24’: Russia Loses Alan Dzagoev

Alan Dzagoev, who was a part of a number of Russia’s moves, pulls up with an apparent hamstring injury. Russia was forced into an early substitution: Denis Cheryshev checked in.

Rory Smith: That’s a significant moment for Russia: not in this game, necessarily, but for the country’s hopes of qualifying from the group stage and continuing its World Cup into the latter stages (a weird thing to say 20 minutes into the first game, but hear me out). Alan Dzagoev is — along with Aleksandr Golovin — one of possibly only two genuinely creative players Russia has. He’s always struggled with injury, but this is terrible timing for him, of course, and for his country. Losing him to what looked an awful lot like a popped hamstring may not affect the result today all that much, but he would have been important for Russia against Egypt and Uruguay, too. There’s now a risk he won’t be available for either.

30’: Saudi Arabia Finally Gets a Shot — and Misses

After a theatrical fall, Saudi Arabia was awarded a free kick from just outside the box. For the first time, Russia fans must sit up a little straighter. Salman Al Faraj did manage to get it on a teammate’s head, but the resulting shot is nowhere near goal.

36’: Saudi Arabia Exposed at the Back

Saudi Arabia, like most underdogs, probably expected to counterattack in this game. But the early Russia goal took away that opportunity. Saudi Arabia has been forced to be aggressive, and it has been Russia that has counterattacked. As a result, Saudi Arabia has looked very exposed at the back.

43’: GOAL. Russia leads 2-0.

It was bound to happen. Russia advanced into Saudi space with numbers, Denis Cheryshev got by the defense and had the keeper at his mercy. What a half-hour for Cheryshev. Sitting on the bench, suddenly thrust into the game by an injury, and now on the World Cup scoreboard.

Andrew Das: Two minutes earlier, Cheryshev tried that same cutback move he used to score the goal, but he seemed surprised that it had worked and flubbed the chance. This time he let two Saudis slide by and buried his shot in the top left corner from a narrow angle.