Russia vs Saudi Arabia: Live commentary, online stream, kick-off time, team news for 2018 World Cup opener
Hosts will face Juan Antonio Pizzi's side after the opening ceremony at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow
Hosts Russia face Saudi Arabia in the opening match of the 2018 World Cup, LIVE on talkSPORT.
The Group A clash will take place after the opening ceremony at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.
When is Russia v Saudi Arabia?
The opening game will take place on Thursday, June 14.
It will kick-off at 4pm UK time.
The Luzhniki Stadium will host the showdown.
How can I listen live?
Who are the key players?
Saudi Arabia ace Mohammad Al-Sahlawi scored 16 goals in just 14 matches to finish the AFC qualification campaign as joint-top scorer.
However, there are suggestions he is no more than a flat-track bully, as 14 of those goals came in the weaker first group stage rather than the tougher second group stage.
Russia could be relying on Alan Dzagoev for success now that Aleksandr Kokorin will miss the tournament through injury.
Dzagoev, the CSKA Moscow star, missed both Euro 2016 and the Confederations Cup with injury, and will want to make his mark on the world stage this summer to make up for lost time.
How did both teams preparations for the World Cup go?
Russia played two friendlies in the weeks leading up to the start of the tournament, and failed to win either of them. They suffered a 1-0 defeat to Austria on May 30 before drawing 1-1 Turkey in Moscow on June 5. They head into the World Cup winless in six matches.
Saudi Arabia played an incredible five matches in the build up to the World Cup, with their first fixture coming on May 9 against Algeria in Spain, which they won 2-0. They stayed in Spain to play Greece six days later, running out 2-0 winners again, before travelling to Switzerland for a double-header against Italy then Peru. They were beaten 2-1 by Italy and 3-0 by Peru and finished their preparations on June 8, six days before their opening fixture at the finals, with a visit to Leverkusen to play Germany, losing 2-1 to the reigning world champions.
What is the team news?
Russia starting XI: Akinfeev, Fernandes, Kutepov, Igansevich, Zhirkov, Gazinskiy, Zobnin, Samedov, Golovin, Dzagoev, Smolov.
Saudi Arabia starting XI: Al-Maiouf, Alburayk, Os.Hawsawi, Om.Hawsawi, Al-Shahrani, Otayf, Al-Dawsari, Al-Faraj, Al-Jassam, Al-Shehri, Al-Sahlawi.
talkSPORT will be with listeners all day and all night at this years 2018 FIFA World Cup with over 800 hours of World Cup content and all 64 games live across the talkSPORT network.
