Summary Substitute Denis Cheryshev came off the bench to score as a brace as hosts Russia made a statement of intent to other group A rivals that they will not be pushovers at the tournament by putting five unanswered goals past an out of par Saudi Arabia. The hosts were under a lot of pressure coming into the match having been on a poor run of form coming into the match but all jitters were put to sleep when Yuri Gazinkly rose high to power Aleksandr Golovin’s left wing cross for the first goal in the 11th minute. The hosts were quick on the break and clinical as substitute Denis Cheryshev capped of a dominating first half display by rounding the goalkeeper to score a beautiful second goal in the 43rd minute. Perhaps the only downside to a good first half was when Alan Drazagoev limped off the field injured with what looked like a tournament ending hamstring injury to be replaced by the aforementioned Cheryshev. Artem Dzuba put the game...
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