Finally, the wait is over
The first day of the 2018 World Cup is upon us, with hosts Russia taking on Saudi Arabia in the tournament’s opening game in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.
The game was screened by ITV in the UK, with host Mark Pougatch joined by Gary Neville, Slaven Bilic, Ian Wright and Lee Dixon – not that many watching actually noticed who the pundits were…
Instead, many viewers spent the opening minutes of ITV’s World Cup coverage simply admiring their fancy Red Square studio.
Here, look:
Not bad, eh? Not bad at all.
Most were in agreement that this was something special…
Sorry but that ITV studio in Moscow is something else.
— bth (@bnjmhnf) June 14, 2018
https://twitter.com/BritishPKMN1991/status/1007259852081647616
https://twitter.com/phildjm/status/1007259532324757507
#ITV's World Cup studio is a Cathedral of Football beamed live from Clive Tyldesley's mind palace
— Paul McMillan (@paulmcmillan) June 14, 2018
ITV with an incredible opening title for the #WorldCup
And goodness their studio is unreal 😳😍— PG (@Puneetg97) June 14, 2018
Well, ITV have blown their entire budget on the fancy studio in Russia #WorldCup
— Matt G-Freebody ☥ (@G_Freebody) June 14, 2018
That ITV studio is outstanding.
— Ismail (@IML91) June 14, 2018
Not a bad first impression. Over to you, BBC…
Russia’s game with Saudi Arabia will be the first in Group A. The second, which sees Mo Salah’s Egypt take on Uruguay takes place at 1pm on Friday. Morocco and Iran play the Group B opener later in the afternoon with the eagerly anticipated game between European champions Portugal and 2010 world champions Spain in the evening.
England, drawn in Group G, will play their first game of the tournament against Tunisia in Volgograd on Monday. Plenty of time to admire that ITV studio some more between now and then.
