You can literally feel the World Cup at the Red Square as you stroll across the crowded space where so much of Russian history unfolded.
Teeming with people, you can get as close to the fever as possible. There are Egyptians who sing praises of Mohamed Salah; at least one fan couldn’t stop showing off his T-shirt with the Egyptian hero all over it.
The Portuguese are selling their team merchandise from a brilliantly-decorated van, Argentineans have a huge banner dedicated to their Gods, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, the Peruvians are clad in their team’s colours and the Brazilians, well, they have a replica World Cup of their own.
There are fans of other countries, too; the South Americans and Africans, in particular, join the party. But what about the hosts? For a nation which will host the World Cup for the first time in less than 24 hours, Russia seems subdued. You don’t see the hosts shouting from the rooftops about their team, and if you ask around, everyone seems guarded.
“I think we will do well,” Aleksandr Kerzhakov, the most prolific goal scorer in Russian football with 233 goals, told TOI on the sidelines of the Gazprom Football for Friendship World Championship here on Tuesday.
“I am sure that the guys will do their best and they have very good chance of making it to the next stage. Once they qualify (for the knockouts), it’s all in their hands how they take it from there,” said the former Russia forward who earned 90 caps and played at two World Cups.
Kerzhakov may be optimistic but not everyone shares the same feeling. It’s understandable. Forget the exploits of Lev Yashin and the Soviet Union, even a de -cade ago, Andrei Arshavin helped Russia silence a star-studded Netherlands and fight their way to the semifinals of Euro 2008 where they lost to eventual champions Spain. Besides Arshavin, there were stars like Yuri Zhirkov and Roman Pavlyuchenko who were household names. Now it’s a different story.
Russia go into this World Cup as the lowest-ranked team at 70, never mind that they will play their opener on Thursday against Saudi Arabia, the second weakest team in the competition. They are winless in seven matches ahead of the opener, and given that they have never advanced out of the group stage in three attempts, fears that they might become only the second host nation — joining South Africa in 2010 — to be eliminated in the group stage are not unfounded.
“This is not the time to see things negatively. We are just a day away from the World Cup. Let’s get united. I cannot wait for the World Cup to kick off and I am sure our players will do their best,” said Aleksandr Alaev, general secretary of the Russian Football Union.
Russia have been drawn in possibly one of the weakest groups at the World Cup. Given that Uruguay will almost certainly top the group and Russia will put it across Saudi Arabia, their chances will hinge on the all-important clash against Egypt. It’s an encouraging draw but, understandably, not everyone is excited.