Group A Matchday 2 - 19/20 June - Russia 3-0 Egypt, Uruguay 1-0 Saudi Arabia

[bozziovai]

at last it is done .................

 

mader-land and boring uruguay going thru ....................

[SirBalon]

I've written about it countless times that Uruguay just play that way. Their style is very similar to that of Atlético Madrid and like Atleti, they could play better.

But the serious note is the MASSIVELY gap between some teams and others. There was a time when African nations looked to be closing that gap but it's widened again considerably in my opinion. The Middle East teams really have lowered their standard. Let's see what happens in the other group game tonight with Iran, see if they can show up and give a proper scare because otherwise this is dismal.

[RandoEFC+]

As if I fell asleep just after the goal and woke up when the injury time boards came up and missed nothing. It's Saudi Arabia ffs. 

[RandoEFC+]

38 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Only winning 1-0 against KSA should eject you from the tournament.

"Shut the country down".

[The Palace Fan]

After seeing how they all played in the first set of group games, I was adamant that there would need to be rather thick brown envelopes heading both Egypt's and Uruguay's way to allow Russia to qualify. Whilst Russia kept the ball well and have a player in Golovin who looked more than capable of carrying on his European form, Saudi Arabia looked dismal. As @Blue rather correctly pointed out, the Manager set the side up completely wrong and didn't learn as the game progressed.

Egypt on the other hand against Uruguay looked organised, fit, and had defenders that could cope with Russia's aerial threat. There downside for the fixture was that without Salah they didn't have anything going forward. You could imagine that would change against Russia, with Salah expected to be fit going up against a defence that doesn't include Godin and Caceres.

So with that in mind, I was really impressed with how Russia performed against Egypt. After they went a goal up by being more alert they increased in confidence and continued with an efficent performance. What's impressing me most is how they're using Cheryshev and Dzuyba to their strengths well. I can definitely see Cheryshev getting a move this summer as previously suggested by @Cannabis

I wouldn't be surprised to see Russia get a result against Uruguay now. In both games I haven't seen the same intensity or creativity that benefited Uruguay at the previous two world cups. Which has surprised me given the feedback from ( from @El Profesor I think ) that this was their most creative midfield yet. There star players haven't looked like they've moved in to second gear once either. It got to a point in the last game where I wondered if Suarez was nursing an injury.