In Russia, the month-long 2018 World Cup has started, with 32 teams and 736 football players competing.
This World Cup will be typical - 32 national teams are divided into four groups of eight. The tournament has received mixed reactions - some promise to ignore it due to political views, while others simply enjoy the football event.
The most visited country's football news portal "EuroFootball.com" will try to provide the most interesting information from Russia throughout the championship. Every day, you will be able to follow the events of the World Cup live.
Today there will be three matches - two matches in Group H will conclude the first round, and the clash in Group A will start the battles of the second round.
The matches of today (3:00 PM) will start with the showdown between Colombia and Japan. The favorite of this match is considered the representative of South America.
Projected starting lineups:
Colombia: (4-2-3-1) David Ospina; Johan Mojica, Davinson Sanchez, Yerry Mina, Santiago Arias; Carlos Sanchez, Abel Aguilar; Mateus Uribe, James Rodriguez, Juan Cuadrado; Radamel Falcao.
Japan: (4-2-3-1) Eiji Kawashima; Yuto Nagatomo, Yomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Gotoku Sakai; Makoto Hasebe, Hotaru Yamaguchi; Keisuke Honda, Shinji Kagawa, Genki Haraguchi; Yuya Osako.
Later (6:00 PM), our neighbors the Poles will also begin their journey in the world championship. The Polish team, which crushed the Lithuanian national team in the last friendly match, will try to secure three points against Senegal in the first round.
Projected starting lineups:
Poland: (3-4-3) Lukasz Fabianski; Michal Pazdan, Jan Bednarek, Lukasz Piszczek; Jakub Blaszczykowski, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Karol Linetty, Maciej Rebus; Piotr Zielinski, Kamil Grosicki, Robert Lewandowski.
Senegal: (4-2-3-1) Abdoulaye Diallo; Lamine Gassama, Kalidou Koulibaly, Salif Sane, Youssouf Sabaly; Idrissa Gueye, Cheikhou Kouyate; Ismaila Sarr, Sadio Mane, M'Baye Niang; Diafra Sakho.
In the final match of the day, the possibly most important Group A battle for a place in the next stage will take place. After starting the championship with a win, the Russians will try to secure a place in the next stage in a match against Egypt, which after the first failure can no longer stumble and today faces probably us and their biggest star Mohamed Salah.
Projected starting lineups:
Russia: (3-4-2-1) Igor Akinfeev; Fedor Kudryashov, Ilya Kutepov, Vladimir Granat; Yuri Zhirkov, Alexandr Golovin, Roman Zobnin, Alexandr Samedov; Aleksei Miranchuk, Denis Cheryshev; Fedor Smolov
Egypt: (4-2-3-1) Mohamed El-Shenawy; Mohamed Abdel Shafy, Ahmed Hegazi, Ali Gabr, Ahmed Fathy; Tarek Hamed, Mohamed Elneny; Ramadan Sobhi, Abdallah Said, Mohamed Salah; Marwan Mohsen.
After the victorious match against Germany, Mexican national team member Carlos Vela received unpleasant news - his grandfather passed away. After these news, the Mexican shared a heartfelt message, hoping that his departed grandfather was proud of his grandson's achievements.
Although most compliments after the first victorious English match went to Harry Kane, the performance of Kieran Trippier did not go unnoticed. In the match against Tunisia, he created six goal-scoring opportunities and according to this indicator, in the history of the England national team in World Cups, he is surpassed only by David Beckham, who in 2006 against Trinidad and Tobago created 7 opportunities for his team to score.
African representatives are currently struggling in this World Cup. They not only have not earned a single point but also scored only one goal: the Tunisian representative Ferjani Sassi managed to score.
The Saudi Arabian national team had to experience trouble while flying on a plane. The engine caught fire in the air, but luckily, disaster was avoided, and the team safely landed.
