Saudi Arabia’s head coach, Juan Antonio Pizzi has admitted that his team suffered a big defeat against Russia in the 2018 World Cup opening game.
“It was a tough game and we suffered a big and unexpected defeat,” said Pizzi “Russia did very well, while we did not appear to be in good shape. We have to forget about it now and think of the next match. I have confidence in these players.”
Juan Antonio Pizzi led Chile to the 2016 Copa América title, and he has been ‘busy’ since taking Saudi job last November when he succeeded Edgardo Bauza only two months after the Argentinian had replaced Bert van Marwijk.
Saudi Arabia had enjoyed 61% of possession in full-time, but their awful defending gave Russia a confident 5-0 win on Thursday in Moscow in the opening match in front of over 78,000 spectators at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. Russia’s Denis Cheryshev became the first-ever substitute to score a goal in the opening match of a World Cup tournament, while Artem Dzyuba, Aleksandr Golovin and Yuri Gazinsky scored one goal each.
Their victory also means that the host nation has never lost their opening match in any of the 21 editions of the FIFA World Cup (W16 D6 L0). Saudi Arabia have not won any of their last 11 games at the World Cup (W0 D2 L9), their last win in the competition dates back to the group stages of the 1994 tournament they defeated Belgium 1-0. Saudi Arabia, placed in Group A, is playing its next Group stage match against Uruguay on June 20 in the city of Rostov-on-Don, while Russia is facing Egypt on June 19 in St. Petersburg.
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