World Cup 2018: 5 things we learned from the first round of matches

#2 The centre-backs are looking formidable

Koulibaly gave a standout performance against Poland

While the quality of the competition has been great with lots of goals: bangers, penalties, last minute goals, freekicks, own goals and the likes, the quality of defending has been of a high standard.

The men in the centre of the defence have led by example and have been involved in a lot of Russia 2018's talking points from a defensive (and sometimes offensive) perspective. The quality of organization of defences (especially among the lesser lights) has been very impressive with strikers having to give extra to get the desired goals.

Senegal's Kalidou Koulibaly was one of the most highly rated centre-backs going into the World Cup and he was absolutely majestic in the Teranga Lions' victory over the highly-rated Polish team. He alongside partner; Salif Sane kept Poland's top marksmen: Robert Lewandowski and Arkadiusz Milik quiet all through the game.

Despite the 3-3 draw against Portugal, Spain's captain Sergio Ramos was immense for La Furia Roja and Diego Godin was his usual majestic self against Egypt for Uruguay. While there have been wobbles (Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels for Germany and Nigeria' William Troost-Ekong's brain fart against Croatia come to mind), the men in the middle have been brilliant and will be expected to continue to be so.