Russia got their own World Cup off to a dream start on Thursday, thrashing Saudi Arabia 5-0 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. 

Yuri Gazinskiy headed the hosts in front after 12 minutes to ease the tension and Denis Cheryshev conjured a clever finish shortly before half-time to establish a two-goal lead.

The Saudis improved in the second half but could not create the clear-cut chance they needed to get back into the game, and Russia rattled off three late goals to sit on top of Group A overnight. 

Russia aren’t so terrible

The hosts were labelled “the worst Russian team I have seen in my life” by Andrei Kanchelskis in the lead up to this match, while the Moscow Times declared this week that they were “doomed to fail”. Admittedly a win over Saudi Arabia is not a foolproof gauge but their performance showed it is far from doom and gloom for Russia, in what is the softest group in the tournament.

Their final flourish, which included a stunning finish by Cheryshev and wonderfully taken free-kick by the livewire Aleksandr Golovin, illustrated some of the threats that this side carries. 

But victory came at a cost...

Russia’s picture-perfect start to the World Cup was blemished on 23 minutes when Alan Dzagoev pulled up on the counter-attack, ominously clutching his hamstring. The midfielder departed a minute later to groans from the Luznihky crowd, who were well aware they are unlikely to see the 27-year-old again in his home tournament.

It was as sad for Dzagoev as it was hard on Russia. A metatarsal injury forced him to miss Euro 2016, which was seen as a major blow, and he is arguably even more integral two years on. His replacement, Cheryshev, showed hugely impressive composure to take his goals and head coach Stanislav Chercheslov will hope he can replace a player with 58 caps to his name.

...Which has raised the pressure on Golovin

If Russia are to progress from Group A without Dzagoev, they will need more moments of inspiration from the skilful Golovin, a man with magnetic boots who is yet to take a wayward touch this tournament.

The midfielder created the opening goal, bringing the ball down gracefully on his chest before delivering an arcing cross which found Yuri Gazinskiy’s sizeable forehead, then repeated the trick to tee up Artem Dzyuba for their third. In a match short on technical proficiency, the 22-year-old CSKA Moscow talent broke the mould and is likely to have scouts’ noses twitching all over Europe. 

Plan B: Send on the big man

Just as the game was fizzling out, Chercheslov brought on the towering striker Dzyuba who had the ball in the net barely a minute later. The 29-year-old is said to have fallen out with his national manager on several occasions, including one ill-advised impression of his manager on Instagram, but with 12 goals now to his name from his 24 caps, Dzyuba’s potential impact from the bench cannot be ignored and will be a useful weapon going forwards. 

Russia loves Robbie Williams. Who knew?

It was unexpected to see the 2018 World Cup in Russia launched by a 1990s British pop star, but the locals lapped up Robbie Williams’ performance. To his credit, the former Take That songster kept it simple, got the job done and got out of there. Much like Russia.