The World Cup is almost a week in and most of the 48 teams participating in this expanded edition of the internationally beloved tournament have already made their opening campaigns.
The group stages are crucial for setting the stage, with every major side looking to establish early dominance and steamroll their way past the opposition to book their way into the knockout rounds.
But, in typical World Cup fashion, the tournament has already produced some excitement, with many teams on paper struggling to dominate what on-paper seem like easy fixtures.
Here is a summary of all the games that took place on Monday and into the early hours of Tuesday.
Sweden v Tunisia
The Scandinavian team in yellow opened their Group F match against Tunisia in what was expected to be a more tightly contested fixture – but – in a remarkable display, Sweden, was able to power through and turn a game likely to end in a draw, into a remarkable display.
Swedish midfielder Yasin Ayari quickly opened the scoring for his country, giving them the lead less than 10 minutes into kick-off.
A goal by Liverpool striker Alexander Isak in the 30th minute of the game, ushered in a break of momentum in the match, which had at that point been dominated, statistically at least, by Tunisia, in possession, passing and chances created.
They were however unable to maintain their solid lead for long, after the North African team found their footing with a strike from Slovenian team NK Maribor defender Omar Rekik in the 43rd minute to reel the match back to 2-1 just minutes before heading into the first half break.
The second half appeared to be have more of the same in stock, with the first 15 minutes or so providing no breakthrough for either team despite attempts to breach solid defences.
The tide quickly started turning for Sweden however, who play an uncommon double striker system to utilise their top forward talents of Isak and Arsenal’s Viktor Gyokerres.
Gyokerres was able to place his team comfortably back into the driver’s seat in the match after scoring in the 59th minute, edging 3-1 ahead of their opposition.
It wasn’t until the 84th minute where the yellow and blue were able to find the back of the net again, after VfL Wolfsburg midfielder Mattias Svanberg scored to make it 4-1.
The challenge was on for Tunisia who looked to bridge the gap and not suffer a large goal differential, which could matter if teams are even on points after all three group stage matches are played.
Ultimately though, the North African nation failed to hold on, conceding one more goal in the dying minutes of the match after Ayari scored again in the 96th minute.
Spain v Cape Verde
Many were anticipating Spain’s opening game in the World Cup to see the form a team considered one of the favourites to clinch the title, fared against their competition early on.
Spain went into their first fixture missing their star forward Lamine Yamal, who did travel with the team but remains injured. He is expected to make a comeback into the team either next match or the final group stage match.
The game ended in a nil-nil draw despite Spain, in typical tiki-taka fashion dominating possession, with close to 70%, and registering almost two dozen shots in the 90 minutes of play.
Ultimately, the former World Cup and reigning European champions failed to score in their tournament debut, dropping two crucial points in what many thought would be a high-scoring display.
Egypt v Belgium
This match was more on the surprising end for many spectators as it played out to be an even contest, despite Belgium, on paper, being the stronger side.
Egypt was able to go toe-to-toe with the Belgian Red Devils, who found themselves in an unexpected situation, playing catch up with the Pharaoh for the majority of the game.
Al Alhy’s Emam Ashour opened the scoring for Egypt with a powerful shot into the bottom left corner that stunned Real Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois in the 20th minute.
Both teams had ample opportunities in the first half but Belgium failed to level the game, and Egypt wasted at least two high-quality chances to expand their lead further.
The Red Devils were able to pull one back not too long after play resumed in the second half, after manager Rudi Garcia subbed seasoned striker Romelo Lukaku in, who was able to force an error from the Egyptian defences, who scored an own goal in the 66th in an attempt to clear a ball fed into the box.
Belgium was coming off a dominant display where they were able to comfortably cruise 5-0 past Tunisia in an international friendly just one week ago.
Saudi Arabia v Uruguay
Maxi Araújo finally gave the crowd of mostly Uruguay fans in South Florida something to cheer about with his tying goal late in Monday’s World Cup opener against Saudi Arabia.
La Celeste salvaged a point, but they were not thrilled with the result.
“We gave it away. We have to be honest,” said Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde in Spanish after his side played to a 1-1 draw, making up for a flat first half by controlling the second.
La Celeste dominated possession and had 29 attempts on goal to Saudi Arabia’s seven but trailed until late in the second half.
Abdulelah Al-Amri scored on a rebound in the 41st minute for Saudi Arabia, and Araújo got the equalizer in the 80th, firing a rebound past goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais from close range.
Iran v New Zealand
The last game of the day in the North American tournament also produced a draw as Iran fought back twice to level the game New Zealand looked to marginally edge ahead in.
Elijah Just opened the scoring in the 7th minute of the encounter, but celebrations didn’t linger too long as Iran’s Ramin Rezaeian pulled one back for his side on the 32nd minute, making the match even as the two teams broke for the second half.
Just was able to find the back of the net once more just 10 minutes into the second 45 minutes of play. Iran however remained defiant, and were able to once more level the match just 10 minutes after Mohammad Mohebi, who plays as a winger for Russian side Rostov, managed to score in the 64th minute.
