Go ahead and draw conclusions about what this means with regards to England, but Russia will be the worst nation to ever host a World Cup. South Africa, the only host nation to ever fail to advance from the World Cup group stage, at least gave us the entertainment value of Siphiwe Tshabalala, Steven Pienaar and the vuvuzela.
After 90 minutes of Russia struggling to kick the ball against England at Euro 2016, one has to wonder what exactly a World Cup in Russia offers the world. FIFA’s conceived obligation to bring the World Cup around the globe, no matter how corrupt the means, is in some ways commendable.
A World Cup should've been staged in Asia (South Korea/Japan 2002), as well as Africa (South Africa 2010), but a World Cup is Russia pays homage neither to this effort nor to the history of football in Europe. In lieu of bids from the Netherlands/Belgium, England and Portugal/Spain, Russia were awarded the 2018 World Cup on the back of keen interest from Vladimir Putin and a proposed expenditure of $10.1 billion.
England will come under intense criticism for their performance in their opening match, but Russia offered next to nothing in attack and purpose throughout the course of the game.
At least Eric Dier provided a moment of genuine magic in the 73rd minute.
The point means much more to Russia than it does to England, who will invariably qualify for the knockout rounds. However, England is now that much more assured of once again falling to the first quality opponent they come up against.
Roman Abramovich has thrown millions of dollars at the Russian game, but the results have been decidedly stagnant. CSKA Moscow and Zenit Saint Petersburg have failed to make a splash in European club football, and one can’t help but feel a little pleased at this miscalculation of the mega rich.
Russia were pragmatic to the extreme against England in their opening group match and that’ll be the way the side plays come 2018. For how turgid England were, Russia made them look like Spain for large portions of the match.
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