As one of the outsiders to win the World Cup, I doubt any of us was expecting Saudi Arabia to pull of any type of miracle in their very first Group Stage match, and it was no surprise to see them lose against Russia in that opening game.

However, what probably did surprise people was the final score of the match that being a very decisive 5-0 win by Russia, who it does have to be said played like true professionals.

That match does of course mean that Russia are proving they still are the favourites they were before the first match was played to top their Group, and if they carry on playing like they did in that match against Saudi Arabia, we can expect them to breeze through the Group Stages.

The opening ceremony did get off to a great start and with no major incidents reports, a good mix of fans in Russia and the powers that be in Russia have right to be very proud of themselves, and it was good to see a true mix of fans, including those wearing veils being permitted to sit in the grandstand and with no abuse or otherwise levelled at them.

What Next for Russia?

The next match that Russia are going to be playing in Group A is of course against Egypt and that match is going to be taking place on June the 19^th, so fans of that team will not have very long to wait.

However, if there is one team in Group A that Russia have anything to fear from it is Egypt so it will be very interesting to see how they get on in that match.

It will then be on June the 25^th that Russia will be playing Uruguay, and I think that is going to be a match in which Russia should gain the upper hand, much more so if they play anything like they did against Saudi Arabia.

More Group A Match for Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia may be brushing themselves down after the hammering they got from Russia, however they still do have two matches left to play in Group A, and those matches will kick off starting with their match against Uruguay on the 20^th of June.

If I had to make a prediction for that match I think it is very safe to say that Uruguay should come out on top, and if they play like Russia did then they may be able to bang in plenty of goals during the course of that match!

The final match Saudi Arabia will be playing in Group A, and probably the very last match of the World Cup 2018 for them will see them playing against Egypt, and that match is all scheduled to kick off on the 25^th of June.

Once again I cannot see Saudi Arabia having any chance of winning hat match and as such it should go the way of Egypt who probably also end up in position two of Group A if they are lucky!