{"id":1639,"date":"2018-06-29T15:45:05","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T15:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icons.com\/news\/?p=1639"},"modified":"2018-06-30T10:00:40","modified_gmt":"2018-06-30T10:00:40","slug":"dispatches-from-russia-a-fifa-world-cup-diary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icons.com\/news\/2018\/06\/29\/dispatches-from-russia-a-fifa-world-cup-diary\/","title":{"rendered":"Dispatches from Russia: A FIFA World Cup Diary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat were you expecting? A grizzly bear playing a balalaika and drinking vodka?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I was expecting a paunchy man in a tracksuit named Vasya to throw me in his trunk and drive me to Mordovia.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, so you know Vasya?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

Expectation. It\u2019s a word you hear a lot in the build-up to a FIFA World Cup<\/a>. Especially if you happen to live in England<\/a>. Are our expectations too high? When do we expect to go out? Should we expect penalties? Do we expect trouble in the host country?<\/p>\n

More often than not, there\u2019s only one way to find the answers to these questions. And that\u2019s exactly why I was so excited to get the chance to experience the\u00a0FIFA World Cup<\/a> through my own eyes \u2013 to see the answers unfold on the pitch in front of me and to find out what it\u2019s really like in a foreign country that to so many appears cold and unwelcoming.<\/p>\n

Sure, you could argue that I’ve not come to the real Russia. Right now, Russia is in its Sunday best. It\u2019s a Russia that\u2019s been told to behave and be polite to outsiders. And yet, in Saint Petersburg, where I started my\u00a0FIFA World Cup<\/a> adventure a few days ago, I still found, and continue to find, that my expectations were far removed from anything even resembling the reality of Russia.<\/p>\n

\"\"

A hotbed of football fandom, the FIFA Fanfest in Moscow sits in front of the stunning State University building.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Though I can\u2019t speak for the rest of the country, Saint Petersburg and Moscow have appeared to be almost ultra-friendly and cosmopolitan. There are no brutalist Soviet office blocks. No scary skinhead men spoiling for a scrap. Instead, in Saint Petersburg in particular, I found Venetian canals, vape shops and and hipster burger joints.<\/p>\n

Replace the cyrillic signage on the city streets and you could fool me that this was Copenhagen.<\/p>\n

Then comes the football. You can’t move for football out here. There’s\u00a0FIFA World Cup<\/a> bunting, plant pots decorated like the classic Telstar football.\u00a0Zabivaka, the official\u00a0FIFA World Cup<\/a> mascot, is everywhere. When I arrived in Moscow, Brazil’s match against Costa Rica was streamed live in the carriages on the metro. Everyone here wants to know who you’re supporting and who you think will win the tournament.<\/p>\n

Which brings me to Argentina<\/a>. I was lucky enough to be in the stadium for the Marcos Rojo rescue act. I have been to many stadiums and many matches around the world. I’ve even been to three UEFA Champions League finals. But the noise, the atmosphere, the palpable tension giving way to sheer joy and elation when that goal was scored was something I’d never experienced ever before.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg sits at the end of a mile-long island near a children’s theme park and a vast expanse of parkland. On Tuesday, it was overrun by Argentines in search of a miracle.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The Argentines have come here in mind-boggling numbers, all praying for the same miracle. They hope \u2013 perhaps against all logic and reason \u2013 that Lionel Messi<\/a> alone can deliver a spectacular upset. Because it’s not Argentina<\/a> against the world right now. It’s Argentina<\/a> against themselves.<\/p>\n

As a massive Messi<\/a> fan, I hope he can bring them glory. I hope he can do it for every single Argentine I have met on this extraordinary trip. I hope he is able to do it for Carlos and his friends, who bought me a beer in Copenhagen airport just because I had an Argentina<\/a> shirt in my bag. I hope he can do it for the old guy I met in Saint Petersburg, who told me he was among the few people he knows who prefers\u00a0Messi<\/a> to Diego Maradona<\/a>. I hope he can do it for the lads in the Moscow FIFA Fan Fest with the Newell’s Old Boys banner.<\/p>\n

I hope, just as much as I do for England<\/a>, that they don’t expect too much.<\/p>\n

\n

Shop\u00a0from our full range of official FIFA World Cup signed memorabilia today.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Follow Icons on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0for all our\u00a0latest blog posts,\u00a0special\u00a0offers and competitions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat were you expecting? A grizzly bear playing a balalaika and drinking vodka?\u201d \u201cNo, I was expecting a paunchy man in a tracksuit named Vasya to throw me in his trunk and drive me to Mordovia.\u201d \u201cOh, so you know Vasya?\u201d **** Expectation. It\u2019s a word you hear a lot in the build-up to a… <\/p>\n

Read More<\/i><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[392],"tags":[361,26,9,407,146,275,22,379,398],"class_list":["post-1639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-we-went-to","tag-2018-fifa-world-cup","tag-argentina","tag-brazil","tag-diego-maradona","tag-england","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-lionel-messi","tag-official-licenses","tag-we-went-to"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfQcey-qr","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2802,"url":"https:\/\/www.icons.com\/news\/2022\/11\/18\/from-our-ceo-welcome-to-the-fifa-world-cup\/","url_meta":{"origin":1639,"position":0},"title":"From Our CEO: Welcome to the FIFA World Cup","author":"Icons.com","date":"November 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"My earliest memory in life is staying up late to watch the 1978 FIFA World Cup final. I was five-years-old. I can't quite recall exactly what happened but I do remember a man in orange leaping like a salmon to smash home a header. 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