Russia beats Saudi Arabia 5-0 to open 2018 World Cup

Russia got two goals from Denis Cheryshev and single scores from Yury Gazinsky, Artem Dzuba and Roman Zobnin to a 5-0 win over Saudi Arabia before a crowd of 78,011 at Luzhniki Stadium.

Igor Akinfeev picked up the shutout in goal without making a save.

Russia — both the country and the team — made history just by showing up since this World Cup is the first to be played in Eastern Europe. They made some more with the result, Russia’s first World Cup win in 16 years.

Russia now has four days to prepare for its next game with Egypt, one that will go a long way toward deciding if the team will continue making history.