Russian party

Russian party

World Cup hosts have done well both on and off the football pitch.

With all the teams at the ongoing Fifa World Cup in Russia having played at least one match each, it’s time to take stock of the initial performances. There have been quite a few surprises over the past week. Not least of which has been the performance of the host team. Russia kicked off the tournament in spectacular fashion by scoring an emphatic 5-0 victory over Saudi Arabia, and then bested Egypt 3-1 to plant a firm foot in the next round. This from a team that was seen to be one of the weakest among the Europeans in the tournament. And with home support behind them, there’s no telling how far they can go.

Then there was the clash of the titans when Portugal squared off against Spain. The match certainly lived up to its billing with Portuguese phenom Cristiano Ronaldo coming to the party with an exquisite hat-trick to draw up the tie. This was followed by the two big upsets – minnows Iceland holding powerhouse Argentina to a well-deserved draw and Mexico upsetting defending champions Germany 1-0 in a thrilling encounter. Equally surprising was Brazil’s 1-1 draw against a determined Switzerland.

And rounding things off were Japan – which became the first Asian team to beat a South American side at the World Cup by defeating Colombia – and Senegal – which became the first African team to win at this tournament by defeating Poland. Thus, the World Cup seems to be wide open with no team decisively stamping its authority so far. Meanwhile, by all accounts Russia seems to be hosting the tournament smoothly, even smilingly. Now whether that positive also applies to the video assistant refereeing system at the tournament is another debate.