--- title: Your Ultimate Guide to Watching the 2018 World Cup description: The biggest tournament in soccer kicks off in Moscow on Thursday. Here are the teams, players and stories to watch out for canonical: https://time.com/5310099/world-cup-russia-watch-teams-players/ author: Siobhan Morrin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-13T17:13:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:57:45.732Z article:section: Sports og:title: Your Ultimate Guide to Watching the 2018 World Cup og:description: These are the teams, players and stories to watch og:url: https://time.com/5310099/world-cup-russia-watch-teams-players/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt286d3091f563d9fd/698932e3e76ad23080632425/gettyimages-970605388.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: world-cup-2018-russia-preview-watch og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Your Ultimate Guide to Watching the 2018 World Cup twitter:description: These are the teams, players and stories to watch twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt286d3091f563d9fd/698932e3e76ad23080632425/gettyimages-970605388.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Your Ultimate Guide to Watching the 2018 World Cup > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Siobhan Morrin](https://time.com/author/siobhan-morrin/) ## Siobhan Morrin Jun 13, 2018 5:13 PM UTC  View of the Fisht Stadium and the statue of Zabivaka the Wolf, the official mascot of the 2018 FIFA World Cup prior to the start of the FIFA 2018 World Cup on June 9, 2018 in Sochi, Russia. View of the Fisht Stadium and the statue of Zabivaka the Wolf, the official mascot of the 2018 FIFA World Cup prior to the start of the FIFA 2018 World Cup on June 9, 2018 in Sochi, Russia.Buda Mendes—Getty Images by [Siobhan Morrin](https://time.com/author/siobhan-morrin/) ## Siobhan Morrin Jun 13, 2018 5:13 PM UTC The soccer World Cup kicks off Thursday in the 81,000 seater Luzhniki stadium in central Moscow. Host country Russia, ranked 70th in the world, take on 67th-ranked Saudi Arabia at 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET). While unlikely to be a match for the history books, it does mark the start of the first World Cup in eastern Europe. The games will be played across 12 stadiums, spanning a huge distance—with the most eastern in Ekaterinburg, 1,800 miles east of the stadium in Kaliningrad, Russia’s European territory that borders Poland and Lithuania. With 64 matches over four weeks, there are likely to be surprises—especially with video assistant referee (VAR) technology making its World Cup debut after a [widely criticized outing](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40474969) in the 2017 Confederations Cup. Here, a cheat sheet of what else to watch out for in this year’s tournament. ## **The favorites and the challengers** The only South American team to [win a World Cup](http://time.com/5243280/2018-world-cup-when-where/) on European soil was Brazil in 1958\. This year, there are five teams from South America in contention. Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Colombia all look likely to make it out of their groups, with Peru the underdog. With Brazil’s Neymar looking in form after returning from injury and scoring in both warm-up friendlies against Croatia and Austria, the Brazilians could live up to their tag as tournament favorites. France and Germany are both considered strong challengers to the South Americans, especially playing closer to home. But with Germany’s surprise decision to leave star winger Leroy Sané at home and a loss to Austria in a pre-tournament friendly, France could have the edge. A young squad bursting with raw talent, like forwards Nabil Fekir and Kylian Mbappé, has the best chance in years of bringing Les Bleus their second ever World Cup. ## **Final flings** This tournament is likely soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo’s last shot at winning a World Cup. The 33-year-old Portuguese captain has won the European Champions League five times with two teams and set scoring records, yet the World Cup trophy remains elusive. Leading fourth-ranked Portugal to victory would cement his place as one of the game’s [greatest players of all time](http://time.com/3562591/kobe-bryant-michael-jordan-greatest-basketball-player/).  Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal in action during the friendly match of preparation for FIFA 2018 World Cup between Portugal and Algeria at the Estadio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica on June 7, 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal. Quality Sport Images—Getty Images Egypt wasn’t considered to be a team to watch even when it last played in a World Cup, 28 years ago, but since Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah powered his way to become one of the top three goal scorers in Europe, it is attracting fresh attention. The team is already set to break one tournament record: fielding the oldest player ever to play in a World Cup. Goalkeeper Essam el-Hadary, 45, is set to captain his side. He told [ESPN](http://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/4/blog/post/3512072/egypts-essam-el-hadary-poised-to-become-oldest-player-to-ever-play-in-a-world-cup) the milestone meant little, since “age is just a number.” ## **Teams for the neutrals** Although [Iceland may have pride of place as tournament underdogs](http://time.com/5304197/iceland-world-cup-soccer/), Nigeria is emerging as another popular choice. According to the Nigeria Football Federation, the Super Eagles’ distinctive white, green and black patterned jersey had 3 million preorders, and London’s Nike store sold out after fans had lined up for hours. The country is hoping for a best-ever performance after finishing ninth in 1994.  Detail of the Nigeria badge and shirt during the international friendly match between England and Nigeria at Wembley Stadium on June 2, 2018 in London, England. Catherine Ivill—Getty Images ## **Off the pitch** Away from the stadiums, soccer officials are hoping the host nation can avoid a [resurgence of soccer hooliganism](http://time.com/4371606/euro-2016-fan-violence-hooligan-england/). At the European Championships in 2016, Russia’s fans violently clashed with British fans in the city of Marseilles. Russia says it has created a blacklist of “known troublemakers,” reportedly of almost 2,000 people and plans to deploy hundreds of police on the streets to dispel violence. Still, fans are bracing for trouble. The British Foreign Office has warned citizens traveling to Russia to watch out for “anti-British sentiment or harassment.” If you only pay attention to soccer every four years, you might be wondering who the U.S. is playing. Alas, the [United States men’s national soccer team failed to qualify](http://time.com/5258984/is-the-us-in-the-2018-world-cup/) for the 2018 World Cup, prompting much soul-searching and anger at the controversial goal that let Panama proceed instead. There’s a silver lining in the form of a squad of rising stars like Christian Pulisic and John Brooks, who are young enough to be dreaming of a resurgence in 2022\. And the Americans are at least in good company: four-time winners Italy also failed to qualify. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5310099/world-cup-russia-watch-teams-players/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5310099/world-cup-russia-watch-teams-players/"},"headline":"Your Ultimate Guide to Watching the 2018 World Cup","datePublished":"2018-06-13T17:13:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:57:45.732Z","description":"Soccer's biggest tournament kicks off Thursday in Moscow","url":"https://time.com/5310099/world-cup-russia-watch-teams-players/","keywords":["russia","Soccer","World Cup","FIFA World Cup","World Cup 2018"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt286d3091f563d9fd/698932e3e76ad23080632425/gettyimages-970605388.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Siobhan Morrin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/siobhan-morrin/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt286d3091f563d9fd/698932e3e76ad23080632425/gettyimages-970605388.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"world-cup-2018-russia-preview-watch","caption":"Previews - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia","creditText":"Buda Mendes—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5310099/world-cup-russia-watch-teams-players/","name":"Your Ultimate Guide to Watching the 2018 World Cup"}}]}] ```