France 2, Australia 1 - France earned only it's second opening game win in a World Cup since that magical 1998 run to the championship. They did so in a tough game against Australia. But it was a tough, mostly defensive game, which was nodded up in a scoreless tie for halftime.
Things began heating up a bit in the second half, though.
Les Bleus struck first when Antoine Griezmann broke through in the 58th minute to give France a 1-0 lead.
It did not last long.
Australia's Mile Jedinak scored the tying goal just four minutes later, making it 1-1.
But in the 80th minute, Paul Pogba managed to pull France ahead once again, as Les Bleus had a 2-1 lead, and were just trying to hold off any potential rally by Australia. Ultimately, they managed to do so to earn the win.
Argentina 1, Iceland 1 - Iceland has been the Cinderella team of the past few years. Remember how they qualified for their first Euro tournament two years ago, and then advanced, even managing to beat heavily favored England? Then, they qualified for their first ever World Cup in 2018.
However, you kind of figured that they would have a rough go of it once here, surely. After all, they had to face Argentina, one of the high profile teams and among the tournament favorites to win it all. Surely, tiny Iceland's luck would run out here.
Indeed, it looked like the game was following the expected script when Argentina's Sergio Agüero broke through in the 19th minute, putting Iceland in a 1-0 hole.
Just four minutes later, however, Iceland tied up the game, as Alfreð Finnbogason scored the tying goal.
After that, Argentina tried desperately to get another goal to earn the win. Lionel Messi had a penalty kick, although it was blocked. He had another opportunity right at the very end, but this was not converted, either, and Argentina had to settle for a disappointing tie. This was the first time since 1990 that Argentina did not win their opener at the World Cup.
For Iceland, this has to be considered a huge success. Argentina, after all, is a powerhouse, and to stand up to them for a full 90 minutes, and come away even, has to feed into their enormous, and still growing, confidence.
It looks like they picked up where they left off in the 2016 Euro, and just might have the magic slipper fit their golden feet in Russia this year, as well.
Denmark 1, Peru 0 - This game went more according to the script than the previous one between a European club and a South American one.
Denmark are not exactly considered a powerhouse team at this tournament, but they were expected to beat Peru, and that is exactly what they did.
Yussuf Poulsen broke through in the 59th minute, giving Denmark a 1-0 lead.
It was all the scoring that this game would see, but it was enough to give Denmark a solid win that bodes well for them in their hopes to advance to the second round.
Croatia 2, Nigeria 0 - Another sad own goal was scored, this time breaking a scoreless tie between Croatia and Nigeria in the 32nd minute. Nigeria's Oghenekaro Etebo scored against his own team, and that may very well have decided it.
If it did not, then Luka Modrić's goal in the 71st minute surely sealed the deal, and Nigeria's fate in this game along with it.
A solid win for the Croatians, who won their first opener in a World Cup tournament since their incredible run in the 1998 tournament in France, when they placed third overall. Interestingly, Croatia has never lost to an African team.
As for Nigeria, they have never managed to win a World Cup game after falling behind by 1-0 in their last seven games. This was the seventh time that they lost after giving up the first goal in a World Cup game.
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