Russia V Saudi Arabia
(Synopsis in red)
Pregame bets: I know Russia are muck, and I actually think they might not get out of their group, but how bad must they be not to beat SA at home in their own World Cup, seriously?
€10.00 Single Russia scores 2+ goals & 6+ Russia corners 19/10
(great to get off to a winning start, bet came in two minutes from time, and only just! Thanks Mother Russia!)
€2.00 Single Russia v Saudi Arabia – Penalty Scored? Yes 4/1
€1.00 Single
Russia v Saudi Arabia – Correct Score 3-1 13/1
Full betting review here>https://www.thisdrinkinglife.com/top-bets-of-the-world-cup-2018/
Beers: Group A of Beer World Cup:
https://www.thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-of-beer-group-a/
Who is set to win the battle of the beers? Well Russia, as I cant find beers from the other three nations!
Knightberg Baltic Porter (Russia): V ? (Saudi Arabia): 1-0
Opening beer of the World Cup for me, and what a beer it was, or rather a jet black porter with a lovely tanned head. Excellent, I do love me porters. It was so good that part of me regrets having it gone so early in the competition. It really sets the bar high, and with no competition it was a victory for Russia on day one.
PreGame:
Russia:A team where all the squad play in the Russian league bar two, ranked a pretty embarrassing 70th in the world, which is the lowest-ranked of all the teams at the World Cup, and badly struggling for form. Yes, Russia are pretty rubbish.
But luckily for them they start their campaign against the second lowest ranked team here, Saudi Arabia, a team where most of their players play in the Saudi league, who have not won their last ten World Cup games, and have kept only one clean sheet in 13 games at the cup as well. Those last two stats should give the Russians some hope here.
I dont rate Russia at all, nor Saudi Arabia for that matter, but I would imagine that playing at home in front of their fans in a World Cup they surely should be able to manage a win.
A more detailed review on Russia here and on Saudi Arabia here
Excellent win for Russia and a bit of a surprise that they played as well as anyone expected, even more so for their supporters. They took it to the Saudi’s from the get go, relentless attack after attack, harrying the Saudi’s time and again, hounding them, pressurizing them into making mistakes, and boy did they make some elementary mistakes, especially their back two.
For the first game of the World Cup it was a decent enough opener, 5 good goals, a lot of action and some nice play. For me Y Zhirkov and R Zobnin down the left flank were a constant thorn all game to the Saudi’s and it was nice to see Zobnin round off an excellent performance with a goal of his own in the dying seconds of the game. Also to note, fuck me Dzyuba is an animal, the size of him, lol!
For the next game, Saudi Arabia need to improve and quick as they will be slaughtered by Uruguay if not. Russia now will look at the Egyptian game with utmost confidence knowing that another performance like today will see them through to round two.
Music to get you in the mood
The Red Army Choir MVD – Get Lucky (Daft Punk cover)(Russia) V The AccoLade: Pinocchio (Saudi Female Rock Band)
Still the best World cups for me in terms of atmosphere or world cup songs was the Korea/Japan event where the passion came from the stands, and the 1990’s when music was still something to behold. 
So I probably wont be looking at the opening ceremony. The music might be trash, sorry, will be trash, and I couldn’t really stomach seeing the corporate in their suits guffawing in the prawn sandwich seats, while doing the two step to look down with the kids. 
Down to the long shots at this stage. Sure why not, definitely makes watching the games that tad bit more interesting. Reckon Croatia will have the upper hand in this game, albeit the Danes have a decent enough defence that might be hard to break down. 
I also fancy England to do well. They should beat Colombia, and whoever they get next between Switzerland/Sweden. After that, its a confidence thing, and with Harry Kane banging them in they have a serious chance this year. 
I expect Portugal to just edge this game, two equally matched teams, but hopefully Ronaldo will be back to form for this game, as he was pretty woefulagainst Iran. 
Australia V Peru
Goals will be the objective today for Portugal, knowing that this is what is needed to come top of the group. Step forward Ronaldo so to do the business. Sure Iran are still in it, but with a well placed free kick, they soon wont be in it. 
If there will be goals and if, as I expect, Egypt will be scoring those goals then there is only one man to do that for them and that’s Mo. He usually gets his chances at the minimum on target and against a poor SA goalie that only means one thing: goals. 
Fancy England to do a Belgium and hammer Panama. They will be eager to match Belgium’s goal tally as it might make a difference in the end to who tops the Group. 
James should be fully fit for the game and rearing to get a goal to start his World Cup in earnest. 
Against England the Tunisians were quite dirty and physical, and they are the type of team that will offer up loads of frees. Step forward De Bruyne, a man who knows how to hit them. He was so close in the first game, I expect him to get it right this time. 
And I just have a good feeling that they will jinx a peno. There are a lot of penalties in the World Cup so far and the Germans are the masters of getting them, so why not?
Serbia v Switzerland
Surely to god Brazil will be on fire tomorrow, come on the fuck. Neymar has to get off the mark, surely!
Perhaps this game will be more open than the Iceland game, and so with more room to play Messi might be more in tune to score a goal. 
As much as it would be nice to see Peru do well, I dont think it will happen. France will surely be keen to lay down a marker for the tournament after disappointing in the first game. And if they do get going, Griezmann will be the man to score the goals. 
I fancy Iniesta to score, to be honest the only real value I could get as most of the Spanish players are short odds for this game!
Of course Portugal will win this game, of that there can be no doubt, and if Ronnie can score a hat trick against a team as good as Spain then logic says he should at least get one against Morocco. 
James Rodriguez made his name in the last World Cup and this time I expect him to shine again. Why not, he is pure class when he gets going. And he has a lethal strike, so yeah he might do a Ronaldo and get a goal from a free kick, he has the ability to do so. Either way, I’d fancy him to at least score a goal. 
Japan, on the other hand, are not a great team but what they lack in ability they make up in determination and heart and I am sure they will not stop for the 90 minutes. With this in mind I can see them scoring a goal. And if that is the case then it has to be K Honda, their start player to score (who else?). And I have a strong vision of a penalty too, as they did get a penalty in the last world cup (as far as I can remember!) 
Poland are a very cynical team and like to take a tumble or three, and in Robert Lewandowski they have a bit of a cunt up forward who goes down with the slightest touch, and I would figure that Senegal will be like most African teams, tough tackling and a bit all over the place defensively, so with all this in mind I feel Senegal might get a red card in the game.
Will be a tight game, and for long periods I can see both teams cancelling each other out, but I would imagine that Sweden’s aerial ability should see them through for the victory, and they probably will be all over Korea from set piece play. Sweden knocked out Italy for fucks sake, so I would be very disappointed if they couldn’t handle Korea, even if the Red Devils have Son Heung-min up front.
Belgium are a team that I am looking forward to seeing. I am sure they will come out of the blocks rearing to go, and with Panama as their first game, I see a big win for the The Red Devils (RD number two today!)
England have a young but very attack minded team, with Harry Kane in their line up, I cant see how they wont score a few against Tunisia. 
I fancy Brazil to do great things in this World Cup, to make the final at the minimum. But I think Switzerland, with their decent defence, might cause them a small hiccup at the start. Remember the Swiss also beat Spain at the start of W Cup 2010, and the Spanish ended up winning the thing, so they can throw a spanner in the works for sure. And the Swiss also got Xherdan Shaqiri who can muster up some magic, if bothered, hopefully today he might get his finger out of his ass. 
Expect Costa Rica to continue where they left off at the last World Cup, hopefully with more goals and more great counter attacking football that won them so many admirers in 2014. Serbia are muck so I wouldn’t be surprised to see CR grab a few here. 
Do not rate Australia at all. In the Confederations Cup they were truly awful to see, no technical ability with a lot of plodders in the team. Not only that but they carry on the great Australian sporting tradition of whinging a lot. That is not going to work against a French team that will be fired up to put on a show, especially after the feast of football we were served last night between Spain and Portugal. Now its France’s turn and I am 
And if, as I expect, France will win and win handily, then you would fully expect that the goals would come from their usual strike partnership of Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud. 
And if Argentina are to score three goals, then surely Messi will be on the end of one or two of them. Also if Ronaldo can score a free kick, I’d bet Messi will copy him today, and even hotter prospect when you consider that Messi usually gets the better return from scoring on free kicks than Ronaldo’s one out of 50 efforts in international 
I reckon Peru will be a little overawed in their first World Cup outing since ’82, while Denmark, for me, are a serious outfit with a quality team that could propel them into the last eight. I really fancy this Danish team to go far in the tournament, and with C Ericksen they have a player that can turn a game on its head. This is an easy bet for me, Denmark to win their opener, and with relative ease. 
Nigeria are another team that can start slow too. Up against a very strong Croatia team they might get punished for this. Modric will run the show from midfield and, with a team of decent strikers, I expect Croatia to just nudge this game, possibly score in the last ten minutes or so to nick it. 
I think this might be a close game but you know what……I actually fancy Iran to sneak this one. They do have that Alireza Jahanbakhsh fella who was top scorer in Holland and with the recent controversy over their kit and football boots or rather their lack of, it might bring them closer together as a group. I am also thinking Carlos Queiroz might have a few tricks of his sleeve as well. So for all those reasons and that I dont know much about Morocco I will lump on Iran to win. Risky but fuck it, lets do it. 
In a World Cup the best advice I always say is back the World Class players to score, as usually they do, that’s why they are world class! Problem with Suarez is he is also a world class cunt, so if he doesn’t score he could just as easy get himself sent off, but its worth a punt for him to score against what shouldn’t a strong Egyptian defence.
This has a draw all over it, really it does. I would be well surprised if it is anything but a tie. If there are goals then I’d expect Ronnie to be on the score sheet too, that is the basic law of averages, better than that law in fact!
I know Russia are muck, and I actually think they might not get out of their group, but how bad must they be not to beat SA at home in their own World Cup, seriously?
The Golden boot is generally won by few goals, so why wouldn’t the winning team’s strikers not be a bad punt here? All three German strikers listed are sure to get on the scoreboard a few times during the month.
I also fancy Brazil to get to the final, but 21/10 is no bet here. So I have doubled it up with a name the finalists bet, ie-Brazil & Germany, and also a winning double chance of Brazil or Germany, which means only one of the two have to make the 
Other wise, I expect both Portugal and Spain, even after sacking their manager, to have decent World Cups. All four teams to get to the
Otherwise I have just done some long shot forecasts
Well it is an unfiltered wheat beer made with 50-60% malted wheat, which creates a cloudy amber colour and provides a refreshing crispness. The beers typically are sour and salty. They have a low hop bitterness, and a complementary dryness and spice from the use of ground coriander seeds and a sharpness from the addition of salt. They usually have a moderate alcohol content of 4 to 5% ABV. (Thanks to 
Unfortunately with the advent of World War Two, and the increasing prevalence for Pilsners, the popularity of Gose took a bit of a nosedive, with nearly all the Gose brewery’s shutting down. It wasn’t until Armin Brandt from the Leipzig micro-brewery “Zum Kaiser Napoleon”, on September 9th, 1999, had a trial run with the old Gose recipes from the Ritterguts Gose Brewery. Starting small, in a handful of restaurants, but expanding to 20 in time, he showed that there was a market again for this old classic. 
The Original Ritterguts Gose, “Das Original Seit 1824”, has won several accolades, including a gold medal at the World Beer Awards in 2013. 
Not a bad style, could get into it. 
Head is flat, none to speak of, but the colour looks great, a nice clear orange coloured beer, which looks tops. 
On the nose I get the Gose trademark smell, the salt and the coriander. 
There is a quiet confidence with this England team and the manager has also done very well to blood the team with a lot of new young players and letting some big names retire early. This is an England team without the big stars and big egos of English teams past. Wayne Rooney is finally gone, thank Christ, and there are no Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Owens type players to raise expectations. Ok Harry Kane could arguably fill that bracket, but he is still relatively unproven at international level, and with him we have Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Danny Rose and Dele Alli, a bunch of players who have had good seasons with their clubs the last few years, and who if they gel together can propel England far in this World Cup. 
They are in a relatively easy group. Ok Belgium are tough, but England should have too much for Tunisia and Panama, and I’d fully expect them to come out of the group without too much bother. Their last game against Belgium should be a great head to head to see who gets to play either Colombia, Senegal or Poland in round two, all beatable teams for England either way. But after that it is either Brazil or Germany in the last eight awaiting, and both teams are tough to break down. But the good thing for England is that Southgate has the team well drilled on penalties, a nice change from previous managers who didn’t think it necessary! England should get to the last eight, but after that they might need Kane to hit the form of his life to go beyond that. 
This time round they get to play Argentina, again, and Iceland and Croatia. It is a tough group, and with Croatia up first for them they really need some result from that tie going into the more winnable game against Iceland, and hoping that they dont need a win in the last game against Argentina. It will be touch and go if they can make it out. At this moment in time I would fancy Croatia to be ahead of them in second place, but as I have said, Nigeria can play some good football and if it all clicks they might just come out of this difficult group.
Their form of late is not great but this is a team that came out of a tough qualifying group that included Cameroon, Algeria and Zambia, blitzing the group and qualifying with little hassle. Ex Chelsea head, John Obi Mikel is the captain of a squad that perhaps doesn’t have as many big names as of previous squads, but its made up of a lot of up and coming young players, Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho for example, that play more as a team and a willing to lay it on the line for their German coach Gernot Rohr who has given them their chance to shine at this years big event. Nigeria have a chance, but whatever happens they will entertain, that’s for sure. 
Called “Kabinet”, to reflect a cabinet of curiosities or wonders of life, “a collection of distinctive, unique items, all that is rare, strange and precious, finest handicrafts, natural wonders, usually received and gathered from the exotic travel as an examples of the natural, geological, religious, ethnological and artistic value”. Founded by a Serbia couple, whose “wish is that the Kabinet Brewery, as a cabinet of curiosities, gathers in one place all the amazing tastes and smells of the beer world that has long inspired us”. It certainly sounds all great. 
The smell is very nice, a typical IPA style smell, very fruity, very hoppy and very strong on the nose.
Again a strange looking logo, a modern art kind of thing, is interesting enough but I am not sure its the best looking logo for a simple beer. Apparently, according to the artist who designed it, it is meant to represent the evoking of our sensations after drinking a Mozaik.
Typical IPA taste, hoppy and bitter, fruity, citrusy, get it all at the start, lingers too especially the caramel on the tongue.