Messi’s eternal rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, made history on Friday, when he became only the fourth player to score at four World Cups on his way to a hat-trick against Spain to earn a dramatic 3-3 draw.

His fellow superstar Messi is under immense pressure to secure his first major international trophy and make amends for Argentina’s loss to Germany in the 2014 final.

The Barcelona maestro was not born when the ‘Albiceleste’ last tasted success in 1986 and, at almost 31, knows that time is running out.

If Messi’s Argentina are to overcome poor form and injury woes, the five-time world player of the year needs high-profile teammates such as Sergio Aguero, Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain to fire.

“I am convinced Argentina will show we are one of the best teams in the world,” coach Jorge Sampaoli said ahead of the Group D game.

They face a gritty Iceland outfit at Moscow’s Spartak stadium who say they respect their illustrious opponents but do not fear them.

Spurred on by their fans’ thunderous “Viking clap”, Iceland famously dumped England out of Euro 2016 and coach Heimir Hallgrimsson said he wanted more of the same.

“We’ve shown that if we work together as one unit, like we’ve been doing, then anything is achievable and it won’t come as a shock,” he said.

The day’s action also pits another scrappy underdog against one of the favourites in Group C when Australia play France in Kazan, with Peru facing Denmark in the group’s other game.

Seizing the day

While international honours have so far eluded Messi, France coach Didier Deschamps is using his experience winning the 1998 tournament to prime a talented but youthful side.

“We can’t afford to get stage fright,” he said ahead of the Group C tie against the Socceroos.

“I want the lads to be relaxed and concentrated. Their objective is drawing near. They have to seize the day.”

Australia lost 6-0 the last time they met France in 2013 but the Socceroos’ Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk said self-belief was the key to securing an upset.

“We have a lot of discipline in the way we play,” he said.

“We also have to have guts to believe in something. What is very important is for us to be ourselves.”

Peru’s Paolo Guerrero will look to prove his drug-ban controversy is behind him in the other Group C game against the Danes.

Flamengo forward Guerrero had a 14-month ban for testing positive for cocaine overturned just weeks before the tournament began and celebrated by scoring twice in a friendly against Saudi Arabia.

Croatia then take on African powerhouse Nigeria in Saturday’s final match in Kaliningrad in Group D, providing a possible test of FIFA’s determination to keep racism out of its showpiece tournament in Russia.

Croatia will field Real Madrid’s Luka Modric and Barcelona’s Ivan Rakitic against Nigeria but the focus is likely to be on the reception local fans give the Africans.

Racism has dogged the Russian game for decades and FIFA last month fined the national football association over chants directed at black players during a friendly against France.

Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr said there had been no issues so far and he did not expect that to change.

“We all are sure that there will not be any problems for the Nigerian players because the atmosphere we felt already arriving in Russia was very good,” he said.

Shinnecock Hills presented a different face as Thursday’s gusting wind gave way to morning mist with stretches of wind-driven rain, followed by afternoon sunshine.

Johnson was more than equal to all of it, his two-round total of four-under 136 putting him four ahead of Americans Charley Hoffman and Scott Piercy.

“Dustin was in complete control of what he was doing,” said his playing partner Tiger Woods, who missed the cut in his first US Open since 2015 as he added a two-over 72 to his opening 78 for a 10-over total of 150.

“He’s hitting the ball so flush and so solid,” Woods said. “I know it’s windy. It’s blustery. It was raining early. But he’s hitting right through it.”

After two birdies in his first nine holes, Johnson made his only bogey of the day at the first, unable to get up and down for par from a greenside bunker.

But he would add two more birdies, including a 45-foot putt at the par-three seventh that took its time getting to the hole then teetered in to a massive roar from the crowd.

“That was a good one,” said Johnson, the 2016 US Open winner who watched it all the way. “I knew about halfway there it was on a really good line if it would just get to the hole — it dropped right in the front door.”

Hoffman put himself under par for the tournament when he rolled in a long bomb at the par-five 16th for the last of his three birdies. He kept the momentum with a par save at 17, but dropped a shot at 18 to cap a one-under par 69 that left him on even par 140 alongside Piercy.

Piercy, who shared the overnight lead with Johnson, England’s Ian Poulter and Russell Henley, carded a one-over 71 for his share of second.

Poulter trimmed Johnson’s lead to one with three birdies in the space of four holes on his inward run, keeping the momentum going with a par save from a tough lie below his feet in a bunker.

But Poulter made a triple-bogey seven at the par-four eighth — his penultimate hole — and bogeyed nine in a two-over 72 that dropped him into a tie for fourth with defending champion Brooks Koepka, England’s Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson.

– ‘Disaster on every hole’ –

Four-under 66s by Koepka and Fleetwood were the best rounds of the tournament on a Shinnecock course where, Poulter noted, “There’s a disaster on every single hole” for someone.

Woods was among a stream of marquee names who wouldn’t make it to the weekend.

Looking for a round in the 60s to keep him alive for the weekend, Woods settled for a two-over-par 72.

The 14-time major champion finished strong, with birdies at his last two holes, but at 10-over-par 150 he was two strokes outside the expected cut line of eight-over.

“I don’t think you can be too happy and too excited about 10 over par,” said Woods, who made a double bogey at the par-four first a day after opening the tournament with a triple bogey there.

In the fairway off the tee, Woods found deep, rain-soaked rough with his second shot. His third shot rolled through the green and his pitch left him 14 feet, from where he two-putted.

Let down by his putter all week, Woods sounded a touch envious in discussing Johnson’s efforts on the difficult, sloping greens.

“Every putt looked like it was going to go in,” Woods said.

Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy also missed the cut. The Northern Ireland star, 10-over after the first round, was 14-over after a double-bogey at the ninth and a run of four birdies in six holes starting at the 11th was too little, too late as he finished on 10-over 150.

Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth, his bid to make the cut after an opening 78 also slowed by a double-bogey, reeled off four birdies in a row starting at the 13th but closed with back-to-back bogeys in a 71 for 149 — one outside the cut line.

Australians Jason Day and Adam Scott, Spain’s Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm and Germany’s Martin Kaymer also fell prey to Shinnecock.

But Phil Mickelson, seeking a first US Open title that would give him the career Grand Slam, is set to play the third round on his 48th birthday after firing a one-under par 69 for a six-over total of 146.

The two-time champions arrived in Russia dogged by poor form, injuries and controversy.

But Messi is a man on a mission as he chases his first World Cup winner’s medal and will not tolerate complacency against the minnows at Moscow’s Spartak stadium.

“Iceland showed they could compete with anyone at the last Euros,” he said, referring to their giant-killing run at the 2016 European Championship in France.

Messi was devastated by Argentina’s loss to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final, with the agony compounded by back-to-back Copa America defeats to Chile in 2015 and 2016.

Despite his achievements with Barcelona, the five-time world player of the year is yet to win a major international tournament and time is running out as his 31st birthday looms.

He briefly retired from international football after the 2016 Copa America and has hinted he will do so permanently if the campaign in Russia ends in failure.

The Group D clash pits an Argentine side that critics say is too focused on superstar Messi against a band of grafters who pride themselves on teamwork.

On paper, the South Americans should have little trouble disposing of Iceland, an island nation of 330,000 that is the smallest country to ever reach the finals.

But the Icelanders revel in their underdog status and showed at Euro 2016 they will not be cowed on the big stage.

– Messi ‘can carry team’ –

Spurred on by their fans’ thunderous “Viking clap”, they earned a 1-1 draw with Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal then famously dumped out England to reach the quarter-finals.

“We kept Ronaldo quite quiet so hopefully we can do the same against Messi,” said Burnley winger Johann Berg Gudmundsson.

“We know we’re probably going to be defending for a lot of the time and obviously he’s one of the best players in the world and he can turn it on.”

Iceland, ranked 17 places behind Argentina at 22nd in the world, topped their group in European qualifying with comfortable wins over Croatia, Ukraine and Turkey.

Argentina reserve goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman said the squad would do everything in their power to give Messi the success he craves but they are expecting a tight match against Iceland.

“We must show patience and move the ball around to try and find space, and look to get in behind with speed,” said Guzman, who plays for Mexican club Tigres.

“It will be a very tight game in which we’ll also have to control our nerves.”

Argentina only made it to the finals courtesy of a Messi hat-trick in their final qualifier against Ecuador.

Subsequent friendlies have given cause for concern — there was a 4-2 loss to Nigeria in November and a 6-1 humiliation by Spain in March, although Messi did not play in either match.

Argentina’s final warm-up against Israel in Jerusalem was cancelled after protests from Palestinians, miring the team in controversy and leaving players short of match practice.

To further compound their problems, goalkeeper Sergio Romero and midfielder Manuel Lanzini both fell victim to late injuries.

Accusing Argentina of over-reliance on Messi may seem unfair to a team boasting the sharp attacking talents of Sergio Aguero, Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain but it is a view coach Jorge Sampaoli himself has expressed.

“He can carry the team on his shoulders,” Sampaoli said of the player who scored 45 goals in 54 games for Barcelona this season.

“This is going to be his team.”

It is 20 years since Croatia surged to the final four at France ’98 with a resounding quarter-final win over favourites Germany, and fans will be buoyed by a squad brimming with attacking talent.

Nigeria, long one of African football’s underachievers, boast several players with English Premier League pedigree, and will hope they can secure only their second win in their last 12 World Cup matches.

The stage for Saturday’s clash is Kaliningrad, a thickly forested outpost of Russia wedged between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea — a potentially challenging location for some fans to reach.

FIFA’s official site showed tickets still available 24 hours before kick-off.

Saturday will also prove a crucial test for FIFA’s anti-discrimination drive, with tension running high in the build-up to the tournament over a spate of recent incidents.

Racism has plagued Russian football since clubs began purchasing foreign players after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Russia‘s football federation was last month slapped with a 25,000-euro fine after racist chants from supporters during a friendly against France.

FIFA has instituted a three-strikes policy against any racist abuse from fans across the tournament, threatening to abandon matches if supporters ignore a stadium speaker announcement and then a pause in play.

Nigeria’s Dutch-born defender Will Troost-Ekong told Britain’s The Guardian newspaper last month that the players would react as one to any abuse.

Croatia, appearing at their fifth World Cup, boast a host of world-class talent, including Real Madrid’s Luka Modric, Barcelona’s Ivan Rakitic and Mario Mandzukic of Juventus.

The Balkan nation lost 2-0 to Brazil in a friendly in the run-up to the tournament that marked Neymar’s return to international football, before a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Senegal on June 9.

Nigeria lost 2-1 to England at Wembley and fell to a turgid 1-0 defeat by the Czech Republic to leave their German coach Gernot Rohr plenty of selection headaches, particularly in attack.

The Super Eagles are this World Cup’s youngest squad, and several Premier League regulars, including Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi, Leicester’s Wilfried Ndidi and Victor Moses of Chelsea will be crucial.

Ndidi is one of three Leicester City players in the squad.

Both sides will be keen to get off to a winning start in Russia to give themselves the best chance of exiting a tough Group D that includes Iceland — who topped Croatia’s qualifying group — and two-time winners Argentina.

Wasteful finishing looked to have consigned this compelling contest at the Saint Petersburg Stadium to a goalless draw but Bouhaddouz’s mistake in injury-time means Iran emerge as the early challengers to Spain and Portugal in Group B.

Iran coach Carlos Queiroz, once of Real Madrid and Manchester United, insisted the chaos that has engulfed Spain this week offered no boost to these teams’ chances, but this victory certainly cranks the pressure up a notch.

“Superman is only in the cartoons,” Queiroz said. “Nobody is superman. What can happen once in a while is when a group of people are united, can create super stories and super things.”

When Bouhaddouz nodded in at the near post, Iran’s substitutes could not resist rushing onto the field and when the final whistle blew moments later they were sprinting over again in delight.

Morocco should at least take heart from a blistering first half an hour, during which their zip and zest made them virtually unplayable. But Hakim Ziyach, Ayoub El Kaabi and Mehdi Benatia all failed to capitalise.

“I am very disappointed,” their coach, Herve Renard, said. “I think if I would have come to this press conference with a draw I would also have been disappointed given how the game played out.”

But Iran showed the same grit that had frustrated Argentina for 91 minutes four years ago and while Lionel Messi was the difference that day, this time it was their turn to snatch a last-gasp winner.

Their build-up had not been smooth. Nike had blocked the players’ supply of boots and friendlies against Greece and Kosovo were cancelled.

– Underdogs –

It gave Queiroz good reason for positioning his team as outsiders but they now head into the match against Spain on Wednesday both with a winning feeling and hope.

“If the game against Morocco was the World Cup final for us, the game against Spain will be the Universe Cup final,” Queiroz said.

Morocco’s fans, at a World Cup for the first time in 20 years, belted out their own national anthem and then applauded Iran’s, the 67,000-seater arena buzzing with the hum of vuvuzelas in a throwback to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The only shame was the large number of empty seats, with many supporters still queueing to get through security 15 minutes before kick-off.

Morocco started brilliantly, hounding Iran and swarming forward with such ferocity that on the line, Queiroz spent most of the opening 20 minutes urging his players to pause and take a breath.

The onslaught finally eased after half an hour and by the interval Iran had not only survived but finished the stronger, Sardar Azmoun, the “Iranian Messi”, spurning a one-on-one after a scintillating break.

Perhaps tired from the first period or, more likely, reminded of their defensive duties during the interval, both teams were more cagey after the restart.

Queiroz and Renard were involved in a touchline scuffle, quickly resolved, before the real drama arrived in the 95th minute.

Bouhaddouz could not see what was behind him when a whipped free-kick came in from the left and he panicked, diving to the ball, and heading it agonisingly inside his own near post.

The Real Madrid superstar crashed in an 88th-minute free-kick to earn a point for the European champions in this Group B opener, after a second-half goal from Nacho had put the Spaniards 3-2 ahead.

Before that, Ronaldo had twice given his side the lead in the first half, only for Diego Costa to equalise each time for a Spanish side who peformed admirably on a steamy night on Russia’s Black Sea coast after a chaotic few days.

Fernando Hierro was making his debut on their bench, just two days after the sensational sacking of Julen Lopetegui, but Ronaldo stole the headlines.

After only three goals in total at the last three World Cups, he doubled his tournament tally in one night here, and has now scored at eight consecutive major tournaments going back to Euro 2004, when he was still a teenager.

He is just the fourth player to score at four World Cups, following in the footsteps of Pele and German duo Uwe Seeler and Miroslav Klose.

“It’s a nice personal record to have, one more in my career,” said Ronaldo, before adding: “For me the most important thing is to emphasise what the team did against one of the favourites to win this World Cup.”

His hat-trick came just hours after legal sources in Spain said Ronaldo had agreed to pay the Spanish taxman 18.8 million euros ($20 million) to settle a tax fraud claim.

But Ronaldo was clearly not distracted by that, and his team-mate Bernardo Silva admitted after the game that “when he plays like that, everything is possible.”

Ronaldo had put Portugal ahead from a fourth-minute penalty after going down in the box under a foul from his Real club colleague Nacho, playing at right-back with Dani Carvajal not fit.

Portugal’s forward Cristiano Ronaldo (R) vies with Spain’s defender Gerard Pique.

– Hierro ‘proud’ –

Hierro, who cut an animated figure as he stood on the touchline with his sleeves rolled up, must have wondered at that point what he had let himself in for. Yet Spain responded superbly.

“We have to be very proud of the boys. To lift ourselves in adversity and turn the match around, we showed character, pride,” said Hierro, himself a former Spain star but someone with limited coaching experience.

“This is a mature team. They have been playing together a long time and it is a pleasure to have these players.”

The 2010 World Cup winners drew level for the first time in the 24th minute via a trademark piece of centre-forward play by Costa, who left Pepe on the floor as the pair challenged for a high ball, before breaking into the box and planting a low shot into the bottom corner.

Portugal appealed in vain for a foul on Pepe, but there was no intervention from the Video Assistant Referee.

The European champions went back in front just before the break in what was a horrible moment for Spain goalkeeper David De Gea, who made a complete hash of dealing with Ronaldo’s shot from 20 yards that was well struck but straight at him.

But Spain regrouped at the interval and drew level 10 minutes into the second half with a textbook set-piece counter, Sergio Busquets heading a free-kick back across goal for Costa to turn it in.

Three minutes after that, Nacho’s glorious effort from 22 yards made it 3-2, his half-volley curling into the net off the left-hand post.

That looked to be that, before Ronaldo intervened to have the last word, and Morocco — beaten 1-0 by Iran earlier on Friday — will not look forward to facing him in their next game.

“When you come up against a player like Cristiano these things can happen. Whoever has him on their side is lucky,” added Hierro.

The north Africans, contesting their first World Cup since 1990, were for the main part fairly comfortable in defence and Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny was a constant presence at the base of Egypt’s midfield.

Suarez, who had a frustrating afternoon, forced goalkeeper Mohamed Elshenawy into a decent stop straight after half-time, the Barcelona striker slamming his boot into an advertising board in anger.

Egypt’s forward Mohamed Salah is seen by the substitutes bench.

He thumped the turf on 73 minutes when Elshenawy smothered at his feet, and seven minutes from the end the stopper was at it again, palming Cavani’s drive over.

Cavani then struck a post with a free-kick as Egypt held on with increasing desperation, before Gimenez’s dramatic late intervention.

But coach Didier Deschamps, who captained France to World Cup victory in Paris two decades ago, faces a dilemma on the eve of a campaign which begins with a potentially tricky opener against Australia on Saturday: making sure his wealth of young French talent live up to their heady reputation.

Having steered France to the cusp of Euro 2016 glory, Deschamps watched in dismay as Portugal punished France in extra-time at the Stade de France.

Two years on, France arrive in Russia with high hopes of young players like Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele although it remains to be seen whether those are sufficient when it comes to meeting the big guns of Germany, Spain, Brazil and Argentina in the later stages.

“You don’t win competitions on talent alone,” 1998 World Cup winner Christope Dugarry warned. “You win because you’ve got the right mentality.”

Fluffing their lines against Group C minnows Australia at the Kazan Arena would be unthinkable for most French fans, although the Socceroos — who have talked up how they will fight tooth and nail to get a result — have pledged to provide the first hurdle.

“Come this France game we’re going to be ready, and giving ourselves opportunities to win this game,” warned Australia goalkeeper Mat Ryan.

“We can’t wait for Saturday.”

Bold predictions aside, on paper France should breeze through a Group C which also features Peru and Denmark.

Antoine Griezmann, who announced Thursday he was resisting advances from Barcelona and staying at Atletico Madrid, is one of the hottest properties in world football and, as he did at Euro 2016, is expected to shine in Russia.

– Pogba’s time? –

Two years after a disappointing Euro 2016, Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba could finally shine on the big stage, along with 19-year-old Paris Saint-Germain striker Mbappe, who will be making his World Cup debut.

In comparison, Australia coach Bert van Marwijk has yet to decide who will lead the Socceroos’ attack, with former A-League reject Andrew Nabbout appearing to be leading the race ahead of Tomi Juric, who plays for Swiss side Lucerne.

The Aussies’ defensive game, a top priority for Van Marwijk since he was parachuted in to replace Ange Postecoglou in January, is still a work in progress.

Australia have few big name stars, but Nabbout insists the gulf in class is not an issue.

“We’ve got a job to do against France,” said Nabbout, who is now with J-League side Urawa Reds.

“We’re aware of the big name players, the calibre they have. But we have a structure and a strategy, and if we execute that to the best of our ability then we can cause them some problems.”

Australia defender Josh Risdon, who postponed his honeymoon after a call-up to Van Marwijk’s squad, admitted: “It’s going to be a tough one to kick off our campaign.”

But he added: “The bigger the occasion, the tougher the opponent, the better we get up for the game.”

Eight years on from an infamous France players’ strike in South Africa, from where striker Nicolas Anelka was sent home in disgrace after insulting then coach Raymond Domenech, Deschamps is in charge of a comparatively better behaved and respectful team.

“The behaviour has been exceptional, they’re polite and respectful,” said French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet.

“There’s been a clear change when you consider the unbelievable stuff that went on in 2010. It couldn’t have been worse.

“Didier (Deschamps) has done everything to make sure the (squad) conditions are optimal.”

It is now up to Deschamps’ young team to perform on the pitch.

But success, says former World Cup winner Bixente Lizarazu, won’t come easy.

“A team of kids can’t win the World Cup,” he told So Foot magazine.

“The guys have to get together and say: ‘We want to make history, this is our time, we’re going all the way!’.”

Lawyers for Becker, a former world number one, lodged a claim Thursday in the UK’s High Court asserting immunity after he was appointed a sports attache for the Central African Republic in April, the Press Association said.

Becker — who won six Grand Slams in the 1980s and 90s — was declared bankrupt by a London court in June 2017 for failing to pay a long-standing debt.

But his position as attache to the European Union on sporting, cultural and humanitarian affairs is covered by the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

This means the consent of UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and his counterpart in Bangui is needed before Becker is subjected to any legal proceedings, his lawyers said, the Press Association reported.

“The decision to commence bankruptcy proceedings against me was both unjustified and unjust,” Becker said, according to the Press Association.

“A bunch of anonymous and unaccountable bankers and bureaucrats pushed me into a completely unnecessary declaration of bankruptcy, which has inflicted a whole heap of damage on me, both commercially and professionally, and on those close to me.

“I have now asserted diplomatic immunity as I am in fact bound to do, in order to bring this farce to an end, so that I can start to rebuild my life.”

The German shook up the tennis world at Wimbledon in 1985 when, as an unseeded player, he became the then youngest-ever male Grand Slam champion at the age of 17, defending the trophy the following year.

He went on to a glittering career and amassed more than $25 million in prize money.

Becker’s tangled private life has also kept him in the news.

He has a daughter conceived in a brief but now famous encounter with a Russian model who claimed she met Becker at a London bar and had sex with him in a broom cupboard at a nearby Japanese restaurant.

In January, Becker appealed for help in tracking down five missing Grand Slam trophies which he said he needed to sell to help pay off his debts.

The emphatic result transformed the men in red from villains to heroes and gave Russians a rare sporting reason to rejoice.

Everyone from senators and regional leaders to President Vladimir Putin himself congratulated coach Stanislav Cherchesov for Russia’s biggest World Cup victory in post-Soviet history.

It came at Luzhniki Stadium — the crucible of both Russian and Soviet sport — with the weight of an expectant but sceptical nation on their shoulders.

“The head of state called me and congratulated me,” Russia’s moustachioed manager said matter-of-factly after the match.

Putin “told me to keep playing the way we were, to keep going.”

“Give me five!” Moscow’s Sport Express newspaper exclaimed in a front-page headline. “Russia, we love you!”

It was not always like this for Cherchesov and his charges.

The team entered the tournament without tasting victory in more than eight months.

They had registered just one shot on target in their last two World Cup warmups.

Four of Russia’s defenders and a starting forward had been ruled out for the tournament with injuries.

One Moscow news website dubbed the matchup between the 70th-ranked Russians and the 67th-ranked Saudis — the two worst teams in the tournament — as “Bad vs. Worse”.

– ‘We’re not so bad’ –

Cherchesov kept fiddling around with formations and few could tell which players he would start once British pop star Robbie Williams finished belting out his opening ceremony set.

It all worked out in the end.

But it will all get that much harder from here on out.

“It could have easily been 1-1 if we were not careful,” said Cherchesov.

“And our opponents will be getting stronger by the match.”

Russia next play Egypt on June 19 in Saint Petersburg and finish off Group A against two-time World Cup winners Uruguay in Samara on June 25.

They are still not guaranteed the top-two finish that would ensure they do not join South Africa as only the second World Cup host nation to fail to qualify from their group.

And the Egypt match got that much bigger with the return to fitness of Mohamed Salah ahead of the Pharaohs’ own clash on Friday with Uruguay.

Salah has not played since injuring his shoulder in Liverpool’s Champions League final loss to real Madrid.

If fit, he is precisely the type of clinical finisher to give Russia’s hobbled defence nightmares.

And Cherchesov’s problems in the back were already so dire that he had to ask 38-year-old Sergei Ignashevich to come out of international retirement for one last curtain call.

Ignashevich started on Thursday but rarely had to touch the ball against the Saudis.

He and goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev can expect to be far busier with Salah leading the Egyptian charge.

Yet Russians are still riding a wave of jubilation and the World Cup is off to a scintillating start.

“I was really worried, but it turns out we are not that bad!” store manager Anton Irofeyev said, summing up the mood of many Russian fans.