Chapter 13 Opening Ceremony and Opening Game

The World Cup is getting closer and closer, and the atmosphere in Russia has become increasingly passionate.

There are a large number of fans reveling every night, which has also led to the expulsion of many drunken and troublesome fans.

But these still cannot stop the wave of carnival in the World Cup.

The long-awaited event finally arrived on June 14, which is the opening ceremony of the 2018 World Cup.

Held at the Luzhkini Stadium in Moscow.

Even though it was five o'clock in the afternoon, the entire sky was extremely bright.

Yes!

Russia has entered a period of extreme darkness, and this has also made the atmosphere of the fans even more exciting.

Under the hot sunshine, it gives people the illusion that it is still noon, and the atmosphere remains high.

There are live broadcast helicopters hovering in the sky. Through the helicopter's bird's-eye view, you can see that the entire Luzhkini Stadium has been plunged into jubilation.

Fans from all over the world gathered here, and they dressed up carefully in front of the camera to express their enthusiasm for the World Cup.

The time slowly approached, and finally at 17:30 Moscow time, with fans all over the world waiting in front of the TV, the curtain finally kicked off.

Once the camera appears, it shows the entire Luzhkini Stadium overlooking the scene.

But the camera quickly changed.

I saw a space scene on the TV. In a space station, an astronaut dropped a black and white balloon into the earth.

The camera turned to show a child on the ground catching the ball and dribbling it forward.

Along with the passionate music, the fans are gradually making noise in their hearts.

This idea has fans all over the world applauding.

"CCTV, CCTV, the official match ball of this World Cup landed in Moscow after traveling through space. Today we are in Moscow, the capital of Russia, at the Luzhkini Stadium to provide you with the commentary for the opening ceremony."

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The scene shifted to the Luzhkini Stadium again, and fierce cheers came through the camera. This cheer seemed to convey the passion very well. All the fans watching this live broadcast felt a sense of scalp. A tingling feeling.

This is the World Cup held every four years!

This is a football carnival that happens every four years!

How could this moment not be exciting?

In a hotel in Nizhny Novgorod, the Chinese team also gathered to watch the opening ceremony.

I didn't feel anything big before.

But looking at the stimulating music and enthusiastic cheers on the TV, every player seemed to have a fire burning in his heart, and the less, the more powerful.

At this moment, they finally felt the enthusiasm from the World Cup.

As a player who is about to appear on the World Cup stage, I am not only excited at this moment, but also accompanied by a trace of nervousness.

Especially for those young players, they clenched their fists and looked nervous but excited.

Obviously, at this moment, they had been completely infected by that atmosphere.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the opening ceremony without blinking.

The entire opening ceremony is divided into several stages.

There is a theme song that is widely sung. As the theme song of this World Cup, "liveitup" is different from the previous two World Cups. The popularity of this theme song is very low.

I can’t say it sounds bad, but it’s just not that catchy.

But these are not important. Football is the eternal topic in the World Cup.

Retired world superstar Ronaldo made an appearance, which also brought a moderate climax to the opening ceremony.

The entire opening ceremony lasted nearly 20 minutes. After the opening ceremony, it directly switched to the opening match of the day.

The host country Russia plays against Saudi Arabia.

As the host country, the Russian national team plays at home, so they are working hard to perform well.

Compared to Russia, Saudi Arabia, as a sparring partner, is a little nervous.

There is a gap in strength, and they are playing against the host country, so they will inevitably have a lot of pressure.

When the starting lineups of both sides were announced, many people couldn't help but grin.

"Saudi Arabia is rare and doesn't have buses?"

Chen Man said.

Liu Kairui on the side laughed and said, "As the opening match, Saudi Arabia sets up a bus. The match is long and smelly. How can we show the intensity of the match? We must have communicated with it in advance!"

Saudi Arabia is also a frequent visitor to the World Cup.

Although the record in the World Cup was not very good, it still left a strong impression on people.

That is the ‘bus team’ or ‘4-4-1-1’ professional accounts, etc.

On the World Cup stage, you can always see Saudi Arabia setting up buses.

Even in the last game, they were still setting up the bus.

For this reason, many people ridiculed that the Saudis set up the bus to indicate in advance that they would be eliminated.

It is a tradition in Saudi Arabia to have buses.

But in this game, Saudi Arabia actually adopted a 4-1-4-1 formation.

Compared with the bus, some positions have been changed, but it still gives people an inseparable connection between them and the bus.

On the other hand, Russia's side is a normal 4-2-3-1.

The entire formation needs to be more offensive. It is obvious that the Russians are determined to win this opening game.

The starting lineups of both sides are as follows:

Russia (4-2-3-1):

Goalkeeper: Akinfeev.

Defenders: Fernandez, Kutepov, Ingnashevich, Zhirkov.

Midfielders: Samedov, Gasinsky, Zagoyev, Zobnin, Golovin.

Forward: Smolov.

Saudi Arabia (4-1-4-1):

Goalkeeper: Mayov.

Defenders: Shahrani, Osman, Hausawi, Black.

Midfielders: Dawasari, Faraj, Otayev, Yasim, Shehri.

Forward: Sahrawi.

The game had already started, and there was a commotion at the scene.

Saudi Arabia seized the mistake of Russian full-back Zhirkov and headed the ball, cut inside, and Shehri made a cross pass to assist Sahrawi to score the first goal.

Saudi Arabia scored a goal just five minutes into the game.

This goal stunned everyone.

The Russian fans at the scene were also stunned.

Even Lekai, who was watching the live broadcast, was at a loss.

In his memory, Russia should have won a big victory and shut out Saudi Arabia.

But what happened?

Did Saudi Arabia not give the host face in the first game and directly come with a wave of Hema style?

In the end, it was shown that Lekai was still overthinking.

Saudi Arabia seized the opportunity and scored a goal, which was a severe lesson for Russia.

But then, Russia quickly adjusted and continued to increase its offensive strength.

Finally, in the 15th minute, with Gasinski's header, the score was equalized.

After the score was equalized, Russian fans finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the atmosphere at the scene returned to enthusiasm.

In the 24th minute, Russian midfielder Gaglov was injured and Zagoyev came on as a substitute.

At the end of the first half, Cheryshev helped Russia expand the score again.

This also brought the entire stadium to a climax.

In the second half, Russia was completely opened.

The offensive weight was constantly increased. Perhaps the goal lost at the beginning angered this group of fighting people. Their offensive was extremely fierce.

In the 71st minute, the substitute center forward, who had been on the bench for only one minute, received a pass from his teammate and volleyed the ball from the back point to penetrate the Saudi Arabian goal and expand the score to 3:1.

In the 85th minute, Golovin, who had two assists, completed a wonderful dribbling show on the wing. After passing two people, he broke into the penalty area and a volley from the back point made the score 4:1.

The Russians who got four goals were still unwilling.

When the Saudi players were in a frustrated state, they increased their efforts again.

In the injury time, Dzyuba assisted Cheryshev to score another goal, and the score was 5:1.

Just two minutes after the goal, at the last moment when the whistle sounded.

Golovin once again completed a world wave from outside the penalty area to penetrate the goal!

The score was expanded to 6:1!

The Russian fans in the stadium were boiling.

They beat Saudi Arabia 6:1 in the opening match.

This score also made Russian fans extremely excited.

The whole stadium began to cheer "Ura! Ura".

In the end, the score was fixed at 6:1.

Russia won its first victory in the opening match.

Saudi Arabia ended the first match in a dismal defeat.