MOSCOW: Clairvoyant Cat predicted that the World Cup hosts Russia would crushed Saudi Arabia and it prediction proved right as host side defeated Saudi Arabia by 5-0 in the opening match of the football tournament in Moscow on Thursday at the 80,000-capacity Luzhniki stadium.
Without a victory in over eight months and ranked a lowly 70th in the world Russia rocked in the first match of FIFA 2018 world cup.
In the curtainraiser match Denis Cheryshev struck twice while Yury Gazinsky scored after 12 minutes and Cheryshev added a second goal before the break after coming on as an injury substitute for Alan Dzagoev for the hosts in the 43rd minute to double their lead.
Worth mention here Yury Gazinsky scored tournament's opening goal with a firmly-placed header to give host side noteworthy 1-0 lead.
Substitute Denis Cheryshev in his twin strike scored for Russia, a clinical header from Artem Dzyuba, took the hosts to a 3-0 lead against Saudi Arabia in the 71st minute of the match.
Cheryshev scored another outstanding goal for the Russians, taking them to a 4-0 lead in the injury time while Aleksandr Golovin added the fifth and the final goal of the match to grab the win for Russia by 5-0.
