough. But to step up with four minutes to go and take the last chance of saving the game – and this after he’d barely seen the ball for 40 minutes, so in command had Spain been – by curling, dipping, bending and squeezing a free-kick into the only channel via which it could have gone in, that’s breathtaking.
Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick
In a virtuoso opening 20 minutes in which he scored, Ronaldo also provided a glorious opening for strike partner Goncalo Guedes. Unfortunately, he fluffed it horribly with a dreadful first touch. That would have made it 2-0 after 23 minutes. Perhaps the jig would have been up for a Spanish side who are notoriously frail in their tournament openings.
But within a minute, it was 1-1. An old-fashioned centre-forward play from Diego Costa battered a route to goal. From that point, Spain settled into their standard rhythmic swagger and dominated possession.
Even a dreadful error from David de Gea on the brink of half-time, which gifted Ronaldo his second for 2-1 was but a brief blip. Spain picked it up again after the interval and were in front before the hour. Costa poached a goal from close in at a free-kick. Nacho creamed a 20-yarder across goal and in for 3-2.
Spanish issues
Spain were made to pay for not turning dominance into more goals. That enabled Ronaldo to magic up that insane climax. Yet for all the disappointment, in the morning, Spain would see this result as a satisfying conclusion to a horror show of a week.
Not many teams could have ridden out the managerial shambles they had been confronted by. Fortunately, they came out largely unscathed, as they did in the Portugal match. Taking the positives is a horrible and generally meaningless footballing cliché that covers a multitude of sins. In this particular instance, it was the sensible course for Spain to follow.
Egypt 0 Uruguay 1 (Group A)
After being the pantomime villain at the previous two World Cups – punching Ghana out of contention in South Africa, biting Italians in Brazil – had Luis Suarez chosen anonymity this time around?
That was the early conclusion to be drawn from a dreadful performance in Uruguay’s first game of the tournament. Suarez missed two golden chances to put Egypt to the sword and was otherwise missing in action for the 90 minutes.
Suarez’s bad day at the office, paradoxically, indicates why Uruguay were dark horses for the competition. They were blessed with not just one top striker but two. Although he didn’t find the net this time, Edison Cavani was a perpetual nuisance to the deep-lying Egyptian defence. He produced a couple of really stinging efforts that tested both the frame of the goal and Mohamed El-Shenawy inside it.
It was the constant probing of Cavani in particular that ultimately wore down the Egyptian defence. Uruguay clinched victory with an injury-time winner from a routine set piece. Jose Gimenez rose above three defenders to perfectly place an effort into the top corner and put Uruguay in the box seat regarding qualification.
Egypt misses Mo Salah
For Egypt, things were less clear. They were well organised, if limited, but they only had one world-class striker. Mo Salah wasn’t risked despite the pre-match pronouncements that he was fit to play.
Coach Hector Cuper said afterwards that it was merely a precautionary measure to keep him on the bench, but that he wasn’t even introduced for ten minutes at the end when Egypt were clearly drowning and in need of an option to get them up the pitch will open whip conspiracy theorists. On this showing, no Salah, no party.
Morocco 0 Iran 1 (Group B)
Late goals were an early trademark of this World Cup, and the nightmare that descended upon Morocco’s Aziz Bouhaddouz in the 95th minute maintained the trend, giving Iran a first World Cup win in 20 years.
It was harsh on the Africans who should have put the game away in the first half. With Iran improving, if rarely threatening after the break, those first-half failings always looked set to haunt them. With virtually the last touch of the game, they did. Bouhaddouz stooped at the near post to thump an awkward-looking header just inside the post and seal the game.
Nike punishes Iran
With Spain and Portugal left to play, the result all but eliminated Morocco. For all that they had the better of the possession and certainly of the first half, it was nonetheless an unexpectedly flat display from the Africans. They were, perhaps, affected by their nation’s failure to win the rights to host the 2026 World Cup earlier that week.
Iran had dramas of their own to contend with as Nike put the boot in – or more accurately, took the boot out – earlier this week as a result of new US sanctions on Iran. As it turned out, they were able to just do it for themselves instead.
FAQ
What was notable about the opening ceremony of the 2018 World Cup in Russia?
The opening ceremony of the 2018 World Cup in Russia was notably restrained, featuring minimal interpretive dance and a parade of young ladies disguised as mushrooms representing the 32 nations, contrasting with the more grandiose Cold War-era celebrations.
How did Russia perform in their first game of the 2018 World Cup?
Russia won their first game against Saudi Arabia with a convincing 5-0 score, demonstrating strong attacking play despite their recent poor form prior to the tournament.
What was remarkable about the Spain versus Portugal match in 2018?
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick, with two goals in the final moments, including a breathtaking free-kick, securing a 3-3 draw and exemplifying his exceptional talent in the tournament opener.
What issues did Egypt face in their first match at the 2018 World Cup?
Egypt struggled without their star player Mo Salah, who was not risked in the match, and despite organizational efforts, they lost 1-0 to Uruguay with a late goal by Jose Gimenez.
What resulted from the Morocco versus Iran game, and what were its implications?
Iran secured a 1-0 victory over Morocco with a late goal, eliminating Morocco from the tournament, while Nike withdrew support from Iran due to US sanctions, affecting the team’s preparations.
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