Great sports event of the year is just around the corner. Today in Russia begins the month-long 2018 World Cup, where 32 teams and 736 football players will compete.
This World Cup will be standard - 32 national teams are divided into four groups of eight. The tournament has received various reactions - some promise to ignore it due to political views, while others simply want to enjoy the football celebration.
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, it will be possible to watch events from the World Cup live.
Today, the tournament hosts, the Russians, will step onto the starting line - in Moscow, the Russian team, supported by their fans, will face the likely weakest team in the championship, Saudi Arabia. The start of the match is at 18:00 Lithuanian time.
Despite facing the tournament underdogs, there is fear about these matches in Russia. The whole country expects only victory, but the Russians did not shine during the preparation and a draw or even a loss would not be a big sensation.
For football fans, these teams are not well known, but both have a few individually strong players. The Russian team has talented Aleksandr Golovin, and Saudi Arabian team has Fahad Al-Muwallad.
Predicted starting line-ups for these matches:
Russia: (3-4-2-1) Akinfeev; Granat, Kutepov, Ignashevich; Samedov, Golovin, Zobnin, Zhirkov; Miranchuk, Dzagoev; Smolov.
Saudi Arabia: (4-2-3-1) Al-Mayouf; Al-Shahrani, Omar Hawsawi, Osama Hawsawi, Al-Harbi; Otayf, Al-Jassim; Al-Muwallad, Al-Shehri, Al-Dawsari; Al-Sahlawi.
What do the coaches say?
Russian national team coach Stanislav Cherchesov: "Even before the start of the championship, we have received criticism from our media, but no matter what, it is natural. We are under the magnifying glass and we must remain calm. I feel quite confident and do not underestimate the fact that people are not speaking well of us.
After all, praise in some sense is also criticism? We want people to change their minds about us after the first few matches. We will try to prove that with our performance. Why will we win against Saudi Arabia? Simply because we will want it more."
Saudi Arabia coach Juan Antonio Pizzi: "We believe that success in this tournament can only be achieved if we focus only on one match and no more. At the moment, all our attention is focused only on the Russian national team. In my opinion, Russia is the strongest team we will face in this group stage.
We know well how Russia prepares to play against us. We will try to punish them with our weapons - we will wait for moments and attack when they least expect it."
Interesting facts:
Russian and Saudi Arabian national teams have only met once in their history - in 1993, the teams played a friendly match. The Russians celebrated victory with a score of 4:2.
In the FIFA rankings, Russia is the lowest-ranked team among all World Cup participants - 70th place. Formally, the weakest team of the tournament, Saudi Arabia, ranks 67th.
Russia has not won any matches in 2018 - since their last victory, which was achieved in October 2017, the Russians lost four matches and played three draws.
As hosts, in their last 14 matches, they have only won once against teams participating in the World Cup.
Saudi Arabia will be the first Asian team in football history to play in the opening match of the World Cup.
The opening match will take place in Moscow's "Luzhniki" stadium, which can accommodate 80,000 spectators. This is the largest stadium of this year's World Cup.
There will be seven matches in total - four group stage matches, followed by a semi-final, quarter-final, and final. The reconstruction work of this stadium, built in 1955, cost 350 million euros.
During today's opening ceremony, starting at 17:00 Lithuanian time, one of the most famous music stars Robbie Williams will also perform.
All 32 national teams have already arrived in Russia. The last team to reach this year's football capital was the Japanese national team, who will compete in Group H against Colombia, Poland, and Senegal.
Welcome to Russia, #JPN! All 32 #WorldCup teams are now here! @FIFAWorldCup
You can get to know all the groups and teams in our created article series "World Cup Rhythm."A Group B Group C Group D Group E Group F Group G Group H Group
A group of Spanish football legends have arrived in Russia - Iker Casillas, Xavi, Michel Salgado, and Carles Puyol. Iker Casillas will also work as a commentator for "BeIN Sport" in Russia.
Recalling great moments of the @sefutbol together with @xavi. Always a joy to see you, my friend!
Last polishing of Saudi Arabia before the opening match against Russia. The hopes of the Asian representatives to win this match are viewed very cautiously - Russians are the favorites. "We're going to enjoy everything about the privilege of playing in the Opening Match" Do you back #KSA to pick up three points? #WorldCup @SaudiNT_EN
Spain's national team coach Julen Lopetegui, who was sensationally dismissed just before the start of the tournament, has already returned to Madrid. The "Real" team will hold his presentation ceremony immediately after the first World Cup match, at 20:00.
Official Announcement: presentation of Julen Lopetegui.#RealMadrid @realmadriden
Transfermarkt.de calculated that the most valuable team in the World Cup is France, while the least valuable is Panama. The two most valuable players in this championship are former Barcelona teammates Neymar and Lionel Messi - 180 million euros.
The Russian and Saudi Arabian football players have already arrived at the stadium and will start warming up soon. Before the start of the match - about half an hour before the whistle - all the world-class music stars will perform at the stadium. "It's time #WorldCup" Maskva...
Muscovites have brought the World Cup trophy to the stadium, Madrid "Real" and Spanish football legend Iker Casillas. He was the captain of the Spanish team that won the championship in 2010.https://twitter.com/hashtag/Russia2018
