Europe

If every country has it’s own lesser version of Lionel Messi (“The Alpine Messi”, “The Egyptian Messi”, etc.) then Russia’s is certainly Denis Cheryshev. The 27-year-old has spent his entire career in Spain (including coming through at Real Madrid and making two appearances for the club before joining Villarreal in 2016), and he demonstrated his talents Thursday after coming on as a 24th minute substitute for the injured Alan Dzagoev.

19 minutes after coming on, Cheryshev doubled Russia’s advantage with a sweet strike in the 43rd minute. 

Politics and sports, particularly on the international stage, often intersect. Their connection is amplified during the ConIFA World Cup.

Held every other year since 2014, the ConIFA World Cup gives teams comprised of stateless peoples, ethnic minorities and sub-national entities the opportunity to compete at an international level.

Netherlands international Justin Kluivert has joined Champions League semifinalists Roma for a reported fee of around $24 million after a breakthrough season with Ajax. Supporters of the Amsterdam club will be livid with Kluivert after the 19-year-old spurned the advice of his father, Barcelona legend Patrick Kluivert, to join the Serie A giants.

Brazil defeated Austria 3-0 in Vienna on Sunday in the nation’s final warm-up match before opening World Cup group play against Switzerland on June 17. The match was memorable for two reasons: (1) Thank Freddy Adu we’ll have VAR in Russia — Brazil’s opening goal was the sort of break you’d expect the Seleção to get at a World Cup (Gabriel Jesus was four yards offside), but not anymore — and (2) Neymar killed a man.

Serbia isn’t exactly going into the World Cup with high expectations — no one will confuse the squad with heavyweights such as France, Germany or Brazil. But what the Eagles did to Bolivia on Saturday in their final World Cup warm-up match shows they won’t be an easy out in Russia. The match served as a Serbia World Cup preview of sorts, with the team eviscerating Bolivia 5-1. 

In terms of glamour, no group stage game comes close to matching Portugal vs Spain on June 15 at Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi. This is, after all, a meeting between the last three European Champions (Spain in ’08 and ’12, Portugal in ’16), and a clash between arguably the world’s best player, Cristiano Ronaldo, and a who’s who of talent concentrated at the mega clubs of the world’s two best domestic leagues.