The Confederations Cup has kicked off with host nation Russian Federation opening the World Cup rehearsal tournament against New Zealand.
But only one of them - CSKA Moscow 21-year-old Aleksandr Golovin - has big potential.
The Russian national team and the New Zealand team have never played against each other for the whole history of their existence. He will be stand-in skipper at the Confederations Cup for the injured Winston Reid, and he's also the youngest player ever to have appeared at the Tournament of Champions, turning out for New Zealand aged just 17 in South Africa in 2009.
One of the most common time-wasting tactics used by teams holding a narrow lead is for a player to be substituted and then leave the field slowly, stopping to shake hands with opponents and match officials along the way.
Host Russia were clearly the better side as they missed a handful of chances, but the three points was all that matters.
Ronaldo has scored 18 goals in his last 11 matches, including two in Portugal's 3-0 win at Latvia in a European World Cup qualifier last week, the team's last match before the Confederations Cup opener against Mexico.
Trudeau shuts down proposed Netflix tax
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, meanwhile, expressed relief at Joly's quick rejection of the idea of a tax. Joly was expected to say more at a press conference on Parliament Hill early Thursday afternoon.
World Cup holders Germany and the six winners of Federation Internationale de Football Association confederations descend on Russia for the two-week tournament that will allow the hosts to assess the readiness of four of its World Cup venues and its ability to handle fans from overseas.
New Zealand, though, haven't exactly set the world alight in their warm-up matches, producing a solid display in a 1-0 loss to Northern Ireland before going down by the same margin with a disjointed and disappointing effort against Belarus. He is well-read, good humoured, and unlike Andrei Arshavin, formerly at Arsenal, or Roman Pavlyuchenko, who played for Spurs, he speaks decent English.
There are hints at the airport, with an entire wing of the arrivals hall given over to murals about each team (though the huge New Zealand photo is a bit dated, centred on Rory Fallon celebrating his winning goal in the World Cup playoff against Bahrain in 2009 in Wellington).
Coach Hudson believes the team can achieve "something significant" in Russian Federation, saying in a Friday morning press conference: "There is no point in us being here if we're not trying to win, so we are trying to beat Russian Federation and that's it".
"I've seen teams make it through by drawing all their games, so it can decide whether or not your tournament's going to be smooth or whether it's going to be a bit of an uphill struggle".
Russia's preparations for the World Cup were "proceeding well", Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "It is most important that the preparedness for the Confederations Cup has been positively assessed by the Federation Internationale de Football Association representatives". The Gold Cup victor plays Portugal tomorrow in Kazan. If they play with full focus, they will easily defeat New Zealand as it doesn't seem in its form.
Comments