The 35-day journey that is the 2018 World Cup kicked off in Russia on Thursday evening local time.... with a sensational and unexpected start by the host nation.
Won Jung-hwan reports from Moscow.

The wait is finally over.
The 2018 Russia World Cup started the best way possible for the host nation with them smashing five goals past Saudi Arabia on Thursday evening in front of a jampacked and ecstatic Luzhniki Stadium.
Prior to the sporting action on the pitch, there was the customary opening ceremony, but Russia mixed it up this year.
Breaking from tradition,... the opening ceremony focused on musical acts and even took place much closer to kick-off,… just half an hour before the start of the match.
The opening game for this year's World Cup featured the two sides ranked the lowest in the entire competition.
Surprisingly, World Cup host nations have never lost their opening match and Russia never looked like losing that record against Saudi Arabia.
In fact, Russia's five-nil win was the biggest opening match victory by a host nation since 1934.
The performance thrilled the Russian fans.


"We are very exciting and we are happy, and the next game we will be here."


"I feel crazy, our team scored five goals, too many times when I think about it, it's crazy, it's a historical time."


"I am happy I am happy, my friend happy, five zero five zero yeah."

And the best thing for the home fans... is that Thursday's convincing win has given them a great chance to qualify from the group stage,... especially if they can put in a similar performance in their next two group games.


"As the first game finally kicked off,… through July 15th, there will be 63 matches across Russia to decide the winner of the 2018 World Cup.
Won Jung-hwan, Arirang News, Moscow."