By Andrew Warshaw
June 20 – They were pretty much no-hopers as the lowest-ranked team in the FIFA world rankings, came into the tournament in desperately poor form and were expected to join South Africa as the only hosts to be eliminated at the group stage.
June 20 – He flew in on an Aeroflot flight, checked into a top-class downtown hotel, gave a brief television interview and that was it. Sepp Blatter was back at the World Cup today attending the showpiece event of the organisation he headed for 17 years.
By Andrew Warshaw in Moscow
June 19 – After all the talk and concerns about Russia’s record on racism being at the centre of attention at the World Cup, it is a visiting team’s fans who have tarnished the early stages of the tournament.
June 19 – He always said he would come and now Sepp Blatter is sticking to his word – right under the nose of his successor.
By David Owen
June 19 – After his breathtaking virtuoso performance against Spain in Sochi, Cristiano Ronaldo may well be pondering the possibility of a second consecutive World Cup hat-trick when Portugal take on Morocco on Wednesday at the Luzhniki.
By Andrew Warshaw in Moscow
June 19 – At least eight people, including some Mexican World Cup fans, were injured after a taxi mounted a crowded pavement in one of the most popular areas of the Russian capital on Saturday.
June 19 – Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsya is investigating an incident on a plane that was carrying the Saudi team to a World Cup game in Rostov-on-Don on Monday.
By Andrew Warshaw in Moscow
June 18 – Somehow Germany always manage to get the job done. Not this time. In the biggest shock so far at the World Cup, the defending champions lost their opening game for only the second time in their history after Mexico pulled off an historic 1-0 win in Moscow – their first ever win over the Germans.
June 18 – Russia’s 5-0 opening win over Saudi Arabia has resulted in an immediate £50,000 win for the LGBT community as a Paddy Power marketing gimmick looks set to cost the bookmaker a lot more than they expected.
By Samindra Kunti in St Petersburg
June 17 – Iranian women, who have been banned from attending football in the Islamic state since 1980, have protested at Iran’s World Cup opening game against Morocco, seizing the exposure the world’s biggest sporting event, the World Cup, offers.
By Andrew Warshaw in Moscow
June 17 – A freekick that will be talked about for years to come followed, 24 hours later, by a penalty miss that was equally, in its own way, memorable if only for the context involved.
By David Owen
June 16 – Iran ended eight years of Asian hurt at the World Cup finals in St Petersburg on Friday, cashing in on Aziz Bouhaddouz’s stoppage time own goal to record a hard-fought 1-0 win over Morocco.
By Andrew Warshaw in Moscow
June 15 – They’re back. And before they’ve even kicked a ball, everyone has fallen in love with them – again. Two years after making the quarterfinal at Euro 2016, guess what were Icelandic head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson’s first words at his media conference on the eve of the country’s World Cup debut against mighty Argentina.
By David Owen
June 15 – It was a dream start for the host nation; but Thursday’s 5-0 thrashing of Saudi Arabia in the opening match of Russia 2018 was also the perfect entrance for sports equipment group Adidas at the 21st FIFA World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw in Moscow
June 14 – Walking round the streets of Moscow in the days leading up to tonight’s World Cup opener, you wouldn’t necessarily have known the Russian capital was about to herald the start of a competition that has taken eight years to organise and was so vital in terms of image and public relations.