The world's most widely-viewed sporting event, the men's soccer World Cup, begins Thursday in Russia, where the host country's national team will face off against Saudi Arabia at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Russia is the lowest-ranked team in the 2018 World Cup, Sporting News notes, having failed to win their last seven friendly matches since October, while Saudi Arabia last reached the global finals in 1994. "Never mind that it's the least appealing World Cup opener ever," writes Henry Bushnell for Yahoo Sports. "If you're a soccer fan, you watch the World Cup opener."
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