World Cup rewind: Russia crush Saudi Arabia in opener

There’s a lot of news to keep track of this World Cup. We’re here to help, with a daily roundup of all the biggest news.

The World Cup officially kicked off Thursday, as Russia opened the tournament with a dominant 5-0 win against Saudi Arabia. Denis Cheryshev came off the bench to score two wonderful goals, while young star Alexander Golovin also got on the score sheet with a nice free-kick.

Given the concern prior to the tournament about the quality of the Russian team, ranked 70th in the world by FIFA, the result came as something of a relief. There’s a long way to go yet, but Russia took a big step toward avoiding a group-stage exit.

The only bad news was an injury to Alan Dzagoev in the first half. The attacking midfielder was one of Russia’s best players before going off in the first half with a hamstring injury that looks like it could rule him out for the remainder of the tournament.

Cheryshev, along with a very suspect Saudi Arabia defense, ensured Dzagoev’s absence was barely felt, but upcoming matches against Egypt and Uruguay should give us a clearer indication of how good this team actually are.

Next: The best player on every team at the World Cup

Robbie Williams, meanwhile, caused a minor controversy by flipping off the cameras during his performance in the opening ceremony, forcing FOX to apologize to its viewers and adding some excitement to a typically weird tradition.

Elsewhere, Antoine Griezmann, the only person in the entire world who thinks LeBron James’ The Decision was a good idea, appeared on TV to tell everyone he’ll continue to play for the club he already plays for. To be fair, if LeBron had done that, a lot fewer people would’ve been mad.

Friday sees Egypt face off against Uruguay (with Mohamed Salah only fit enough for the bench), Iran play Morocco and Spain take on Portugal with their last-minute manager switch still looming over them.