It is proving to be a WC of possibilities

In the last ten editions, only on two occasions has the eventual tournament champion not won their opening match – 1982 and 2010 .

After 8pm today by which time Poland would have played Senegal, we shall have had a glimpse of all 32 teams competing at the 2018 Fifa World Cup.

It’s been the most unpredictable start in Russia with a series of results no one could have called when the draws were conducted last year.

None of Argentina, Brazil, Spain, France, Germany – all former winners – has registered three points after the opening round.

In fact the only opening world champion to have won a match at the World Cup (this article was penned before England played Tunisia) is Uruguay.

In the last ten Fifa World Cups, only two times has the eventual tournament champion failed to win their opening match of the competition – that was in 1982 when Italy drew 0-0 with Poland and 2010 when Switzerland stunned Spain 1-0.
In that period, the teams that have gone on to lift the World Cup have more often than not laid down the marker in their opening round.

In 1990 for instance, West Germany demolished a formidable Yugoslavia team 4-1 to set the tone for the tournament which they eventually lifted after pipping Diego Maradona’s Argentina 1-0 in the final.

Four years ago in Brazil, Germany annihilated Crsitiano Ronaldo’s Portugal 4-0 in their first game en route to lifting the trophy after another 1-0 victory over the old enemy Argentina in the final.

What the opening games have shown in Russia so far is that the traditional heavyweights will not have it easy with the ever narrowing gap between the haves and the have nots.

This is not to say that the champion next month will come from the cast of non-former winners, probably not.
The aristocrats of World Cup football will in all likelihood get their act together in the second and third group games, but expect a scalp or two.

The beauty of tournament football lies in its capacity to spring surprises; you can bet that the game would be less of a thrill if Brazil, Argentina, Spain and France all opened their campaigns with 3-0 victories.

It is the power of the unexpected that makes the World Cup such a thrilling spectacle and explains why Mexican fans on Sunday morning painted the Red Square green and white as they celebrated their 1-0 upset of defending champions Germany. This is precisely why the World Cup is the greatest spectacle on earth.

*The writer is a sports editor at Monitor Publications Ltd