The 2018 World Cup opening match will pit Russia vs. Saudi Arabia on June 14 at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. It’s a matchup of the two worst teams (by FIFA ranking) in the entire tournament. The World Cup opening match in 2018 is going to unequivocally be the worst ever. But it’s not the end of the world.
The World Cup opening match has only been a big deal for the past 13 World Cups (out of 20), with a mixture of previous champions and hosts taking part in the first kickoff. Five of the first seven World Cups began with simultaneous matches.
Almost every World Cup opening match that was not a simultaneous kickoff has included big teams. Both Brazil and Germany, the two winningest teams in World Cup history, have taken part in four such opening matches. Mexico is right behind with three, plus four more in simultaneous starts.
The last three World Cup openers plus the two in 1966 and 1970 have included the tournament host. The eight openers in between featured the previous Cup’s winner. Starting with a previous winner is a sure-fire way to get a good team in the first match while every prior host aside from Japan/South Korea and South Africa has been a legitimate soccer country.
Russia and Saudi Arabia do not fit the mold.
A preview of the World Cup opening match. Photo: @foofy6 | Twitter
Russia has been to three prior World Cups, never making it out of the group stage while amassing an unimpressive record of 2-5-2 and failing to win a match in Brazil 2014. The Soviet Union had a little more success, finishing among the top eight five times, albeit with a larger player pool from which to pull.
Saudi Arabia has two wins in four World Cup trips, surprisingly advancing to the Round of 16 in the U.S. in 1994 with wins over Morocco and Belgium. But in its last two appearances, Saudi Arabia has been outscored 19-2 in six matches, a 2-2 draw against Tunisia the lone positive result.
Russia, without the benefit of qualifying to boost its ranking, is the lowest-rated side in the field at 65. Saudi Arabia is right behind at 63. South Korea (62) is the only other World Cup team ranked above 50.
No doubt about it, Russia vs. Saudi Arabia is not sexy on paper. But it has a chance to be more entertaining than most World Cup openers in recent history, as long as we ignore human rights issues from the nations involved.
Since the World Cup has begun with a single match, the scores have been:
- Brazil 3-1 Croatia
- South Africa 1-1 Mexico
- Germany 4-2 Costa Rica
- Senegal 1-0 France
- Brazil 2-1 Scotland
- Germany 1-0 Bolivia
- Cameroon 1-0 Argentina
- Italy 1-1 Bulgaria
- Belgium 1-0 Argentina
- West Germany 0-0 Poland
- Brazil 0-0 Yugoslavia
- Mexico 0-0 Soviet Union
- England 0-0 Uruguay
That’s 21 goals in 13 matches, or 1.6 per match, well below the average of 2.6 per match during World Cup matches in that span.
With Russia facing Saudi Arabia in a match both teams will realistically need to win to advance out of the group, we could get one of the group-stage’s most entertaining matches, even if the quality might not be on par with, say, Portugal vs. Spain or Argentina vs. Croatia. It will be like a relegation six-pointer.
Russian president Vladimir Putin will be pleased with his nation's draw, particularly the World Cup opening match. Photo: @UKFootballTimes | Twitter
The most entertaining World Cup opening matches have been Germany’s rampaging 4-2 win over Costa Rica and Brazil’s inspired 3-1 victory over Croatia. Both involved teams were desperate to put on a show for the home team and Russia will be in a similar boat.
Plus, the atmosphere should be inspired, with zealous Russians eager to see their nation play well on the world’s biggest stage. They may even be confident of their chances to advance given their fortunate draw, in which Russia nearly got the easiest possible draw — Uruguay and Saudi Arabia were the worst teams in their pots while Egypt was second worst by one spot behind Iran.
So while the casual fan may think he or she can just wait to tune in for the Uruguay-Egypt match on the second day of the World Cup, real fans will want to watch Russia vs. Saudi Arabia. Even if both teams suck.
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