I’ve noticed something glaring over my time here in Russia: while there seems to be a considerable amount of the world here, there is a glaring lack of Europeans.
As I mentioned in a previous dispatch, the game between Iran and Spain saw an overwhelming pro-Iran crowd. I’m not alone in my thinking. By chance, I ran into Andrew Das, sports editor for the New York Times, while waiting for a seat for lunch - my Canada jersey pays dividends again. We ended up sitting together and chatting over lunch, and he agreed, a large number of Europeans who normally travel to the tournament have decided to stay home.
Others share a different theory, that perhaps knowing their teams will qualify for the knockout stage, they are saving their time and money. It remains to be seen. So far, the crowds on the streets have been dominated by those from Northern Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt), the Middle East (Iran, Saudi Arabia), and South and Central America (Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay). Although another observation I have made is that a whole bunch of the Peruvians and Mexicans actually reside in America.
By the way, the New York Times has NINE! journalists here for the games. Guess it’s not failing, after all?
Moscow has been a treat. Many travellers are using it as a hub to travel between games and cities, so there’s a constant stream of new people coming and going, keeping the streets loud late into the night. During a leisurely day of sightseeing at the Kremlin and the iconic St. Basil’s Cathedral, I didn’t happen to run into Putin, but did by chance bump into Iran’s star forward, Sardar Azmoun, and managed to get a picture with him. If Iran manages to win Monday, I’m sure bumping into me is the reason why.
On Saturday we attempted our luck at getting tickets to a game in Moscow, Belgium (my pick to win it all) vs. Tunisia. FIFA’s ticketing is extremely exclusive and hard to work, making the secondary market shady and hard to navigate. Whereas with other sporting events you can log onto StubHub and select an array of choices, that isn’t the case here. We used the tried and tested method of showing up at the stadium a few minutes after kick-off and attempting to bargain with anyone having a last minute ticket or two, in hopes of getting a good deal. I managed to run into two Canadians who were exclusively in Russia to re-sell tickets at inflated costs. I tried to get them to give me the hometown discount, but it didn’t work, and in the end the price was too high for our liking. So we made our way back to the city to watch the games in bars.
Sunday was a rest day. Tomorrow is going to be gruelling. At 11 a.m., I fly to Saransk, the site of Iran vs. Portugal. There are various scenarios that see Iran advancing in the event of a tie, but they involve Spain losing to Morocco, which I don’t see happening. If Iran is going to advance to the knockout stage for the first time in their country’s history, they are going to have to beat the world’s best player, Cristiano Ronaldo, who happens to be playing on an extraordinary level.
Cheers, until the next blog, where I’ll wrap things up.
Nick Hosseinzadeh is a Canadian with Iranian heritage and a longtime resident of the North Shore. He’ll be sending back regular dispatches during his time in Russia to give our readers a feel for the World Cup away from the TV cameras.
