Day 17 WorldCup2018
Can it not end, please? Best World Cup ever. I love it. I am loving it so much that I'm already sad, and worried, thinking about how I'm going to deal with the void on July 16th. It's feels like the excitement before Christmas but you're already dreading Boxing Day.
Super Saturday really was quite special, Mbappe and Cavani special. France's incredibly talented team got their act together and kicked their game up a few gears once Argentina had taken a very lucky 2-1 lead. The French, at times, played the kind of football we all dream of watching but don't expect to happen in a real, competitive match. The fourth French goal was a lesson in quick movement from one of the pitch to the other with an emphatic finish to round it off.
Uruguay beat Portugal in a very different kind of match. Uruguay had two, maybe three, chances and scored twice. After their first goal they did what they do very well. They defended the lead against Portugal's huffing and puffing. After Pepe took advantage of the Uruguayan's one lapse of concentration to make it 1-1, Uruguay broke out one more time and Canavi scored a second beauty. After that it was back to the art of defending, with a "thou shall not pass" philosophy rarely troubled.
Tomorrow we will wake up to a World Cup without Messi and Ronaldo. Messi couldn't get himself interested enough to make anything happen. I don't get these theory of of how he has to drag his team-mates along with him. I didn't see much effort from him at all. Ronaldo, on the other hand, was chasing the ball and probing without much luck. There was another difference I noticed. While Messi looked like the only player of quality in the Argentinian team (Di Maria was having an off day too), Ronaldo had a bit of quality around him. William Carvalho and Bernardo Silva were pulling the strings for Portugal, with Ronaldo attempting to add more spark ahead of them. But still, with more talent across the team than Argentina, Portugal still didn't have enough to overcome the resolute Uruguayans.
As France and Urugauy move on, two questions need to be answered from today.
How did the back of Luis Suarez's head hurt so much after a blow to his upper back?
What happened to the Uruguayan fan who looked like he might have been accidentally elbowed or punched in the face after Cavani's second beauty. All we got was a quick glimpse in the corner of the TV screen of the poor man being consoled by a friend as mayhem broke out around him.
There are two more last 16 matches tomorrow. Will Russia keep the home party going with a win against Spain? And will Croatia handle the Danes easily to enhance their reputation as one of the favourites. Will it be more super than Super Saturday?
Saturday 30 June 2018
Friday 29 June 2018
Rest Day 1
Day 16 WorldCup2018
From the very limited reaction to my rant yesterday I'll assume one of two things: nobody was offended by my anti-Japanese and anti-Senegal sentiments (football only) or it was too much of a rant.
Today will be quiet, because it was a quiet day in Russia. I had this dilemma during Brazil '14. Do I count a day of no matches as a day, or does tomorrow become day 16? While I think about it I will call today day 16.
Portugal-Uruguay and Argentina-France in a few hours. Can I be the first to call it Super Saturday?
Thursday 28 June 2018
Well played, Japan. Nice one.
Day 15 WorldCup2018
The first round of what has been an absolutely excitingly wonderful World Cup came to a somewhat limp end today, two weeks of the best football witnessed at a major tournament tarnished by the antics of Japan playing for the safety of a 1-0 defeat.
The timing of the matches prevented me from watching much today. I did see Colombia take the lead against Senegal, shortly before Poland did the same against Japan. At that moment Colombia were top of the group with Japan second by virtue of them having received less yellow cards than Senegal.
As I watched Senegal desperately try to get an equalizer, I read the updates on the BBC from the Japan match. In the last 10 minutes there was nothing more than a description of the Japanese players passing the ball around to each other in their own half. The BBC reporter alternated between making fun and being disgusted. So when that match finished and there were still 2 minutes to go for Senegal, I hoped, prayed, wished that the Colombians would get wind of it and let Senegal score. Why? Just to stick it to the Japanese for being so negative and being as terrible, and as anti-football as Germany and Austria in 1982. And what the hell were Poland doing? What was in it for them to not try scoring a second goal which would have also knocked out Japan? They were out anyway, and was defending a 1-0 lead over Japan really going to make anybody happy?
Now for the sake of proving I am not biased against Japan, but only disgusted by the way they destroyed the good feeling of this World Cup (even more than the France-Denmark snooze fest) I do appreciate that any collusion between Senegal and Colombia would have been equally despicable. And I can also confidently say, now that I am on the attack, what was all the fuss about Senegal? Really. I kept hearing about how fun they were to watch. Really? What kind of fun? I watched them play two and a half times and each time they were boring. Dull. And they never smiled, even when they scored. There was no flair, very little speed. I truly believe that there was a perception of fun, maybe because of their cool looking coach. They and Iceland were the hipster team. But someone please explain the "fun to watch" to me. And, you know, I have watched a lot of football. Senegal in 2002 were fun. They were reckless and unpredictable and they made it to the quarterfinals. Argentina are fun to watch because you know you're going to get passion. Switzerland are fun because they have taken good organization to a whole new level. Colombia, Belgium, Mexico. They are fun. Not Senegal. And definitely not Japan today.
I didn't watch Japan-Poland today so I can only comment on the description of what happened. So I'll quote people, in the know, who did watch it.
Leon Osman, former Everton player: "That was embarrassing the way the teams went about that final 10 minutes. It was everything we don't want to see in the World Cup. It turned into a farce."
Michael O'Neill. Northern Ireland manager: "I developed a soft spot for Japan, but I hope they get battered in the next round."
BBC commentator and former Liverpool player, Mark Lawrenson: [After a Japanese player did a stepover with no Polish player near him] "We shouldn't laugh but it's become an absolute farce. The ref is waving, what's he waving at? He can't make them play."
Former England captain, Terry Butcher: "It's been a marvellous World Cup. It's just been a bit tainted by Poland and Japan doing that."
BBC commentator Conor McNamara: "They've gone through on fair play. But can you call that fair play? Is that the spirit of the competition?"
The last one is my favourite. Japan have made a mockery of the concept that they were rewarded for that allows them to still be in Russia.
Cue all the counter arguments of they did what they had to do. "They're still in, aren't they?" I don't have time for that today. After all the fun I poked at some of the not so exciting football in Brazil four years ago, I have had 14 days of describing the best feeling I have had watching football day after day for a long, long time. So excuse me for having no sympathy or admiration for Japan doing "what they had to do."
England lost, but I don't care. The next match counts not today's meaningless one, played by players who weren't part of England's previous two exciting wins.
Wednesday 27 June 2018
Germany, cheerio!
Day 14 WorldCup2018
Where do I begin, to tell the story of a German team that is gone, gone so soon, gone before they had enough opportunities to win more matches in the last minute when they looked down and out, before they could beat England on penalties, before Brazil could get their revenge. Two things have happened before, and at, Russia 2018 that are a first in my lifetime: Italy didn't qualify and Germany are out in the first round.
And, again, VAR has to take part of the credit. If VAR hadn't been around to confirm South Korea's goal, Germany might have scored a late winner, denying Mexico the opportunity to lose in the last 16 again, and Sweden a very winnable match against Switzerland.
But South Korea's first goal was a goal and it led to the crazy situation of the second goal where I was yelling "shoot" at the TV when the Korean defender had the ball way closer to his penalty area than the German one.
Oh Germany, how? How could you have been that bad? Where did it come from? What changed in the last few months? After dominating their qualifying group, and winning the Confederations Cup with their second team,they seemed to lose their way in the last few friendlies. Something was up. Maybe they finally cracked under the Low expectations of being perfect all the time, hair and football.
And of course for all of Germany's misery there is another team's joy. Two teams' joy, really. Mexico were celebrating a 3-0 defeat to Sweden. And Sweden, what a way to come back from the psychological damage of that crushing defeat to Germany on Saturday. John Giudetti and Jimmy Durmaz are probably relishing the lifeline they've been handed. David Ginola never got that chance.
In other news that could only be seen as dull compared to the earlier bombshell, Brazil sauntered into the knockout round with a composed win against Serbia and Switzerland let Costa Rica leave the World Cup with a couple of goals in a 2-2 draw.
So the Swiss and the Swedes play each other in what could be regarded as a very good opportunity for either team to, a little surprisingly, reach the quarterfinals. Sweden are remembered as the reason for the Italians not being in Russia. As for Switzerland, a little reminder of how consistent they were in qualifying is needed. Their first match was an impressive win over the new European champions, Portugal. They then went on to win every match until the last one, the return against Portugal. That defeat meant they had to go through the playoffs, on goal difference. They are not spectacular but their ability to grind out results is pretty impressive.
Tuesday 26 June 2018
Rojo!
Day 13 WorldCup2018
They have all that firepower up front and the defender who has struggled to become a regular at his club side scores the screamer. Messi, Aguero, Higuain. Goals in them all season. But up steps Man United's Marcos Rojo to score the winner that keeps Argentina in the World Cup. What a goal it was, not quite Maxi Rodriguez in 2006 but probably a bigger goal than that.
What an evening it was for those Argentinian fans in the stadium, the thousands of them. They erupted when Messi scored his goal of awesome technical brilliance. And they almost took the roof of the stadium when Rojo's volley hit the back of the net. It was brilliant, like watching Argentina at La Bombonera or the Monumental in Buenos Aires. The Argentinians were rocking the St. Petersburg stadium. For that spectacle alone how could you not want Argentina to stay in the World Cup?
Earlier, in complete contrast, Denmark and France played out the first 0-0 draw of this tournament. It was a real 0-0, the kind of 0-0 that Americans shake their head at and make jokes about kissing your sister. It was dire. It was turgid. The BBC commentators and analysts were angry that 22 (plus subs) professional footballers could go out and put on that kind of display, devoid of any sort of passion. The point that confirmed how bad it was happened towards the end of the first half when Denmark had a quick counter attack and were about to break into the Danish penalty area but a few passes later were back at the edge of their own penalty box.
But back to passion, what better demonstration of it was there than Maradona's double middle finger salute after Rojo's goal to anybody who had dared taunt him. It's sad seeing the physical and mental state of, questionably, the greatest footballer ever and he has done some despicable things in his past, but you can not question his love for Argentina and it's football. His public display of emotion is probably safer to discuss than Shaqiri and Xhaka's double eagle gesture to the Serbian fans after their goals for Switzerland last weekend. Too political. I thought about addressing it on the day but decided not to go down that road. Maradona is an easier subject, despite his complexities.
Monday 25 June 2018
V.A.R!
Day 12 WorldCup2018
All praise VAR. No more dreams ended by linesmen not seeing offsides, or by referees awarding nonexistent penalties. Apart from questions as to how all the referees (the main one, assistant and the VAR crew) missed Harry Kane and Aleksandar Mitovic being manhandled to the ground, VAR, has been pretty successful.
Today it added to a day of high drama and excitement. Spain were awarded a goal that had been disallowed for offside at the same time as Iran were given a penalty. Spain's goal meant they saved themselves from the embarrassment of a defeat to Morocco and Iran's penalty lead to their last minute equalizer against Portugal.
I have forever been a critic of "bad referee decisions are a part of the game" and more a supporter of "the technology exists, use it". Sure, Iran's penalty still came down to a referee making a decision based on what he saw and it was still a somewhat controversial decision, but he had the ability to make an informed decision.
But above all, what about the incredible tension and emotional rollercoasters today? Isn't that part of what makes sport something we get so drawn into? Today's VAR incidents just added to those emotions.
At the end of it all we have our first last 16 match-ups. Portugal-Uruguay on Saturday. Who else thinks that's going to be a tasty, feisty, battle to the bitter end kind of match. I don't think it will be very pretty. And Spain play Russia. Will Spain play the same way as they did in the group phase? Will they pass the ball around, and back and forth, and around and back and forth again until, hey presto, the ball ends up in their oppoents net and, hey look, don't know what happened, all that passing made us dizzy and now we are top of our group. That's crazy.
Tomorrow we'll see if Messi can get Argentina out of their mess and whether Iceland can keep the underdog dream alive.
Sunday 24 June 2018
An English stroll? Boring?
Day 11 WorldCup2018
I could just put together all my tweets and posts from the day. And that would be a pretty description of what happened in Russia today. But that would be boring, wouldn't it?
It started off with England making a mockery of Panama's ambitions to win their first ever World Cup point. A 6-1 win which you (I) felt could have been more if they really tried. The goals sort of fell into their laps and so the feeling amongst the players could have been interpreted as ,"why try, when we can score without trying?" But the match did raise a few questions.
What is better: if the team you support wins a thrilling match by scoring a last minute winner or if they are up 5-0 at half-time and the match is devoid of any real excitement? For the first option there is so much emotion invested in the team for 90 minutes: highs, lows and finally a massive outburst of relief and joy. You long for the easy 6-1 win, where your team completely dominates and demonstrates through their display of near perfection why you support them. But it's ultimately quite boring. Of course there are exceptions. If you are German and watched the 7-1 annihilation of Brazil in 2014, then it would have been a pretty special feeling.
I asked this question repeatedly today. Why did English players not take on any Panamanians today in one on one situations? Rarely, very rarely. did they try to dribble past defenders. As soon as they got close to an opponent they passed the ball. Raheem Sterling never ran with the ball and Ruben Loftus-Cheek who is known for "gliding past players" (Frank Lampard's words) did more stalling than gliding. Jesse Lingard took on the Panamian defence once and scored. Maybe the lack of ambition was simply because of the way the goals were coming England's way without the need for any individual sparkle. They tried that against Tunisia and, as fun as it was to watch, look at the end result.
What goes through Kyle Walker's head at times? Is he really that bored? He's the right back who's been playing as a more central defender in England's new three man defence. His partners, Harry Maguire and John Stones, have been getting forward and scoring goals but Walker has been hanging back. And at the back he gave away that penalty against Tunisia where his whack around the Tunisian's head was so lackadaisical that you wondered if in his mind he had drifted back to a day on the school pitch at lunchtime after the headmaster had told him that he would be staying after school to work on his attitude. The poor player on the receiving end of his slap was the headmaster, in Walker's mind. And today, at 6-0, he calmly dribbled past a Panamian forward close to the England touchline and after he had done the hard bit and completely fooled the Panamanian he pretty much walked the ball over the line and gave away a corner. Again, he barely looked like he cared. Or he was so lost, so bored, that he didn't even notice the thick white line under his feet. Or maybe he intentionally let Panama have a corner because he was missing being challenged.
A big part of the rest of the day was spent with me trying to figure out the perfect scenario where all four teams in Group H could end up with the same number of points, same goal difference and same number of goals scored. After Japan and Senegal drew 2-2 and Colombia went 2-0 up against Poland it was all, sort of, going to plan. Poland just needed to score twice. But when Colombia scored again, I disappointingly conceded that the final standings wouldn't be that sexy. As it stands the biggest probability is that one of Colombia and Senegal will move on, and Japan. The Japanese will probably not lose against eliminated Poland. If they draw, only one of Colombia and Senegal can qualify. If Japan lose, Colombia and Senegal will both qualify with a draw. Otherwise, it may go down to a combination of who wins or loses and goal difference. I started writing down all the possible permutations but realized that would show that I spent way too much time thinking about it today.
Anyway, who ever qualifies from Group H is going to get ripped apart by the free-scoring Belgians or English.
I could just put together all my tweets and posts from the day. And that would be a pretty description of what happened in Russia today. But that would be boring, wouldn't it?
It started off with England making a mockery of Panama's ambitions to win their first ever World Cup point. A 6-1 win which you (I) felt could have been more if they really tried. The goals sort of fell into their laps and so the feeling amongst the players could have been interpreted as ,"why try, when we can score without trying?" But the match did raise a few questions.
What is better: if the team you support wins a thrilling match by scoring a last minute winner or if they are up 5-0 at half-time and the match is devoid of any real excitement? For the first option there is so much emotion invested in the team for 90 minutes: highs, lows and finally a massive outburst of relief and joy. You long for the easy 6-1 win, where your team completely dominates and demonstrates through their display of near perfection why you support them. But it's ultimately quite boring. Of course there are exceptions. If you are German and watched the 7-1 annihilation of Brazil in 2014, then it would have been a pretty special feeling.
I asked this question repeatedly today. Why did English players not take on any Panamanians today in one on one situations? Rarely, very rarely. did they try to dribble past defenders. As soon as they got close to an opponent they passed the ball. Raheem Sterling never ran with the ball and Ruben Loftus-Cheek who is known for "gliding past players" (Frank Lampard's words) did more stalling than gliding. Jesse Lingard took on the Panamian defence once and scored. Maybe the lack of ambition was simply because of the way the goals were coming England's way without the need for any individual sparkle. They tried that against Tunisia and, as fun as it was to watch, look at the end result.
What goes through Kyle Walker's head at times? Is he really that bored? He's the right back who's been playing as a more central defender in England's new three man defence. His partners, Harry Maguire and John Stones, have been getting forward and scoring goals but Walker has been hanging back. And at the back he gave away that penalty against Tunisia where his whack around the Tunisian's head was so lackadaisical that you wondered if in his mind he had drifted back to a day on the school pitch at lunchtime after the headmaster had told him that he would be staying after school to work on his attitude. The poor player on the receiving end of his slap was the headmaster, in Walker's mind. And today, at 6-0, he calmly dribbled past a Panamian forward close to the England touchline and after he had done the hard bit and completely fooled the Panamanian he pretty much walked the ball over the line and gave away a corner. Again, he barely looked like he cared. Or he was so lost, so bored, that he didn't even notice the thick white line under his feet. Or maybe he intentionally let Panama have a corner because he was missing being challenged.
A big part of the rest of the day was spent with me trying to figure out the perfect scenario where all four teams in Group H could end up with the same number of points, same goal difference and same number of goals scored. After Japan and Senegal drew 2-2 and Colombia went 2-0 up against Poland it was all, sort of, going to plan. Poland just needed to score twice. But when Colombia scored again, I disappointingly conceded that the final standings wouldn't be that sexy. As it stands the biggest probability is that one of Colombia and Senegal will move on, and Japan. The Japanese will probably not lose against eliminated Poland. If they draw, only one of Colombia and Senegal can qualify. If Japan lose, Colombia and Senegal will both qualify with a draw. Otherwise, it may go down to a combination of who wins or loses and goal difference. I started writing down all the possible permutations but realized that would show that I spent way too much time thinking about it today.
Anyway, who ever qualifies from Group H is going to get ripped apart by the free-scoring Belgians or English.
Saturday 23 June 2018
Giudetti! No!
Day 10 WorldCup2018
John Giudetti! David Ginola may be smiling tonight, for he may no longer be remembered as the player who's ill-timed decision ruined a country's World Cup hopes.
If you weren't watching Germany-Sweden today or had tuned out by the 93rd minute, here's what happened. Towards the end of one of the best, if not the best, match at this year's World Cup, Sweden have the ball far up in the German half. It's 1-1. The Swedish fans are having a party. The German supporters are contemplating the possibility of no second round football. If it ends in a draw, Sweden would only need a draw against Mexico in their last match to eliminate the Germans.
The ball is played to Guidetti at the corner of the German penalty area. He takes a touch and the lazily takes a shot with an obvious lack of any conviction that he is actually going to score. As the ball bobbles towards Manuel Neuer in the German goal, I am sure I am not the only viewer who's thinking, "he has just handed Germany a lifeline". He could have used some of the skill that made him such a promising teen star many years ago to stop, turn and head towards the corner flag. Or, at the very least, he could have looked up and noticed his unmarked team mates running into the penalty box. But no. He took his shot, the kind of shot you hit when your team is losing 3-0 in the 93rd minute and all hope of a positive result is long gone, and when your manager has put you out there for a sympathy runabout for a few minutes.
So Neuer gets the ball moving and within a few seconds, Giudetti's team mate, and fellow sub, Jimmy Durmaz gave away the free kick which will be remembered for a long time with a rash, lazy tackle when it was really needed. Up stepped Toni Kroos and after the spectacularly struck winner with 18 seconds on the clock the mood in the stadium and the balance of the group completely changed. The Germans were ecstatic because they now see more light. The Swedes were devastated because they had it in their hands, the easy opportunity to eliminate Germany. Now they have to beat Mexico. And the Mexicans have gone from looking like comfortable qualifiers to having a battle on their hands. And South Korea, seemingly ready to pack their bags, now have mathematical hope, even though this requires a win against Germany.
It was quite the night (or afternoon here), quite the intense end to the day. Belgium's brilliance in their 5-2 demolition of Tunisia was the earlier excitement of a very different kind. And Mexico's 2-1 win over the Koreans has now changed in significance.
John Giudetti! David Ginola may be smiling tonight, for he may no longer be remembered as the player who's ill-timed decision ruined a country's World Cup hopes.
If you weren't watching Germany-Sweden today or had tuned out by the 93rd minute, here's what happened. Towards the end of one of the best, if not the best, match at this year's World Cup, Sweden have the ball far up in the German half. It's 1-1. The Swedish fans are having a party. The German supporters are contemplating the possibility of no second round football. If it ends in a draw, Sweden would only need a draw against Mexico in their last match to eliminate the Germans.
The ball is played to Guidetti at the corner of the German penalty area. He takes a touch and the lazily takes a shot with an obvious lack of any conviction that he is actually going to score. As the ball bobbles towards Manuel Neuer in the German goal, I am sure I am not the only viewer who's thinking, "he has just handed Germany a lifeline". He could have used some of the skill that made him such a promising teen star many years ago to stop, turn and head towards the corner flag. Or, at the very least, he could have looked up and noticed his unmarked team mates running into the penalty box. But no. He took his shot, the kind of shot you hit when your team is losing 3-0 in the 93rd minute and all hope of a positive result is long gone, and when your manager has put you out there for a sympathy runabout for a few minutes.
So Neuer gets the ball moving and within a few seconds, Giudetti's team mate, and fellow sub, Jimmy Durmaz gave away the free kick which will be remembered for a long time with a rash, lazy tackle when it was really needed. Up stepped Toni Kroos and after the spectacularly struck winner with 18 seconds on the clock the mood in the stadium and the balance of the group completely changed. The Germans were ecstatic because they now see more light. The Swedes were devastated because they had it in their hands, the easy opportunity to eliminate Germany. Now they have to beat Mexico. And the Mexicans have gone from looking like comfortable qualifiers to having a battle on their hands. And South Korea, seemingly ready to pack their bags, now have mathematical hope, even though this requires a win against Germany.
It was quite the night (or afternoon here), quite the intense end to the day. Belgium's brilliance in their 5-2 demolition of Tunisia was the earlier excitement of a very different kind. And Mexico's 2-1 win over the Koreans has now changed in significance.
Friday 22 June 2018
Shaqiri!
Day 9 WorldCup2018
Shaqiri! Shaqiri! I just like having the opportunity to say that. The little Swiss magician did his thing today, with his last minute winner against Serbia. It sounded good on the radio. As did Nigeria's two goals against Iceland. Brazil-Costa Rica? I don't know, I didn't even get to listen to the radio for that match.
I love the old school romanticism of listening to football on the radio. But I would rather be watching it. So I will say no more today, because I did not see one moment of football. I'll take it as a quasi night off.
Shaqiri! Shaqiri! I just like having the opportunity to say that. The little Swiss magician did his thing today, with his last minute winner against Serbia. It sounded good on the radio. As did Nigeria's two goals against Iceland. Brazil-Costa Rica? I don't know, I didn't even get to listen to the radio for that match.
I love the old school romanticism of listening to football on the radio. But I would rather be watching it. So I will say no more today, because I did not see one moment of football. I'll take it as a quasi night off.
Thursday 21 June 2018
Peru, gone. Messi? Going.....
Day 8 WorldCup2018
Peru, they waited 36 years to be at a World Cup again and now they're out after two matches, a missed penalty and no goals scored. And gone will be the thousands of their loud, colourful fans. They'll be around for one more match but with nothing to play for, will they have the same passion?
France had flashes of brilliance in their 1-0 win against Peru today but the question still lingers: is this how good their team of talented individuals is going to be or are they pacing themselves, ready to really take off in the second round?
Australia are hanging on after their 1-1 draw with Denmark. Christian Eriksen did what he does best, score a spectacular goal and Mile Jedinak did what he is good at, score a penalty.
In the last match of the day, if battles like this were scored on points, Croatia's midfield maestro Luka Modric beat Argentina's midfield misfit Lionel Messi by a landslide. If it was boxing the referee might have stopped it out of fear of Messi getting too badly battered.
Croatia are through and Argentina are now relying on other results. Iceland could be playing for a draw against Croatia in their final match to eliminate Argentina. I already smell collusion.
Peru, they waited 36 years to be at a World Cup again and now they're out after two matches, a missed penalty and no goals scored. And gone will be the thousands of their loud, colourful fans. They'll be around for one more match but with nothing to play for, will they have the same passion?
France had flashes of brilliance in their 1-0 win against Peru today but the question still lingers: is this how good their team of talented individuals is going to be or are they pacing themselves, ready to really take off in the second round?
Australia are hanging on after their 1-1 draw with Denmark. Christian Eriksen did what he does best, score a spectacular goal and Mile Jedinak did what he is good at, score a penalty.
In the last match of the day, if battles like this were scored on points, Croatia's midfield maestro Luka Modric beat Argentina's midfield misfit Lionel Messi by a landslide. If it was boxing the referee might have stopped it out of fear of Messi getting too badly battered.
Croatia are through and Argentina are now relying on other results. Iceland could be playing for a draw against Croatia in their final match to eliminate Argentina. I already smell collusion.
Wednesday 20 June 2018
Pepe, we don't want your kind around here.
Day 7 WorldCup2018
It's been a wonderful World Cup so far, with exciting, fast moving matches being the norm. The defensive teams have been tough and fair, and the dirty fouls and play acting have been at a minimum.
That is, until today when Portugal's Pepe and Iran's goalkeeper, Alireza Beiranvan, spoiled all the positiveness and gave all the non-football fans who laugh at football for the ridiculous fake injuries lots of ammunition. So thank you, Pepe and Alireza Beiranvan for being such ridiculous idiots.
Pepe flopped to the ground after he was tapped on the shoulder by a Moroccan player. Tapped, really. Not pushed, not punched. Tapped. There he was looking like he had been violently assaulted while, quite rightly, the world laughed at him. I can't say anymore how I don't understand how these players can not be embarrassed when they do this. So I will quote what some of his fellow footballers had to say.
Gary Lineker: "See Pepe is still a d***."
Martin Keown: ""It's hard to take him seriously. Men were men when I played. If I'd have done that against Alan Shearer he'd have laughed and walked over the top of me."
Rio Ferdinand: "He must be embarrassed when he sees himself on TV behaving like that. He must be embarrassed for his kids to see that."
John Arne Riise: "OMG Pepe. Pathetic. Grow up man."
Then in the late match, Beiranvan and Spanish striker Diego Costa's toes touched and Beiranvan was down on the floor like a meteorite had fallen from space on his foot. Thank goodness the referee had the good sense to give him a good talking to. Later he was at it again. After a pretty good save a Spanish player looking to capitalize on the rebound collided with him and there he was rolling around with one eye on the referee to make sure he got the foul instead of the corner for Spain that it should have been.
That was not the biggest story of the Spain-Iran match though. First Spain finally broke through Iran's incredibly defensive display with a very lucky Costa goal. Then in one of those moments of incredible emotional swings, Iran scored but had the goal disallowed by a very attentive assistant referee and VAR. It was a mix of embarrassing and sad watching the whole Iranian bench erupt in celebration when the "goal" was scored. As the Iranian "scorer" said his prayers on the ground you wondered who was going to have the heart to tell him that the refereee was standing at the spot where he took the shot with his hand up, signifying that he was about to award a free kick to Spain.
Morocco are the first team eliminated after they lost to Portugal. It seems so soon, too soon. We haven't even had a week. And Saudi Arabia and Egypt are also gone after Uruguay's 1-0 win over the Saudis. It all seems so real, like the tournament has now become serious when teams are knocked out and players are pretending to be knocked out.
Fifa, be brave, and discipline these players. They spoil the whole month for all of us.
Tuesday 19 June 2018
No Salah, more Russia
Day 6 WorldCup2018
Hands up if you wanted Mo Salah to be one of the stars of this World Cup, the charismatic, energetic Egyptian who set Liverpool and the Premier League on fire? Yes, you did. Don't deny it, even you Man United fans. How wonderful it would have been to see him leading little Egypt, in their first World Cup since 1990, to a 2002 Senegal-style run to the quarter-finals.
But it wasn't to be. Egypt need a miracle of a combination of results after losing 3-1 to Russia today. Salah, and the rest of the Egyptian team, and the management, and the whole of Egypt will blame Sergio Ramos for having the audacity to tackle Liverpool's most dangerous player in the Champions League final. Salah came to Russia with that resultant shoulder injury and probably shouldn't even have been playing. But maybe it was karma, if you believe in that, not a dodgy shoulder; karma for being part of a publicity stunt for Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov last week. Maybe.
So Russia are pretty much off to the last 16 after being ridiculed by everybody, including their own fans and media, before the tournament as having the worst host country team ever. Even Canada in 2026 were expected to be better. Uruguay could join them tomorrow if they beat Saudi Arabia.
While Group A may be almost wrapped up tomorrow, Group H only started today. After today's results it is possible that the team doing a 2002 Senegal-style run to the quarterfinals could be Senegal. They looked solid and exciting in their 2-1 win over Poland. The match had probably the most bizarre/controversial goal so far. M'Baye Niang scored the second goal after the referee signalled for him to return to the pitch after an injury, and he ran straight onto a long ball, nipped in between an unsuspecting goalkeeper and defender and put the ball into an empty net. Lucky timing for Senegal but a disaster for Poland who kept up their recent tradition of being pretty woeful at major tournaments. This time, even more than last time when Poles though they had a pretty good team, they were supposed to be better. But, again, they look like they will have to wait another four years to get anywhere close to the wonder years of Ziggy Boniek in 1982.
Japan beat Colombia 2-1 and even though this was regarded as a pretty open group it still seems like a bit of a surprise that Japan and Senegal are the two teams in pole position. The first red card of the tournament went to Colombia's former Aston Villa mystery (was he good, was he lazy?) Carlos Sanchez for a wonderful bit of goalkeeping when he wasn't sure if his real goalkeeper was actually behind him. Despite the great performance by the Japanese who completely dominated the second half it was the referee who seemed determined to steal the show. At every corner he ran into the penalty area pointed his finger at a few players, "I'm watching, you, you and you" and then quickly retreated while keeping an eagle eye on his charges. He may have been making a point of, "the guys with all the TV's in Moscow may miss your fouls, but I won't."
Another day tomorrow. Will it be good , will it be memorable? Who cares? The excitement of looking forward to it is great enough.
Hands up if you wanted Mo Salah to be one of the stars of this World Cup, the charismatic, energetic Egyptian who set Liverpool and the Premier League on fire? Yes, you did. Don't deny it, even you Man United fans. How wonderful it would have been to see him leading little Egypt, in their first World Cup since 1990, to a 2002 Senegal-style run to the quarter-finals.
But it wasn't to be. Egypt need a miracle of a combination of results after losing 3-1 to Russia today. Salah, and the rest of the Egyptian team, and the management, and the whole of Egypt will blame Sergio Ramos for having the audacity to tackle Liverpool's most dangerous player in the Champions League final. Salah came to Russia with that resultant shoulder injury and probably shouldn't even have been playing. But maybe it was karma, if you believe in that, not a dodgy shoulder; karma for being part of a publicity stunt for Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov last week. Maybe.
So Russia are pretty much off to the last 16 after being ridiculed by everybody, including their own fans and media, before the tournament as having the worst host country team ever. Even Canada in 2026 were expected to be better. Uruguay could join them tomorrow if they beat Saudi Arabia.
While Group A may be almost wrapped up tomorrow, Group H only started today. After today's results it is possible that the team doing a 2002 Senegal-style run to the quarterfinals could be Senegal. They looked solid and exciting in their 2-1 win over Poland. The match had probably the most bizarre/controversial goal so far. M'Baye Niang scored the second goal after the referee signalled for him to return to the pitch after an injury, and he ran straight onto a long ball, nipped in between an unsuspecting goalkeeper and defender and put the ball into an empty net. Lucky timing for Senegal but a disaster for Poland who kept up their recent tradition of being pretty woeful at major tournaments. This time, even more than last time when Poles though they had a pretty good team, they were supposed to be better. But, again, they look like they will have to wait another four years to get anywhere close to the wonder years of Ziggy Boniek in 1982.
Japan beat Colombia 2-1 and even though this was regarded as a pretty open group it still seems like a bit of a surprise that Japan and Senegal are the two teams in pole position. The first red card of the tournament went to Colombia's former Aston Villa mystery (was he good, was he lazy?) Carlos Sanchez for a wonderful bit of goalkeeping when he wasn't sure if his real goalkeeper was actually behind him. Despite the great performance by the Japanese who completely dominated the second half it was the referee who seemed determined to steal the show. At every corner he ran into the penalty area pointed his finger at a few players, "I'm watching, you, you and you" and then quickly retreated while keeping an eagle eye on his charges. He may have been making a point of, "the guys with all the TV's in Moscow may miss your fouls, but I won't."
Another day tomorrow. Will it be good , will it be memorable? Who cares? The excitement of looking forward to it is great enough.
Monday 18 June 2018
Belgium, England, Tunisia
Day 5 WorldCup2018
Sweden beat South Korea 1-0 in today's first match. The goal came from a penalty in the 65th minute. Yep, that's it.
Belgium finally dismantled Panama 3-0 in the second half with three, as they say on North American TV sports news, "highlight reel" goals. Dries Mertens scored a stunning volley, Romelu Lukaku added a second after a quite sumptuous outside of the foot cross from Kevin de Bruyne and Lukaku scored again after a lethally quick and simple counter attack and a perfect, lay it on a plate pass from Eden Hazard. There were a couple of Hazards on the pitch at the end, and not just for the Panamanians. Thorgan Hazard, Eden's younger brother came on for the last 7 minutes.
England's 2-1 win over Tunisia in the last match of the day was notable for a few things. England went from being very, very good to looking very average when the score was 1-1 but, amazingly, unlike numerous disappointments in the past, managed to find a winner in injury time. VAR, or it's lack of use, was confusing. We were told it would be used if the referee missed obvious incidents where penalties were involved. Four men sitting in front of a wall of TV's missed Harry Kane being wrestled, quite literally, to the ground, twice. The referee may not have seen both fouls but what were the four men in Moscow doing. Did they all go to the toilet at the same time, twice?
And the last thing that stood out was, in a World Cup, that has been so much fun to watch where even the defensive teams are putting a positive spin on defending, we saw the first negative team performance. For most of the second half Tunisia were a mirror image of Malta at Wembley against England in qualifying. They barely left their own half and had absolutely no ambition to do anything other than hold on for a famous point. Fair enough, results are what matter. But to add to their negativity was the outrageous cynicism, the constant fouls, the whining and arguing with the referee. They played dirty, they left the pitch with a terrible reputation and I'm sure most neutrals were happy to see they got the result they deserved. Many teams have played like this in the past, but maybe there is a new order in football and teams like this will have no supporters. Iceland and Switzerland are the positive, clean versions of Tunisia.
Sweden beat South Korea 1-0 in today's first match. The goal came from a penalty in the 65th minute. Yep, that's it.
Belgium finally dismantled Panama 3-0 in the second half with three, as they say on North American TV sports news, "highlight reel" goals. Dries Mertens scored a stunning volley, Romelu Lukaku added a second after a quite sumptuous outside of the foot cross from Kevin de Bruyne and Lukaku scored again after a lethally quick and simple counter attack and a perfect, lay it on a plate pass from Eden Hazard. There were a couple of Hazards on the pitch at the end, and not just for the Panamanians. Thorgan Hazard, Eden's younger brother came on for the last 7 minutes.
England's 2-1 win over Tunisia in the last match of the day was notable for a few things. England went from being very, very good to looking very average when the score was 1-1 but, amazingly, unlike numerous disappointments in the past, managed to find a winner in injury time. VAR, or it's lack of use, was confusing. We were told it would be used if the referee missed obvious incidents where penalties were involved. Four men sitting in front of a wall of TV's missed Harry Kane being wrestled, quite literally, to the ground, twice. The referee may not have seen both fouls but what were the four men in Moscow doing. Did they all go to the toilet at the same time, twice?
And the last thing that stood out was, in a World Cup, that has been so much fun to watch where even the defensive teams are putting a positive spin on defending, we saw the first negative team performance. For most of the second half Tunisia were a mirror image of Malta at Wembley against England in qualifying. They barely left their own half and had absolutely no ambition to do anything other than hold on for a famous point. Fair enough, results are what matter. But to add to their negativity was the outrageous cynicism, the constant fouls, the whining and arguing with the referee. They played dirty, they left the pitch with a terrible reputation and I'm sure most neutrals were happy to see they got the result they deserved. Many teams have played like this in the past, but maybe there is a new order in football and teams like this will have no supporters. Iceland and Switzerland are the positive, clean versions of Tunisia.
Sunday 17 June 2018
Mexico!
Day 4 WorldCup2018
Ah football, wonderful World Cup football. On a Sunday, when there is nothing else to do.
Ah Mexico. Mexico and their wonderful, exciting football. Mexico who normally play the role of "we're almost good" so well. Today they took it a step further. They took on Germany with so much confidence, they made the Germans look like they were the underdogs. A win is a win, an unexpected win is a huge win. Do they regret that it was only 1-0 when it could have so easily been 3-0?
Good players can become great players when it matters with good coaching. Juan Carlos Osorio, Mexico's Colombian coach has to take a lot of credit how he inspired his players to play.
The same can be said about Switzerland's Vladimir Petkovic. The Swiss have been unspectacularly solid for the last eight years so. Apart from Shakiri it's hard to mention another Swiss player. They have done what Iceland have done without the romanticism of Iceland. They have gone diligently about their business putting together a team, from a relatively small country, who have slowly risen to be the sixth best team in the world according to the Fifa rankings. This is the team that won all of their qualifying matches except for one defeat against Portugal.
Watching Switzerland today, and Iceland yesterday, made me realize that teams like this, teams without the Messi's, Couthinho's and Neymar's, have turned the notion of "playing as a unit" into an exciting piece of football artwork. It's no longer boring. They are not sucking the life out of games, they are giving it a different, intriguing kind of life. Sure, they crowd the edge of their penalty area, but they also have players defending ahead of that line, players harassing the opposition who then have the ability to move that unit up the field to the opponent's defensive areas. It's fascinating.
Brazil were briefly spectacular for a while against the Swiss today. Couthinho's goal was the kind you would expect from a Brazilian. But after that they seemed to falter against the organization of the Swiss. It's true that Europeans play differently and Brazil have to adapt after a relative breezy run though qualifying.
Their struggles today were ironic because their coach, Tite, took a year off work to study European playing systems which he then added into his team when he took as coach of Brazil.
Tite looks like a very studious man. As he stands on the touchline he looks he is not only looking at Neymar's movement, but he is also wondering what kind of paint was used for the lines on the pitches in Russia and whether that could make a difference to his system. He's the kind of man who if everybody around him on the bench was celebrating a last minute winner he would be trying to figure the exact velocity at which the ball hit the back of the net, and whether it could be improved upon.
By the way, in case you were too busy watching the US Open golf or the latest shocking celebrity videos on TMZ, little Switzerland did not beat Brazil. They came close but took the 1-1 draw as a victory.
And if you are a big golf fan and were watching the US Open, I was one of those people who didn't pay much attention to it because I was too busy watching Switzerland batter Brazil. So who won?
In the first match today Serbia beat Costa Rica 1-0. There's not much else to say other than to mention the fantastic Kolorov free kick that gave Serbia the win. It wasn't a terrible match. It was just unfortunate that the quality and standard of excitement of this tournament has been so high so far that this match was a bit below that level. And with the incredible, emotional excitement that followed later, poor Serbia and Costa Rica are easily forgotten.
Ah football, wonderful World Cup football. On a Sunday, when there is nothing else to do.
Ah Mexico. Mexico and their wonderful, exciting football. Mexico who normally play the role of "we're almost good" so well. Today they took it a step further. They took on Germany with so much confidence, they made the Germans look like they were the underdogs. A win is a win, an unexpected win is a huge win. Do they regret that it was only 1-0 when it could have so easily been 3-0?
Good players can become great players when it matters with good coaching. Juan Carlos Osorio, Mexico's Colombian coach has to take a lot of credit how he inspired his players to play.
The same can be said about Switzerland's Vladimir Petkovic. The Swiss have been unspectacularly solid for the last eight years so. Apart from Shakiri it's hard to mention another Swiss player. They have done what Iceland have done without the romanticism of Iceland. They have gone diligently about their business putting together a team, from a relatively small country, who have slowly risen to be the sixth best team in the world according to the Fifa rankings. This is the team that won all of their qualifying matches except for one defeat against Portugal.
Watching Switzerland today, and Iceland yesterday, made me realize that teams like this, teams without the Messi's, Couthinho's and Neymar's, have turned the notion of "playing as a unit" into an exciting piece of football artwork. It's no longer boring. They are not sucking the life out of games, they are giving it a different, intriguing kind of life. Sure, they crowd the edge of their penalty area, but they also have players defending ahead of that line, players harassing the opposition who then have the ability to move that unit up the field to the opponent's defensive areas. It's fascinating.
Brazil were briefly spectacular for a while against the Swiss today. Couthinho's goal was the kind you would expect from a Brazilian. But after that they seemed to falter against the organization of the Swiss. It's true that Europeans play differently and Brazil have to adapt after a relative breezy run though qualifying.
Their struggles today were ironic because their coach, Tite, took a year off work to study European playing systems which he then added into his team when he took as coach of Brazil.
Tite looks like a very studious man. As he stands on the touchline he looks he is not only looking at Neymar's movement, but he is also wondering what kind of paint was used for the lines on the pitches in Russia and whether that could make a difference to his system. He's the kind of man who if everybody around him on the bench was celebrating a last minute winner he would be trying to figure the exact velocity at which the ball hit the back of the net, and whether it could be improved upon.
By the way, in case you were too busy watching the US Open golf or the latest shocking celebrity videos on TMZ, little Switzerland did not beat Brazil. They came close but took the 1-1 draw as a victory.
And if you are a big golf fan and were watching the US Open, I was one of those people who didn't pay much attention to it because I was too busy watching Switzerland batter Brazil. So who won?
In the first match today Serbia beat Costa Rica 1-0. There's not much else to say other than to mention the fantastic Kolorov free kick that gave Serbia the win. It wasn't a terrible match. It was just unfortunate that the quality and standard of excitement of this tournament has been so high so far that this match was a bit below that level. And with the incredible, emotional excitement that followed later, poor Serbia and Costa Rica are easily forgotten.
Saturday 16 June 2018
Not Messi
Day 3 WorldCup2018
This is not going to be about Messi. It was not his day. You can take interpret that any way you wish to.
But what about Iceland? No, not that they, in their first World Cup match, held Argentina to a 1-1 draw, but that every single Icelandic player looks like the perfect specimen of an athlete. Now weirrd, right, that I said that? I appreciate quality.
The Icelandic football was pretty impressive too. At Euro 2006 there was a lot of talk about team unity and good systems, which was code for not very good teams defending well and taking all the fun out of games. But today Iceland demonstrated that they have taken the effectiveness of the unit to a whole new level. Their dentist coach must have worked on a lot of diagrams while his patients were knocked out.
Oh, and Messi missed a penalty. But I won't talk about that. And Sergio Aguero scored a pretty good goal.
Earlier France beat Australia 2-1 in the Italian way, the Italian way where they go on to win the whole thing. The first goal was a penalty awarded after the ref went and watched his glass-case TV on the side of the pitch. Is it bullet proof? What is it with that glass case? Can the ref really get close enough to see the TV? And how does he feel about 45,000 people or so watching him watch the TV? France's second goal was an own goal that barely bounced over the line. Technology was needed again to give them the goal. France are either going to have a Nicholas Anelka player revolt moment or they are going to go on and win the whole thing.
Later, Paolo Guerrero's heroic return couldn't inspire Peru to a win against Denmark. Peru did more than huff and puff. They ran and ran, and created chances that a decent centre forward would have buried. Denmark were Denmark: unspectacular but one chance and, boom, one goal, thank you for trying, good luck with you next match.
And even later Croatia tamed Nigeria with an own goal and a penalty. Hold on. If France don't have their meltdown, does this mean Croatia are going to win this thing?
Tomorrow, enter Brazil and Germany. The football royalty. It's like the day at Wimbledon when Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer play their first match. For some this is when the World Cup starts. This is when the neutrals start watching. There is something special about Brazil play their first match. How good are they going to be? Are they going to be fun to watch? Will Switzerland spoil the party?
This World Cup reporter had better get to bed. It's another early start tomorrow, not 6am like today but 7am after a late night is coming up very soon.
Serbia-Costa Rica, see you soon. Please keep up the good, fun start to this World Cup.
This is not going to be about Messi. It was not his day. You can take interpret that any way you wish to.
But what about Iceland? No, not that they, in their first World Cup match, held Argentina to a 1-1 draw, but that every single Icelandic player looks like the perfect specimen of an athlete. Now weirrd, right, that I said that? I appreciate quality.
The Icelandic football was pretty impressive too. At Euro 2006 there was a lot of talk about team unity and good systems, which was code for not very good teams defending well and taking all the fun out of games. But today Iceland demonstrated that they have taken the effectiveness of the unit to a whole new level. Their dentist coach must have worked on a lot of diagrams while his patients were knocked out.
Oh, and Messi missed a penalty. But I won't talk about that. And Sergio Aguero scored a pretty good goal.
Earlier France beat Australia 2-1 in the Italian way, the Italian way where they go on to win the whole thing. The first goal was a penalty awarded after the ref went and watched his glass-case TV on the side of the pitch. Is it bullet proof? What is it with that glass case? Can the ref really get close enough to see the TV? And how does he feel about 45,000 people or so watching him watch the TV? France's second goal was an own goal that barely bounced over the line. Technology was needed again to give them the goal. France are either going to have a Nicholas Anelka player revolt moment or they are going to go on and win the whole thing.
Later, Paolo Guerrero's heroic return couldn't inspire Peru to a win against Denmark. Peru did more than huff and puff. They ran and ran, and created chances that a decent centre forward would have buried. Denmark were Denmark: unspectacular but one chance and, boom, one goal, thank you for trying, good luck with you next match.
And even later Croatia tamed Nigeria with an own goal and a penalty. Hold on. If France don't have their meltdown, does this mean Croatia are going to win this thing?
Tomorrow, enter Brazil and Germany. The football royalty. It's like the day at Wimbledon when Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer play their first match. For some this is when the World Cup starts. This is when the neutrals start watching. There is something special about Brazil play their first match. How good are they going to be? Are they going to be fun to watch? Will Switzerland spoil the party?
This World Cup reporter had better get to bed. It's another early start tomorrow, not 6am like today but 7am after a late night is coming up very soon.
Serbia-Costa Rica, see you soon. Please keep up the good, fun start to this World Cup.
Friday 15 June 2018
Day 2, because I missed Day 1
Day 2 WorldCup2018
There was a Day 1 but it was gobbled up by the internet gremlins in my phone. I saw it as sign that I shouldn't carry on. But then I saw Putin and the Saudi Crown Prince conversing, sort of, and I remembered how much fun I had during Brazil '14. It was a long, eventful day yesterday and I couldn't write it again but know that the thoughts were there.
The only bit I'll repeat from yesterday is the comedy of the interaction between Putin and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with Gianni Infantino stuck in between the two of them. After Russia scored their third goal, we got a shot of the Crown Prince turning to Putin with a look of , "really? another goal? 2-0 wasn't enough for you ego?" And Putin shrugged back a response of, "I don't know. 3-0. Is that good? I know nothing about football." To which bin Salman shrugged back, "another one and I might have to do what the Kuwaiti guy did in 1982 and take my players off the pitch." To which Infantino shrugged, "you're joking, right? Not at my World Cup. Although I wouldn't mind you pissing Vladimir off a little bit." A few more shrugs of negotiation back and forth and Putin finished it with, "look Prince buddy, you don't try anything funny over here in my country." Back to watching the match. Not a word was spoken. Who needs a interpreter, anyway?
On to today. It's very hard being a World Cup reporter when you don't get to watch much because you have a real job. My day, if I may share, started with me getting to work an hour early to watch the first half of Egypt-Uruguay. However, I either had wrong information of can't read the difference between 7am and 8am and ended up watching Steven Caldwell doing his pre-match analysis for an hour. I did not see a ball kicked in anger, or joy, or any shots of Mo Salah cutting his birthday cake while be sat on the bench. Uruguay scored the only goal in the last minute. Must have been exciting.
I watched the first half of Morocco-Iran and could barely keep up with the speed of the Moroccans. "They'll probably mess this up," I thought as they pinned the Iranians in their half. Sure enough, an own goal in the 95th minute was the only goal and it went to Iran.
Another complete mess-up affected my viewing of Spain-Portugal. Where did I see 3pm? I had changed my appointment so I could at least watch the second half. But, no, it started at 2pm. So I saw the first 20 minutes and the last 15. 1-0 when I left it, 2-3 when I came back. And then Ronaldo, version CR7, laid down the gauntlet for Messi with a stunning equalizer: "see if you can rescue your team like I do all the time."
That was the football, or my story around the football. But there's other stuff.
Does anybody else think it sounds like the Russian FA and organizing committee have filled the stadiums with schoolchildren, the screaming ones?
They obviously didn't get enough children out of school in Ekaterinburg. The stadium with the most photographed temporary stands at either end had over 5,000 empty seats for the Uruguay-Egypt match. Fifa are confused because they say only 700 tickets were unsold. I am confused because there is a lot of chatter about how the tickets were too expensive and it's very far from Moscow. But the tickets were sold anyway. So did around 4,500 people buy tickets and then decide they shouldn't have spent that money or did they not look at a map when they bought the match tickets and a hotel room in Moscow. Or are there are a lot of second hand ticket sellers out there who were left with a lot of tickets on their hands?
The final thought for today is how wonderful the World Cup is for bringing people together. Two examples warmed my heart. Kristine Mifsud heard the Iranian electricians next door working on the storm damage celebrating wildly when Iran scored, which they heard on their radio. So she went out and invited them into watch the replay on out TV. They were so ecstatic, and probably so proud.
As I watched Spain-Portugal on my computer, I heard that one of the young landscapers working outside is of Portuguese descent. I told him to take a break when the boss wasn't watching and to come into my office and watch. After he did for a few minutes he came back a little later with his colleague and their boss. And we all watched for a few minutes, me and three guys I barely know, two of whom never watch football but are interested in knowing what's going on because it's the World Cup. The boss did suggest bringing in his cooler full of beers, closing the door and calling it a day. I never did see the beer. Must remind him that I will gladly take him up on the offer next time.
Tomorrow is the eagerly awaited Argentina-Iceland match. I've looked forward to it for how long? So what am I doing? Working. My conscience really is an annoying emotion.
There was a Day 1 but it was gobbled up by the internet gremlins in my phone. I saw it as sign that I shouldn't carry on. But then I saw Putin and the Saudi Crown Prince conversing, sort of, and I remembered how much fun I had during Brazil '14. It was a long, eventful day yesterday and I couldn't write it again but know that the thoughts were there.
The only bit I'll repeat from yesterday is the comedy of the interaction between Putin and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with Gianni Infantino stuck in between the two of them. After Russia scored their third goal, we got a shot of the Crown Prince turning to Putin with a look of , "really? another goal? 2-0 wasn't enough for you ego?" And Putin shrugged back a response of, "I don't know. 3-0. Is that good? I know nothing about football." To which bin Salman shrugged back, "another one and I might have to do what the Kuwaiti guy did in 1982 and take my players off the pitch." To which Infantino shrugged, "you're joking, right? Not at my World Cup. Although I wouldn't mind you pissing Vladimir off a little bit." A few more shrugs of negotiation back and forth and Putin finished it with, "look Prince buddy, you don't try anything funny over here in my country." Back to watching the match. Not a word was spoken. Who needs a interpreter, anyway?
On to today. It's very hard being a World Cup reporter when you don't get to watch much because you have a real job. My day, if I may share, started with me getting to work an hour early to watch the first half of Egypt-Uruguay. However, I either had wrong information of can't read the difference between 7am and 8am and ended up watching Steven Caldwell doing his pre-match analysis for an hour. I did not see a ball kicked in anger, or joy, or any shots of Mo Salah cutting his birthday cake while be sat on the bench. Uruguay scored the only goal in the last minute. Must have been exciting.
I watched the first half of Morocco-Iran and could barely keep up with the speed of the Moroccans. "They'll probably mess this up," I thought as they pinned the Iranians in their half. Sure enough, an own goal in the 95th minute was the only goal and it went to Iran.
Another complete mess-up affected my viewing of Spain-Portugal. Where did I see 3pm? I had changed my appointment so I could at least watch the second half. But, no, it started at 2pm. So I saw the first 20 minutes and the last 15. 1-0 when I left it, 2-3 when I came back. And then Ronaldo, version CR7, laid down the gauntlet for Messi with a stunning equalizer: "see if you can rescue your team like I do all the time."
That was the football, or my story around the football. But there's other stuff.
Does anybody else think it sounds like the Russian FA and organizing committee have filled the stadiums with schoolchildren, the screaming ones?
They obviously didn't get enough children out of school in Ekaterinburg. The stadium with the most photographed temporary stands at either end had over 5,000 empty seats for the Uruguay-Egypt match. Fifa are confused because they say only 700 tickets were unsold. I am confused because there is a lot of chatter about how the tickets were too expensive and it's very far from Moscow. But the tickets were sold anyway. So did around 4,500 people buy tickets and then decide they shouldn't have spent that money or did they not look at a map when they bought the match tickets and a hotel room in Moscow. Or are there are a lot of second hand ticket sellers out there who were left with a lot of tickets on their hands?
The final thought for today is how wonderful the World Cup is for bringing people together. Two examples warmed my heart. Kristine Mifsud heard the Iranian electricians next door working on the storm damage celebrating wildly when Iran scored, which they heard on their radio. So she went out and invited them into watch the replay on out TV. They were so ecstatic, and probably so proud.
As I watched Spain-Portugal on my computer, I heard that one of the young landscapers working outside is of Portuguese descent. I told him to take a break when the boss wasn't watching and to come into my office and watch. After he did for a few minutes he came back a little later with his colleague and their boss. And we all watched for a few minutes, me and three guys I barely know, two of whom never watch football but are interested in knowing what's going on because it's the World Cup. The boss did suggest bringing in his cooler full of beers, closing the door and calling it a day. I never did see the beer. Must remind him that I will gladly take him up on the offer next time.
Tomorrow is the eagerly awaited Argentina-Iceland match. I've looked forward to it for how long? So what am I doing? Working. My conscience really is an annoying emotion.
Thursday 14 June 2018
Here we go, or not
Day 0. WorldCup2018
An hour and a half to kick off. Still blocked in at home. Can't go to work. But no power. Can't watch at home. What a start.
An hour and a half to kick off. Still blocked in at home. Can't go to work. But no power. Can't watch at home. What a start.
Wednesday 13 June 2018
Day -1. It's here.
Day -1 WorldCup2018
One day. I have done this for 994 days. At the 1000 day mark I thought about whether I should do it for 5 days. Is it commendable? Did I climb a mountain? Did I hike across Antarctica? No, but I'm proud of myself. And I'm going to enjoy my little moment.
Now for the completely, almost beyond unbelievable end to my journey. I had so many plans for this one final post. But I am sitting here with candles flickering around me, in silence, no tv. About five hours ago a storm brought down a tree and power lines right in front of our house. We have no power and am now my phone battery is winding down. I was going to go through my 995 days and pick out highlights. That little yellow battery marker in the top right corner of my screen is going to not let me look anything up or go into any great detail.
So here's the incredible irony. I've looked forward to 11am tomorrow for 1000 days. The tree blocking my driveway could have been my saviour: stuck at home, have to watch World Cup. The small problem of no electricity means going out to find somewhere to watch.
Oh, I don't think I will ever forget the day before Russia 2018, the day of the 15 minute storm.
The day started with a different "wow" moment. The first headline I saw this morning was that Spain had fired their coach. Fired. Two days before they play their first match. And Spain were looking so quietly confidently good again.
That was quickly followed by the second "what a day this is going to be" moment. The North American bid won the right to host the 2026 World Cup. The football world is coming to Canada. Eight years from now, will I be here for a "home" World Cup. My dream.
So as I come to an end of my last countdown post, I feel emotional when I think of everything that has happened over the last 1000 days. The one thing I don't need to look up and which is by the most personal is the reminder that I won't have my dad to call and talk football with for the next month. I'll miss it and I miss him.
Thank you everybody for reading, even if I didn't know that you were. Thank you to my regulars. I hope you all enjoy the next month in your own way. If you get as much enjoyment out of football as I do because what happens on the pitch is very often the most honest thing we are surrounded by, in this world of fake arguments which we are told are important, then I hope you get to watch a lot and are rewarded with enthusiastic moments of unbridled, innocent happiness.
Good night for the last time....until Day +1 starts tomorrow.
Russia-Saudi Arabia, see you at 11am. Or maybe not.
One day. I have done this for 994 days. At the 1000 day mark I thought about whether I should do it for 5 days. Is it commendable? Did I climb a mountain? Did I hike across Antarctica? No, but I'm proud of myself. And I'm going to enjoy my little moment.
Now for the completely, almost beyond unbelievable end to my journey. I had so many plans for this one final post. But I am sitting here with candles flickering around me, in silence, no tv. About five hours ago a storm brought down a tree and power lines right in front of our house. We have no power and am now my phone battery is winding down. I was going to go through my 995 days and pick out highlights. That little yellow battery marker in the top right corner of my screen is going to not let me look anything up or go into any great detail.
So here's the incredible irony. I've looked forward to 11am tomorrow for 1000 days. The tree blocking my driveway could have been my saviour: stuck at home, have to watch World Cup. The small problem of no electricity means going out to find somewhere to watch.
Oh, I don't think I will ever forget the day before Russia 2018, the day of the 15 minute storm.
The day started with a different "wow" moment. The first headline I saw this morning was that Spain had fired their coach. Fired. Two days before they play their first match. And Spain were looking so quietly confidently good again.
That was quickly followed by the second "what a day this is going to be" moment. The North American bid won the right to host the 2026 World Cup. The football world is coming to Canada. Eight years from now, will I be here for a "home" World Cup. My dream.
So as I come to an end of my last countdown post, I feel emotional when I think of everything that has happened over the last 1000 days. The one thing I don't need to look up and which is by the most personal is the reminder that I won't have my dad to call and talk football with for the next month. I'll miss it and I miss him.
Thank you everybody for reading, even if I didn't know that you were. Thank you to my regulars. I hope you all enjoy the next month in your own way. If you get as much enjoyment out of football as I do because what happens on the pitch is very often the most honest thing we are surrounded by, in this world of fake arguments which we are told are important, then I hope you get to watch a lot and are rewarded with enthusiastic moments of unbridled, innocent happiness.
Good night for the last time....until Day +1 starts tomorrow.
Russia-Saudi Arabia, see you at 11am. Or maybe not.
Tuesday 12 June 2018
Carlos Quieroz and the Iran curse
Day -2 WorldCup2018
Two days. I'm so excited, I've barely got anything left to say.
I went through all the host cities in Russia that I didn't know about. It was my personal geography lesson and I hope you learned something too. But I am not going to carry on because I do know Sochi, Moscow and St Petersburg. Ekaterinburg, Kaliningrad and Samara were more fascinating. I almost went to Sochi about 30 years ago and it did host the Winter Olympics 4 years ago so it was definitely on my radar.
So instead I'll move on to a story, and a team and a coach, who I wrote about a lot pre-Brazil 2014. I'm back to Iran and Carlos Quieroz. I used to say "poor Carlos Quieroz" but I think he's done pretty well for himself. Four years ago he was threatening to quit, repeatedly, because of the lack of support from the Iranian federation.
A training camp was cancelled because not enough players were available and players were told they would not be allowed to swap shirts after World Cup matches because the team could only afford one shirt each. The players would be doing laundry after every match.
Fast forward four years and Quieroz has led his team to a World Cup again, despite the odds seemingly stacked against him. But the bad luck, if that's what it is, has struck again. In April a friendly against Syria was cancelled because a lot of the national team players were involved in the Asian Champions League with their clubs. At the end of May a friendly against Greece, due to be played in Turkey, was cancelled by the Greeks because of an ongoing dispute between Greece and Turkey. A hastily arranged replacement match with Kosovo was also cancelled because, "New last minute demands presented by Kosovo Football Federation came to make the accomplishment of the game totally impossible." (An Iranian Football Federation statement).
They did get one friendly in, and a 1-0 win, on June 8th against Lithuania.
And it's not over. Today Nike announced that they will not, or cannot, supply the Iranian team with football boots for the World Cup because of US sanctions against Iran. On a political level it seems pretty straightforward. Nike are an American company and American sanctions prevent them from doing business in Iran. But the Iranians are understandably miffed and angry. Quieroz says his players cannot be expected to get used to new boots a week before their first match, the federation cannot understand how this wasn't a problem in 2014 (when sanctions were also in place) and normal Iranians are calling for boycott of all things Nike.
Iran play their first match against Morocco which will be a must win for each team if they are to have any hope of making it through their group which also includes Spain and Portugal. A hard done by story like this might give neutrals a team to root for, as an alternative to Iceland.
Two days. I'm so excited, I've barely got anything left to say.
I went through all the host cities in Russia that I didn't know about. It was my personal geography lesson and I hope you learned something too. But I am not going to carry on because I do know Sochi, Moscow and St Petersburg. Ekaterinburg, Kaliningrad and Samara were more fascinating. I almost went to Sochi about 30 years ago and it did host the Winter Olympics 4 years ago so it was definitely on my radar.
So instead I'll move on to a story, and a team and a coach, who I wrote about a lot pre-Brazil 2014. I'm back to Iran and Carlos Quieroz. I used to say "poor Carlos Quieroz" but I think he's done pretty well for himself. Four years ago he was threatening to quit, repeatedly, because of the lack of support from the Iranian federation.
A training camp was cancelled because not enough players were available and players were told they would not be allowed to swap shirts after World Cup matches because the team could only afford one shirt each. The players would be doing laundry after every match.
Fast forward four years and Quieroz has led his team to a World Cup again, despite the odds seemingly stacked against him. But the bad luck, if that's what it is, has struck again. In April a friendly against Syria was cancelled because a lot of the national team players were involved in the Asian Champions League with their clubs. At the end of May a friendly against Greece, due to be played in Turkey, was cancelled by the Greeks because of an ongoing dispute between Greece and Turkey. A hastily arranged replacement match with Kosovo was also cancelled because, "New last minute demands presented by Kosovo Football Federation came to make the accomplishment of the game totally impossible." (An Iranian Football Federation statement).
They did get one friendly in, and a 1-0 win, on June 8th against Lithuania.
And it's not over. Today Nike announced that they will not, or cannot, supply the Iranian team with football boots for the World Cup because of US sanctions against Iran. On a political level it seems pretty straightforward. Nike are an American company and American sanctions prevent them from doing business in Iran. But the Iranians are understandably miffed and angry. Quieroz says his players cannot be expected to get used to new boots a week before their first match, the federation cannot understand how this wasn't a problem in 2014 (when sanctions were also in place) and normal Iranians are calling for boycott of all things Nike.
Iran play their first match against Morocco which will be a must win for each team if they are to have any hope of making it through their group which also includes Spain and Portugal. A hard done by story like this might give neutrals a team to root for, as an alternative to Iceland.
Monday 11 June 2018
Kazan
Day -3 WorldCup2018
Another city on the Volga river, in another republic. Kazan is the most known of the unknown Russian host cities to me, but only because of their football team Rubin Kazan.
Kazan is the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan. Like the Republic of Mordovia it has it's own constitution but it's relationship with the Russian Federation is quite complex, and almost beyond my scope of political understanding. What I can say is that in 1994, "the Treaty On Delimitation of Jurisdictional Subjects and Mutual Delegation of Authority between the State Bodies of the Russian Federation and the State Bodies of the Republic of Tatarstan and Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan (On Delimitation of Authority in the Sphere of Foreign Economic Relations) were signed. The power-sharing agreement was renewed on July 11, 2007, though with much of the power delegated to Tatarstan reduced". (wikipedia). There was an attempt at a declaration of independence in 2008, but it was ignored by the UN and Russia.
What I do know is that Rubin Kazan have been a regular in European competitions in recent years. They were last in the Champions League in 2011-12 when they lost in the play-off but in the two years before that they made it into the group stages.
Unlike other World Cup stadiums, the Kazan Arena was built in time for an event other than Russia 2018. It was completed in 2013 for the Summer Universiade. It was also used in 2015 for the World Aquatics Championships. Yes, that's swimming and other sports generally practiced in a pool. The football pitch, in a demonstration of how a stadium can be more versatile than just putting in a water jump for the steeplechase, had two swimming pools put in instead of the pitch.
By the way, did I say there are three days to go? Three. Which by now is only really three days on a calendar. Its more like 2 days and 12 hours right now. Thursday 11am, Eastern Time in North America: all normal life stops for Russia-Saudi Arabia. That is, in my ideal world. Reality is not quite so simple.
Another city on the Volga river, in another republic. Kazan is the most known of the unknown Russian host cities to me, but only because of their football team Rubin Kazan.
Kazan is the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan. Like the Republic of Mordovia it has it's own constitution but it's relationship with the Russian Federation is quite complex, and almost beyond my scope of political understanding. What I can say is that in 1994, "the Treaty On Delimitation of Jurisdictional Subjects and Mutual Delegation of Authority between the State Bodies of the Russian Federation and the State Bodies of the Republic of Tatarstan and Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan (On Delimitation of Authority in the Sphere of Foreign Economic Relations) were signed. The power-sharing agreement was renewed on July 11, 2007, though with much of the power delegated to Tatarstan reduced". (wikipedia). There was an attempt at a declaration of independence in 2008, but it was ignored by the UN and Russia.
What I do know is that Rubin Kazan have been a regular in European competitions in recent years. They were last in the Champions League in 2011-12 when they lost in the play-off but in the two years before that they made it into the group stages.
Unlike other World Cup stadiums, the Kazan Arena was built in time for an event other than Russia 2018. It was completed in 2013 for the Summer Universiade. It was also used in 2015 for the World Aquatics Championships. Yes, that's swimming and other sports generally practiced in a pool. The football pitch, in a demonstration of how a stadium can be more versatile than just putting in a water jump for the steeplechase, had two swimming pools put in instead of the pitch.
By the way, did I say there are three days to go? Three. Which by now is only really three days on a calendar. Its more like 2 days and 12 hours right now. Thursday 11am, Eastern Time in North America: all normal life stops for Russia-Saudi Arabia. That is, in my ideal world. Reality is not quite so simple.
Sunday 10 June 2018
Saransk
Day -4 WorldCup2018
I have learned more about Russia in the last week than in any history or geography class at school. And I seem to remember that Russia was a frequent topic, but it was probably the history and politics of the Soviet Union that was the main focus.
Today's stop on the list of host cities is Saransk, which is the capital of the Republic of Mordovia. The Republic is one of the 83 federal subjects of Russia. Republics (there are 21 of them) are normally autonomous, have their own constitution and are home to specific ethnic minorities.
The Mordvins, who make up one third of the population of the Republic are of Finno-Ugric origin. There are two groups of Mordvins distinguished by their two languages, Moksha and Erzya. These two langauges, together with Russian, are the official langauges of Mordovia. There many groups of people who speak the Finno-Ugric languages but the most numerous are the Hungarians, Finns, Estonians and Mordvins.
Saransk is about 400 miles south-east of Moscow and unlike other host cities which I mentioned yesterday, Saransk is not on the Volga river but it is in the Volga basin.
Saransk's most famous registered resident is French actor, Gerard Depardieu. When he became a Russian citizen in 2013 he was also offered the post of Minister of Culture of Mordovia. He refused the post but still promised to promote Mordovia around the world.
FC Mordovia Saransk are the main football team in the city. They won promotion to the Russian Premier League for the first time in 2012 but have had a few seasons of bouncing between divisions.
After successive relegations they are now back in the second division for the next season.
Mordovia Arena, built for the World Cup has a striking orange, red and white exterior. It's 45,000 capacity will be reduced to 28,000 after the tournament.
When in Saransk, visitors out for a stroll may be passed by people who seem to be in a hurry but unable to break into a run. Saransk is a hotbed of race walking and has an Olympic Race Walking Training Center.
I have learned more about Russia in the last week than in any history or geography class at school. And I seem to remember that Russia was a frequent topic, but it was probably the history and politics of the Soviet Union that was the main focus.
Today's stop on the list of host cities is Saransk, which is the capital of the Republic of Mordovia. The Republic is one of the 83 federal subjects of Russia. Republics (there are 21 of them) are normally autonomous, have their own constitution and are home to specific ethnic minorities.
The Mordvins, who make up one third of the population of the Republic are of Finno-Ugric origin. There are two groups of Mordvins distinguished by their two languages, Moksha and Erzya. These two langauges, together with Russian, are the official langauges of Mordovia. There many groups of people who speak the Finno-Ugric languages but the most numerous are the Hungarians, Finns, Estonians and Mordvins.
Saransk is about 400 miles south-east of Moscow and unlike other host cities which I mentioned yesterday, Saransk is not on the Volga river but it is in the Volga basin.
Saransk's most famous registered resident is French actor, Gerard Depardieu. When he became a Russian citizen in 2013 he was also offered the post of Minister of Culture of Mordovia. He refused the post but still promised to promote Mordovia around the world.
FC Mordovia Saransk are the main football team in the city. They won promotion to the Russian Premier League for the first time in 2012 but have had a few seasons of bouncing between divisions.
After successive relegations they are now back in the second division for the next season.
Mordovia Arena, built for the World Cup has a striking orange, red and white exterior. It's 45,000 capacity will be reduced to 28,000 after the tournament.
When in Saransk, visitors out for a stroll may be passed by people who seem to be in a hurry but unable to break into a run. Saransk is a hotbed of race walking and has an Olympic Race Walking Training Center.
Saturday 9 June 2018
Nizhny Novgorod
Day -5 WorldCup2018
Today's stop is Nizhny Novgorod, 265 miles east of Moscow.
This really is turning into a Russian geography lesson. Nizhny Novgorod is on the Volga River. Further down river the Volga passes through other host cities, Kazan, Samara and Volgograd. It's the longest river in Europe, starting just north of Moscow and winding through central Russia for over 2,000 miles before emptying into the Caspian Sea in the south.
The construction of the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium for the World Cup started in 2015. In that same year FC Olimpiyets Nizhny Novgorod became the city's football team after the dissolution of FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod. FC Olimpiyets started in the third division and have since been promoted to the Russian National Football League, the second division of Russian football.
The city is famous for having Russia's first tram and it's 16th century Kremlin, built to protect the city's residents from invasions. It is also the birthplace of the famous Russian playwright, Maxim Gorky, and the city was actually called Gorky between 1932 and 1990.
Four group matches will be played at the stadium, including Argentina-Croatia and England-Panama, a round of 16 match and a quarterfinal.
As the World Cup gets ever so much closer, the "I hate football and will be doing something else for a month" season is already in full swing. Fair enough, but tomorrow I will attempt to offer the viewpoint from a "I love football and wish I had nothing else to do for a month" kind of person.
Today's stop is Nizhny Novgorod, 265 miles east of Moscow.
This really is turning into a Russian geography lesson. Nizhny Novgorod is on the Volga River. Further down river the Volga passes through other host cities, Kazan, Samara and Volgograd. It's the longest river in Europe, starting just north of Moscow and winding through central Russia for over 2,000 miles before emptying into the Caspian Sea in the south.
The construction of the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium for the World Cup started in 2015. In that same year FC Olimpiyets Nizhny Novgorod became the city's football team after the dissolution of FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod. FC Olimpiyets started in the third division and have since been promoted to the Russian National Football League, the second division of Russian football.
The city is famous for having Russia's first tram and it's 16th century Kremlin, built to protect the city's residents from invasions. It is also the birthplace of the famous Russian playwright, Maxim Gorky, and the city was actually called Gorky between 1932 and 1990.
Four group matches will be played at the stadium, including Argentina-Croatia and England-Panama, a round of 16 match and a quarterfinal.
As the World Cup gets ever so much closer, the "I hate football and will be doing something else for a month" season is already in full swing. Fair enough, but tomorrow I will attempt to offer the viewpoint from a "I love football and wish I had nothing else to do for a month" kind of person.
Friday 8 June 2018
Samara
Day -6 WorldCup2018
Samara, today's host city and another city I had never heard of. So I started my search by looking up their football team, but I am unaware of Krylia Sovetov. They were just promoted to the Russian Premier League. Their best European result was getting through a qualifying round of the UEFA Cup in 2005-06 but they lost in the first round to Holland's AZ Alkmaar.
Samara is about 600 miles south-east of Moscow. It is known as a centre of production of aerospace equipment and is a reason why the new stadium, the Samara Arena, will be renamed the Cosmos Arena after the World Cup.
If you are in Samara, be sure to go down to the river, the Volga. Apparently the embankment is spectacular and the place to go for a walk, with a stop for a coffee or an ice cream. Or you could visit Stalin's Bunker. He never did. It was built in 1942 in case Moscow fell to the Germans.
But this, from Lonely Planet, would be my favourite thing to do in Samara:
"Samara's own Zhiguli Brewery, 2km north of the centre along the embankment, offers a couple of diverse drinking options. Most popular on a warm day is to bring an empty plastic water bottle and fill it from a small shop inside the brewery and then walk along the river. You can also purchase smoked and salted fish to eat as a snack."
No, not the smoked and salted fish, but the filling up of an empty water bottle, not with water.
Samara, today's host city and another city I had never heard of. So I started my search by looking up their football team, but I am unaware of Krylia Sovetov. They were just promoted to the Russian Premier League. Their best European result was getting through a qualifying round of the UEFA Cup in 2005-06 but they lost in the first round to Holland's AZ Alkmaar.
Samara is about 600 miles south-east of Moscow. It is known as a centre of production of aerospace equipment and is a reason why the new stadium, the Samara Arena, will be renamed the Cosmos Arena after the World Cup.
If you are in Samara, be sure to go down to the river, the Volga. Apparently the embankment is spectacular and the place to go for a walk, with a stop for a coffee or an ice cream. Or you could visit Stalin's Bunker. He never did. It was built in 1942 in case Moscow fell to the Germans.
But this, from Lonely Planet, would be my favourite thing to do in Samara:
"Samara's own Zhiguli Brewery, 2km north of the centre along the embankment, offers a couple of diverse drinking options. Most popular on a warm day is to bring an empty plastic water bottle and fill it from a small shop inside the brewery and then walk along the river. You can also purchase smoked and salted fish to eat as a snack."
No, not the smoked and salted fish, but the filling up of an empty water bottle, not with water.
Thursday 7 June 2018
Volgograd
Day -7 WorldCup2018
One week to go, if I go by counting full days in my time zone. In reality at this time next week Russia will have beaten Saudi Arabia after a last minute, very controversial penalty. And that after a Saudi player will have got sent off for doing nothing other than trying to swat a mosquito too close to a Russian's face with said Russian falling to the ground like he was the poor swatted mosquito.
The next stop on my geography lesson of Russia is Volgograd, 580 miles south of Moscow, home of Russian second division team Rotor Volgograd, a team that has had a very interesting recent past. They were in serious financial trouble in 2009 when Volgograd was chosen as host city for Russia's World Cup bid. The city had to have a team and with Rotor declining into oblivion, the government created a new team, FC Volgograd and financed the team. Eventually the team became Rotor Volgograd again but trouble returned with evidence of financial misconduct. The government withdrew it's funding and the club fell into non-league darkness. They have since revived and successive promotions saw them back in the second division for season 2017-18.
Volgograd was Stalingrad up until 1961 and is, unfortunately, best known for one of the bloodiest battles in any war, the infamous Battle of Stalingrad. There are a number of parks and monuments which would make any visitor very aware of the history of the city.
Volgograd Arena is a short walk from the Square of Fallen Fighters. The Motherland Calls statue is close by as is the Friendship Park. Football fans may also come across the Square of Grief and the Monument to Residents of Stalingrad (Victims of Bombing)
Any search of things to do in Volgograd includes a list of all the above monuments listed above, and more to visit. Remembering the war and the heroic struggles are obviously very important for the city. But it also has one of the largest constructed waterways in the world. The 63 mile Volga-Don canal links the Volga River and the Don river at their closest points and has 13 locks along it's length.
One week to go, if I go by counting full days in my time zone. In reality at this time next week Russia will have beaten Saudi Arabia after a last minute, very controversial penalty. And that after a Saudi player will have got sent off for doing nothing other than trying to swat a mosquito too close to a Russian's face with said Russian falling to the ground like he was the poor swatted mosquito.
The next stop on my geography lesson of Russia is Volgograd, 580 miles south of Moscow, home of Russian second division team Rotor Volgograd, a team that has had a very interesting recent past. They were in serious financial trouble in 2009 when Volgograd was chosen as host city for Russia's World Cup bid. The city had to have a team and with Rotor declining into oblivion, the government created a new team, FC Volgograd and financed the team. Eventually the team became Rotor Volgograd again but trouble returned with evidence of financial misconduct. The government withdrew it's funding and the club fell into non-league darkness. They have since revived and successive promotions saw them back in the second division for season 2017-18.
Volgograd was Stalingrad up until 1961 and is, unfortunately, best known for one of the bloodiest battles in any war, the infamous Battle of Stalingrad. There are a number of parks and monuments which would make any visitor very aware of the history of the city.
Volgograd Arena is a short walk from the Square of Fallen Fighters. The Motherland Calls statue is close by as is the Friendship Park. Football fans may also come across the Square of Grief and the Monument to Residents of Stalingrad (Victims of Bombing)
Any search of things to do in Volgograd includes a list of all the above monuments listed above, and more to visit. Remembering the war and the heroic struggles are obviously very important for the city. But it also has one of the largest constructed waterways in the world. The 63 mile Volga-Don canal links the Volga River and the Don river at their closest points and has 13 locks along it's length.
Wednesday 6 June 2018
Rostov-on Don
Day -8 WorldCup2018
Rostov-on-Don is my next step on my tour around Russia, inspired by World Cup host cities. Rostov is just under 700 miles south of Moscow and is on the Don river.
Unlike Kaliningrad and Ekaterinburg I had heard of Rostov because of their football team, and that was the only reason, like with Tromso in Norway, that I knew of the place. In the 2016-17 season FC Rostov beat Ajax to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League. Their first ever group stage win was against none other than Bayern Munich, a 3-2 home win a lot more memorable than the 5-0 defeat in Germany.
Rostov-on-Don is not to be confused with Rostov which lies 800 miles to the north, and where I can not find any details of a football team.
FC Rostov will be happy to move into their new stadium. In March 2017 the Russian Premier League banned the team from hosting league matches because of the terrible state of their pitch at the Olimp-2 stadium. This was just after Manchester United had played against FC Rostov in the Europa Lague and Jose Mourinho had questioned whether it could even be called a pitch.
The construction of the new stadium started in 2013 but was delayed for about a year after intact shells from World War II were found where the foundations were to be laid.
The design of the stadium is inspired by the "kurgans", ancient burial mounds, used for pagan burial rituals, along the banks of the Don river.
Rostov-on-Don is my next step on my tour around Russia, inspired by World Cup host cities. Rostov is just under 700 miles south of Moscow and is on the Don river.
Unlike Kaliningrad and Ekaterinburg I had heard of Rostov because of their football team, and that was the only reason, like with Tromso in Norway, that I knew of the place. In the 2016-17 season FC Rostov beat Ajax to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League. Their first ever group stage win was against none other than Bayern Munich, a 3-2 home win a lot more memorable than the 5-0 defeat in Germany.
Rostov-on-Don is not to be confused with Rostov which lies 800 miles to the north, and where I can not find any details of a football team.
FC Rostov will be happy to move into their new stadium. In March 2017 the Russian Premier League banned the team from hosting league matches because of the terrible state of their pitch at the Olimp-2 stadium. This was just after Manchester United had played against FC Rostov in the Europa Lague and Jose Mourinho had questioned whether it could even be called a pitch.
The construction of the new stadium started in 2013 but was delayed for about a year after intact shells from World War II were found where the foundations were to be laid.
The design of the stadium is inspired by the "kurgans", ancient burial mounds, used for pagan burial rituals, along the banks of the Don river.
Tuesday 5 June 2018
Kaliningrad
Day -9 WorldCup2018
Oh. My. God. Single digits. Nine days. Please excuse me for getting a little excited. Not only is the World Cup really close but I am nearing the end of many, many nights of thinking up something to write about to keep this going. 986 nights. And the odd morning when I called in the favour of being on Niue time, the Island nation in the Pacific Ocean.
I've always used football as my geography teacher. Yesterday I discovered Ekaterinburg in eastern Russia. It may be the easternmost host city but even though it is 1,000 miles east of Moscow there is still another 3500 miles to go east to get to Vladivostok. I knew Russia was big, but that is huge.
Today I'm wondering through Kaliningrad. I needed reminding of why there is a World Cup stadium that, on a map, doesn't look like it's in Russia. But then I remembered some geography lesson, or news story about the Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithunia. I cannot say it was because I had heard of the local football team, FC Baltika Kaliningrad.
The Kaliningrad Stadium does not have as fascinating of an architectural story as that of Ekaterinburg. There are no stands oustide the stadum here. But there is one similarity in that time restraints (aka construction delays) meant that the planned 45,000 capacity stadium with a retractable roof had to be scaled back to one of 35,000, the minimum required capacity, with no roof.
After the World Cup 10,000 seats will be removed and it will be the new home of FC Baltika. Their average attendance last year was 3,500.
One of the major landmarks in Kaliningrad is the Konigsberg Cathedral, built between 1330 and 1380. When it was constructed and until 1945, it was in the city of Konigsberg, the capital of East Prussia and the easternmost large city in Germany. The city was captured by the Soviet Union in 1945 and renamed Kaliningrad in 1946. The cathedral and the thriving city centre of Kneiphof Island where the cathedral is located was mostly destroyed by British bombers in 1944.
Kaliningrad will host 4 group matches, the first of which is Croatia-Nigeria on June 16th The last one is Belgium-England in their final group match. I can't help but be reminded of Italia '90 when England were assigned to play in Sardinia to keep their fans safely away from the mainland. "Keep them away from Russia". It's, of course, not true because England's other two matches are in Volgograd, 585 miles away from Moscow, and Nizhny Novgorod, 265 miles from Moscow. So, "keep them away from Moscow."
But back to Kaliningrad and FC Baltika. The second division team will be hoping their new stadium will inspire them to a return to the Russian Premier League where their 7th place in 1998 in a three year stint in the top division was their highest finish ever. In 1998 they reached the third round of the Intertoto cup (remember that?) where they lost to Serbia's Vojvodina.
Oh. My. God. Single digits. Nine days. Please excuse me for getting a little excited. Not only is the World Cup really close but I am nearing the end of many, many nights of thinking up something to write about to keep this going. 986 nights. And the odd morning when I called in the favour of being on Niue time, the Island nation in the Pacific Ocean.
I've always used football as my geography teacher. Yesterday I discovered Ekaterinburg in eastern Russia. It may be the easternmost host city but even though it is 1,000 miles east of Moscow there is still another 3500 miles to go east to get to Vladivostok. I knew Russia was big, but that is huge.
Today I'm wondering through Kaliningrad. I needed reminding of why there is a World Cup stadium that, on a map, doesn't look like it's in Russia. But then I remembered some geography lesson, or news story about the Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithunia. I cannot say it was because I had heard of the local football team, FC Baltika Kaliningrad.
The Kaliningrad Stadium does not have as fascinating of an architectural story as that of Ekaterinburg. There are no stands oustide the stadum here. But there is one similarity in that time restraints (aka construction delays) meant that the planned 45,000 capacity stadium with a retractable roof had to be scaled back to one of 35,000, the minimum required capacity, with no roof.
After the World Cup 10,000 seats will be removed and it will be the new home of FC Baltika. Their average attendance last year was 3,500.
One of the major landmarks in Kaliningrad is the Konigsberg Cathedral, built between 1330 and 1380. When it was constructed and until 1945, it was in the city of Konigsberg, the capital of East Prussia and the easternmost large city in Germany. The city was captured by the Soviet Union in 1945 and renamed Kaliningrad in 1946. The cathedral and the thriving city centre of Kneiphof Island where the cathedral is located was mostly destroyed by British bombers in 1944.
Kaliningrad will host 4 group matches, the first of which is Croatia-Nigeria on June 16th The last one is Belgium-England in their final group match. I can't help but be reminded of Italia '90 when England were assigned to play in Sardinia to keep their fans safely away from the mainland. "Keep them away from Russia". It's, of course, not true because England's other two matches are in Volgograd, 585 miles away from Moscow, and Nizhny Novgorod, 265 miles from Moscow. So, "keep them away from Moscow."
But back to Kaliningrad and FC Baltika. The second division team will be hoping their new stadium will inspire them to a return to the Russian Premier League where their 7th place in 1998 in a three year stint in the top division was their highest finish ever. In 1998 they reached the third round of the Intertoto cup (remember that?) where they lost to Serbia's Vojvodina.
Monday 4 June 2018
Ekaterinburg and that stadium
Day -10 WorldCup2018
I was happy to realize today that I (again) missed counting down a couple of days ago and we are down to 10 days to go, not 11 as I thought about five minutes before I started writing this. And if you are in a European time zone there are 9 days to go as you read this.
Day two of Russia 2018 sees Uruguay play Egypt. For the sake of seeing the best players in the world playing in football's biggest showpiece we all hope that Mohammed Salah is fit in time. But the potential Salah-Luis Suarez duel is not the only fascinating aspect of this match.
It is being played in Ekaterinburg, the most eastern host city, over 1,000 miles from Moscow, in a stadium with a very interesting story. Fifa rules stipulate that stadiums have a minimum 35,000 capacity. With time running out to redevelop the existing stadium the decision was made, by some very creative architects and engineers I'm sure, to build temporary stands behind each goal, outside the stadium.
Yes, outside. It's as though somebody ripped out the ends of the stadium and erected seats on giant scaffolding so that the whole town could come out to watch the show. The rogue builders would, however, have needed to put more scaffolding together as Ekaterinburg is Russia's fourth largest city with a population of 1.35 million.
The bigger of the two stands is 45m high. That's a long way up and fans might get a better view of the Leaning Tower of Nevyansk, about an hour away from Ekaterinburg than the smile on Salah's face when he scores Egypt's first World Cup goal since 1990.
I was happy to realize today that I (again) missed counting down a couple of days ago and we are down to 10 days to go, not 11 as I thought about five minutes before I started writing this. And if you are in a European time zone there are 9 days to go as you read this.
Day two of Russia 2018 sees Uruguay play Egypt. For the sake of seeing the best players in the world playing in football's biggest showpiece we all hope that Mohammed Salah is fit in time. But the potential Salah-Luis Suarez duel is not the only fascinating aspect of this match.
It is being played in Ekaterinburg, the most eastern host city, over 1,000 miles from Moscow, in a stadium with a very interesting story. Fifa rules stipulate that stadiums have a minimum 35,000 capacity. With time running out to redevelop the existing stadium the decision was made, by some very creative architects and engineers I'm sure, to build temporary stands behind each goal, outside the stadium.
Yes, outside. It's as though somebody ripped out the ends of the stadium and erected seats on giant scaffolding so that the whole town could come out to watch the show. The rogue builders would, however, have needed to put more scaffolding together as Ekaterinburg is Russia's fourth largest city with a population of 1.35 million.
The bigger of the two stands is 45m high. That's a long way up and fans might get a better view of the Leaning Tower of Nevyansk, about an hour away from Ekaterinburg than the smile on Salah's face when he scores Egypt's first World Cup goal since 1990.
Sunday 3 June 2018
The love.
Day -12 WorldCup2018
I love the World Cup. If it isn't obvious by how many times I've mentioned it, the fact that I've dedicated time everyday for the past 983 days to write about it, and 365 days plus the duration of Brazil 2014 before that, might be a good indicator.
But first a quick aside to get this out of the way. I read a suggestion today that all pre-World Cup friendlies should be an hour long. Once they go beyond an hour they all fall flat as substitution after substitution seems to make all the players forget who they are actually playing with. The irony, of course, is that the players sent on are very often the ones that the coaches want to have one more look at but very often, not always, the players look like they are going into a match where nobody seems to really care anymore. What I find most amusing is when a fringe player (the ones who will probably not make it) are sent on in the last 10 minutes. Really? By then everybody else is looking at the scoreboard clock willing it to count down to the end and the poor player coming on must be thinking, "why? what am I here for?"
I feel this is a special one. Russia as a venue has it's controversies but the football and the fans are what make it. Maybe it's because of the time I've spent, the emotional investment for 983 days that make me feel like the end of this road is going to be the start of something wonderful.
I loved Brazil in 1982 and Marco Tardelli's celebration, Maradona's win in 1986, everything but the football about Italia '90, the enormity (literally, in everything) at USA '94, France's huge win at home in '98, Ronaldo's revival and redemption in 2002, France's unexpected almost run to victory in 2006, Spain's finally-making-it-happen moment in 2010 and the fun of Brazil '14 plus the uniqueness of how and where I watched the final.
I love that I live in a place where everybody seems to be World Cup crazy and this is especially so because it is so surprising. When I was first moved to Toronto I imagined I would be struggling to find any interest in football. That worry slowly diminished as the strong following of the Premier League and Serie A became apparent. During South Korea/Japan 2002 it was obvious what a great city this was to watch the World Cup.
Do you want to do the samba with the Brazilians, dance with the Colombians, shout at the TV with the Italians or Portuguese, be down at the pub with the English, march with the Koreans? You can do it all. Across the city all 32 countries are represented somewhere, be it a street of bars or one room in a restaurant, everybody is looking for a reason to celebrate their country of origin, of descent, through football. .
We have NHL hockey, NBA basketball and MLB baseball here but nothing gets as many people talking as the World Cup does. That was the reason for my daily updates in 2014: a request to know what was going on everyday from somebody who didn't have time to watch the football but still wanted to be part of the conversation.
It is for all these reasons that I find myself able to look through the moral dilemmas about Russia hosting. I don't think about the politicians or the stories attached to them and why this is happening in Russia. I think about the children in Nizhny Novgorod and Saransk, Kazan and Samara, Ekaterinburg and Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don and Sochi, and St. Petersburg and Moscow who are counting the days that the World Cup comes to their part of the world, when they will be begging their mums and dads to take them to watch training sessions or to hang around hotels to catch a glimpse of the stars. And the lucky ones will be looking at their tickets everyday, wishing for the moment to come that they get to go to the stadium and then hoping that the day never ends. And the bus drivers and taxi owners, the waiters and bell boys, the bakery owners and shop attendants, all of them so proud and excited that their city is going to be part of this.
Too romantic? Are there problems in these cities on which this money could have been better spent? Probably. But if I was one of those children in one of those cities, it would be my heaven.
I love the World Cup. If it isn't obvious by how many times I've mentioned it, the fact that I've dedicated time everyday for the past 983 days to write about it, and 365 days plus the duration of Brazil 2014 before that, might be a good indicator.
But first a quick aside to get this out of the way. I read a suggestion today that all pre-World Cup friendlies should be an hour long. Once they go beyond an hour they all fall flat as substitution after substitution seems to make all the players forget who they are actually playing with. The irony, of course, is that the players sent on are very often the ones that the coaches want to have one more look at but very often, not always, the players look like they are going into a match where nobody seems to really care anymore. What I find most amusing is when a fringe player (the ones who will probably not make it) are sent on in the last 10 minutes. Really? By then everybody else is looking at the scoreboard clock willing it to count down to the end and the poor player coming on must be thinking, "why? what am I here for?"
I feel this is a special one. Russia as a venue has it's controversies but the football and the fans are what make it. Maybe it's because of the time I've spent, the emotional investment for 983 days that make me feel like the end of this road is going to be the start of something wonderful.
I loved Brazil in 1982 and Marco Tardelli's celebration, Maradona's win in 1986, everything but the football about Italia '90, the enormity (literally, in everything) at USA '94, France's huge win at home in '98, Ronaldo's revival and redemption in 2002, France's unexpected almost run to victory in 2006, Spain's finally-making-it-happen moment in 2010 and the fun of Brazil '14 plus the uniqueness of how and where I watched the final.
I love that I live in a place where everybody seems to be World Cup crazy and this is especially so because it is so surprising. When I was first moved to Toronto I imagined I would be struggling to find any interest in football. That worry slowly diminished as the strong following of the Premier League and Serie A became apparent. During South Korea/Japan 2002 it was obvious what a great city this was to watch the World Cup.
Do you want to do the samba with the Brazilians, dance with the Colombians, shout at the TV with the Italians or Portuguese, be down at the pub with the English, march with the Koreans? You can do it all. Across the city all 32 countries are represented somewhere, be it a street of bars or one room in a restaurant, everybody is looking for a reason to celebrate their country of origin, of descent, through football. .
We have NHL hockey, NBA basketball and MLB baseball here but nothing gets as many people talking as the World Cup does. That was the reason for my daily updates in 2014: a request to know what was going on everyday from somebody who didn't have time to watch the football but still wanted to be part of the conversation.
It is for all these reasons that I find myself able to look through the moral dilemmas about Russia hosting. I don't think about the politicians or the stories attached to them and why this is happening in Russia. I think about the children in Nizhny Novgorod and Saransk, Kazan and Samara, Ekaterinburg and Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don and Sochi, and St. Petersburg and Moscow who are counting the days that the World Cup comes to their part of the world, when they will be begging their mums and dads to take them to watch training sessions or to hang around hotels to catch a glimpse of the stars. And the lucky ones will be looking at their tickets everyday, wishing for the moment to come that they get to go to the stadium and then hoping that the day never ends. And the bus drivers and taxi owners, the waiters and bell boys, the bakery owners and shop attendants, all of them so proud and excited that their city is going to be part of this.
Too romantic? Are there problems in these cities on which this money could have been better spent? Probably. But if I was one of those children in one of those cities, it would be my heaven.
Saturday 2 June 2018
Italy, again
Day -13 WorldCup2018
Everyday for the past few days I've had many intentions to share what a wonderful time I think the World Cup month is, not just for me. It's bigger than the Olympics. Everybody talks about it, non-football fans are interested. But excuse me that the days go by, become the evening and then late night and I postpone until tomorrow. There's not many days left but it will come.
In the meantime, after watching Italy lose to France yesterday, I remembered how much Italy are going to be missed in Russia. But do we have time for sentiment? They had their chance. All they had to do was beat Sweden. They had two opportunities and messed it up. Maybe it's not that I'll miss Italy being there. It might be more that after being used to an Italy World Cup story for every edition that I have been around for it's strange that they are not going to be there. Ah well. Sweden will be a good replacement.
Everyday for the past few days I've had many intentions to share what a wonderful time I think the World Cup month is, not just for me. It's bigger than the Olympics. Everybody talks about it, non-football fans are interested. But excuse me that the days go by, become the evening and then late night and I postpone until tomorrow. There's not many days left but it will come.
In the meantime, after watching Italy lose to France yesterday, I remembered how much Italy are going to be missed in Russia. But do we have time for sentiment? They had their chance. All they had to do was beat Sweden. They had two opportunities and messed it up. Maybe it's not that I'll miss Italy being there. It might be more that after being used to an Italy World Cup story for every edition that I have been around for it's strange that they are not going to be there. Ah well. Sweden will be a good replacement.
Friday 1 June 2018
It's coming! It's coming!
Day -14 WorldCup2018
It's so close now! The fun will start so soon. I saw the first flag on a car in Toronto, a proud Uruguayan.
There's all the politics that we can talk about forever, all the wrongs. But without ignoring what shouldn't be ignored it is also a time where so many people in a city like Toronto will proudly celebrate the country's football prowess, or at least just be happy that they are at the party. The month will be a happy time here, except of course if you are Italian or of Italian descent.
The next month is an example of how much enjoyment football brings to many people. And that can't be spoiled by what goes on off the pitch.
It's so close now! The fun will start so soon. I saw the first flag on a car in Toronto, a proud Uruguayan.
There's all the politics that we can talk about forever, all the wrongs. But without ignoring what shouldn't be ignored it is also a time where so many people in a city like Toronto will proudly celebrate the country's football prowess, or at least just be happy that they are at the party. The month will be a happy time here, except of course if you are Italian or of Italian descent.
The next month is an example of how much enjoyment football brings to many people. And that can't be spoiled by what goes on off the pitch.
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