Didn’t realise it was an early kickoff. I was looking forward to watching it after work but I missed it. Just watched the highlights, wow Russia scored some fantastic goals!
Gary Neville summed it up when he said that the Saudis looked quite good but would have been happier without goalposts at either end. They were good at getting the ball to within 30 yards but ran out of ideas, and defending just wasn’t something they wanted to entertain at all. In short, a bit like Southampton under MP2,
Keep Archers. We told him that at the time, then the cheeky, whipper snapper came back with some comment about “since he’s been around” - Ageist bastard.
Also made the valid point that most of the players were in the top 2 sides in Saudi Arabia who won everything, so had little experience of defending as they could just bomb forward. Whatever the reason, the result was good for the tournament. The Russians were pessimistic about their team (even more grumpy than the average England fan)….this result will have lifted the mood in the country. Noticed Putin sitting with the Saudi leader (King, Prince?)….rather limited his ability to leap up and punch the air. The 4th or 5th goal was greeted strangely by a surprised shrug.
Nigeria fans have been banned from taking live chickens into stadiums: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44495870
Only in the last 10 minutes. Suarez was awful, but Cavani and Godin were good. Egypt should have risked Salah for the last 10.
