Kevin Whitcher
Sunday 17th June 9.30am (Moscow)
Yesterday morning, my host Ivan Merc and myself took a domestic flight from St Petersburg to Moscow, after driving to the airport. We made good time. On arrival, the airport was a 45 minute train journey to Moscow itself. We are staying in a hotel just south of the ‘garden ring road’ that surrounds the centre proper. It’s about three metro stops to Red Square. We caught the first half of the France v Australia game on a giant TV in a communal area of the hotel. It is strange to see a France squad without any Arsenal involvement, probably for the first time since Arsene Wenger’s first double season in 1998. The general lack of Arsenal representation at these finals reflects of the club’s sadly declining status in recent seasons, but may at least help Unai Emery as he prepares for his first campaign in England. At half time, we began making our leisurely way to Spartak Moscow’s stadium, some way north of the centre, via the metro.
At this point, I shall mention that Ivan likes a modest bet to give him more interest in the World Cup matches. So with four games yesterday he did a four bet accumulator, also backing his selections with trebles if three of the four came in. So five bets in total - a fourfold plus four trebles. He backed France to beat Australia, Iceland to score a goal against Argentina, Denmark to beat Peru and less than 2.5 goals in the Croatia v Nigeria match. He put on the equivalent of a fiver (i.e. £1 per bet) and made about £50 as all four bets came in. He’s asked me to relay his bets today for the benefit of Gooner readers, so here they are…
1 - More than 2.5 goals for Costa Rica v Serbia
2 - Germany v Mexico more than 2.5 goals
3 - Brazil v Switzerland – Brazil to win with a 1.5 goals handicap (e.g. win by more than a single goal and the bet wins).
He’s putting on three doubles and a treble. Good luck if you want to gamble alongside him!
It took about 45 minutes, walk from the hotel included, to reach the metro next to Spartak Moscow’s stadium. The weather in Moscow was gorgeous, bright sunny skies. So a pleasure when you are out and about. We were psychologically prepared, after Friday, for delays getting in so left earlier than we might have. As in St Petersburg, there is a long walk around a 200 metre perimeter from the stadium before you get to the first and main checkpoint. I saw a lot of people with ‘ticket needed’ signs outside the metro, but no touts. These people looked like actual would-be attendees. I am not sure what happens if they do get offered a ticket. There is a Fan ID centre at every stadium. Let’s assume those buying the tickets have a Fan ID in the first place (surely they are not going to produce one there and then). Do they go to the Fan ID centre with the ticket they have just bought (with someone else’s name on it) and get a new ticket produced with their own details? There is a reason I am pondering this, as I will explain later. For those who are uncertain what I am talking about, if you have bought tickets for the finals, you apply for a Fan ID with your passport details to a) act as your entry visa into the country and b) get access to the stadiums (although not always elsewhere, as I will get to!)
As stated (if memory serves me) in a previous entry, Argentina v Iceland was the most in demand ticket for the group stages, so there were plenty of ticketless people – especially Argentinians by the look of things – trying to get in. Perhaps they did not know about the extra checks necessary to gain access. When we got to our entrance, a pleasant surprise – lots of gates and no real queues to speak of. When we did enter, getting our Fan IDs and tickets scanned, Ivan spotted that on the other side of the turnstile they had screens on which the Fan ID photo appeared, checked by a security guy who did a body search. So let’s say I gave you my ticket and my Fan ID so you could get into the stadium pretending to be me… well in theory, you would have to look like my twin. How the touts are combatting this, I am uncertain.
Ivan had done some research online and found out that people who used tickets that did not match their Fan ID were not being granted entry at the turnstiles. No idea what happened next, whether or not there was some process by which they could gain admittance after a convincing explanation elsewhere, maybe at the aforementioned Fan ID centre. He also discovered that at Yekaterinburg, in the Urals, the most eastern of all the venues (where Egypt played Uruguay), the Fan ID was never checked, but passports were, presumably against the names on the tickets. So a different system, but not one necessarily any easier to fool, although given the queues at St Petersburg, I imagine not one that would have taken much longer.
This could, potentially, have huge implications for football generally in countries where they decide to implement the technology. However, that’s a discussion for another time. We got into the stadium 55 minutes before kick off and had a leisurely stroll up to our concourse, with time to buy overpriced food and drink before taking our seats. Spartak’s stadium has a 45,000 capacity and it’s another good venue with excellent sightlines and a wall of corporate boxes dominating the top half of the stand on one side. We were at the end where most of the Iceland fans were congregated, although it was noticeable that Argentina seemed to have far more fans – and actual Argentinians too as when their chants came up, they all knowingly joined in. Ok, there were a handful of Japanese people in Messi shirts, but not many. This dominance in numbers came as a bit of a surprise, but then again I recall a lot of Iceland fans got into serious hock attending the Euros in France two years ago and some may still be paying off their debts for that one. And Russia isn’t cheap.
We expected the game that we got. Iceland defending valiantly in numbers and making selective forays upfield. Effectively, it became a case of Messi trying to unpick the defensive lock by doing his run across the edge of the area trying to get a shot away on his favoured left foot. I think he had maybe three such efforts in the 90 minutes, but no joy. Sergio Aguero’s goal was a nice piece of self-created opportunism after Iceland had a great chance which was fluffed, although they weren’t behind for long. Ivan compared Argentina’s defence to Arsenal’s and had won this part of his accumulator. Of course, the main event in the remainder of the game was the missed Messi penalty. It wasn’t a great one, amazing given the quality of the player, but not the first one he’s missed by any stretch of the imagination. It turns out he ‘s a bit of a serial miser of spot-kicks in recent times. Sevilla’s Ever Banega was on the pitch by this time and many thought he should have started instead of two holding midfielders in the shape of Mascherano and Biglia. No need for such defensive security against Iceland, so manager Sampaoli got that one wrong.
Anyway, it ended 1-1, with Icelandic celebrations and Argentina’s players not hanging around too long. Once again, those in the upper tier were prevented from exiting in the name of safety, but we were ready for it this time, and just sat in our seats. One other aspect of the World Cup experience is the volunteers outside the stadium with the big foam hands pointing you to the route you have to take to the metro. It’s a bit pointless because there is so much security preventing you from taking any other route, so some simply choose to instead high five as many passing fans as they can with their giant foam hands. Ivan indulges them sometimes. But it’s all a bit of a contrast with the holding you back in the stadium thing and the menacing look of the police - and then saying thanks for coming. It would be somehow more fitting to be coshed over the head by the riot police on the way out, but hey, we’re all having a great time, correct?
We got back to the hotel in time to see Denmark beat a Peru side whose finishing left a lot to be desired. A woman from Peru was watching the game on the big screen there and really living it. She made anxious whimpering sounds whenever Denmark got near the Peru final third and hopeful ones when they were in attack. Frankly it reminded me of the sound certain women make when they have sex, and found it utterly compelling. I felt for her though, when her boys did not deliver, so to speak.
Ivan and I made a trip to a neighbouring bar later to watch Nigeria play Croatia to see if his final selection would come in. The Africans did not pull up any trees and I can see them finishing bottom of the group. They certainly won’t defend as well as Iceland when they face Argentina. Alex Iwobi didn’t make much of an impression and was withdrawn in the second half. At least he will be back for pre-season training well before the Premier League starts, going on last night’s game.
Today, we have Germany v Mexico in Moscow’s bigger Luzhniki Stadium, which Ivan tells me has been closed for five seasons as the rebuild for these finals went ahead. It has now got shot of the athletics track that was there when Manchester United beat Chelsea here in the 2008 CL final, as you might have seen when Russia beat Saudi Arabia. It will host the final, so it’s good to see a game in the venue as one of the four matches I will attend. It’s another beautiful summer’s day here in Moscow – and I hope you are enjoying your Sundays. Tomorrow we are up at 5am to catch a train to the airport for our early flight back to St Petersburg. England kick off their finals tomorrow evening against Tunisia…
