The 2018 World Cup kicks off with host nation Russia facing Saudi Arabia on Thursday, June 14th at 11am Eastern in Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. The game will feature the two lowest-ranked teams in the entire tournament, as FIFA rankings have Russia in 66th place while Saudi Arabia is just below them at 70th. Regardless, Russia is the odds-on favorite to grab the number two spot in Group A, as favorites to finish behind Uruguay and move on to the knockout round.
As for the opening match itself, odds have Russia as the clear favorite and Saudi Arabia is the underdog. Check our live World Cup odds and enjoy the best betting action by registering right here at Skybook.
Russia
Russia qualified for the 2018 World Cup as the host nation, but their recent record has not been all that stellar. As hosts of the Confederations Cup last year, the only win they managed in that tournament was against New Zealand in the opener before dropping the next two games to Portugal and Mexico. They have also lost a number of recent friendly matches against France (1-3), Brazil (0-3), and Argentina (0-1). They did manage a 3-3 draw with Spain, however, so there is some hope. Russia's recent World Cup history isn't much to write home about either. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has qualified for only three World Cup tournaments, in 1994, 2002 and 2014 and failed to make it out of the group stage in every attempt.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia comes into the game as underdogs, as they finished runners-up in their qualifying group behind Japan. To do so they had to post a 6-1-3 record, which tied them for points (19) with the third-place team Australia, who was forced into a playoff for the final qualifying spot. Saudi Arabia was given the number two spot due to a tie breaker in goals.
Similar to Russia, Saudi Arabia has only been involved in Word Cup tournaments since 1994, when they qualified for the first time in their nation's history. The Saudis would go on to qualify for the next three World Cups after that, but they never made it out of the group stage. Having not qualified for the last two tournaments, Russia 2018 will be their first World cup since Germany 2006.
Match Overview
Russia is likely to win this game. As the host nation it would be a tremendous embarrassment to lose to the worst-ranked team on opening night with the entire world watching. Fortunately for Russia, they historically have a good record on home soil. One has to think that the Russians will find a way to win so as to at least not come away empty-handed at their own World Cup. For Saudi Arabia, the good news is that all of the pressure is off of them, so they may benefit from not having to play under the intense scrutiny that Russia will be facing in this match. Also, Russia has only 3 wins in international competition dating back to 2016 and did not have to go through qualifying last year. They have not had to play a competitive match since last year in The Confederations Cup. Meanwhile, the Saudis have been well-prepped for 2018 after playing under pressure during a close qualifying run. While they haven't won much in their recent matches either (1-1-2 record in friendly matches since qualifying), they nonetheless have played four more matches than the Russians dating back to October of last year. The last time these two teams met was in 1993, with Russia taking a 1-0 victory.
