We'll say this about Russia: It has established a brand and executed a plan to grow the brand into something world-renowned and maintained the brand very well.
What is Russia's brand you ask? Oh, you already know. "Crazy stuff happens here." "It's like if Florida was cold and a country." "Anything can happen at any time and everyone is miserable."
France defeated Russia 3-1 on Tuesday in a friendly at Saint Petersburg’s Krestovsky Stadium (the most expensive World Cup stadium of all time) with a brace from Kylian Mbappe and a wonderfully struck free kick from sometimes Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba.
The World Cup is drawing closer and closer (79 days!). With that in mind, we have devoted ourselves to a sociological effort: defining the different kinds of World Cup fans out there.
These fans are outright obnoxious.
Not many countries can honestly say they are serious candidates to win the World Cup. Fans from countries with an actual chance of winning the trophy exude confidence and often, arrogance. The only consolation the rest of us have is watching one of these nations fail.
Historically speaking, things look pretty bleak for the five South American nations set to compete in Russia this summer. Over the history of the World Cup, the event has taken place in Europe 10 times. Collectively, if you break those tournaments down by how things finished, European nations have accounted for 34 of the 40 top four finishes (85%), leaving South America with only six success stories:
Add another zero to Antoine Griezmann’s transfer fee. After the Atletico Madrid forward leads France to 2018 World Cup glory while winning the tournament’s Golden Boot, he will now cost either Barcelona, Manchester United or PSG roughly sixty-eight trillion dollars.
It’s a princely sum to pay, but as showcased here and on the evidence of last five years of European football, it’s totally worth it. The Greasy Spice is the man your club needs, the man your father wishes you were and the boyfriend everyone wishes they had.
United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May announced a sort of England World Cup boycott on Wednesday, confirming no British royal family or government ministers will be in Russia for the 2018 World Cup this summer.
The partial England World Cup boycott comes after the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal, who was poisoned recently in England. British authorities have said the attack was “highly likely” to have been committed by Russia. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, before Donald Trump fired him via tweet, concurred.
With FIFA set to begin the general sales phase of tickets for the 2018 World Cup in Russia today, two previous phases have resulted in an allocation of 1,303,616 tickets for the 64 matches — knocking two matches entirely off the docket: the final at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and June 16’s Group D opener between Argentina and Iceland at Otkritie Arena in Moscow.
The 2018 World Cup was always going to be a little unhinged. This, after all, is a country in which groups of ultras get together before league games and partake in semi-organized brawls. After the Russians took the spotlight at Euro 2016 in France with some, well let's be polite and call them "antics," folks were right to be worried about fan safety during the World Cup.