In the end I didn’t know what to think of the walk to the Fan Fest last night. Sochi could have been any Mediterranean or Caribbean seaside town. Wide avenues lined with palm trees. Happy crowds of brightly dressed people. Dance music in the distance. Kids getting into mischief. But this is Russia: right? Yet everything works; the city is pretty and the people are friendly.
Maybe I’m naïve; gullible and have fallen into Vladimir’s cunning trap. But in our short time here, we’ve talked to enough Russians to be convinced of the warmth of their welcome. I’ve been a lot of places and so far, apart from the thieving bastard that stole my phone, the Russians support my opinion that, despite what our leaders may tell us, people everywhere are generally pretty good!
In the end, I didn’t know what to think and my head hurt. So I bought a beer and a pie and thought about football!
We pretty much picked up where we left off four years ago in Rio. A sea of yellow and green jerseys singing, dancing and partying. Brazilians! Love ‘em to death. Even if I was grossly outnumbered in my Belgian strip. I saw maybe two others the whole night. But never any hint of trouble. Although the place did go eerily quiet when Belgium scored their second and so I stood a bit closer to Dave in his Brazilian strip just to make sure they knew I was a friend!
Debruyne put on a master class for Belgium in the midfield. Nothing flash. Subtle clever little passes, using the angles to split Brazil’s defense. With the sun setting on Messi and Ronaldo, this guy is the next mega star! I thought he was brilliant and was the difference in the teams. Especially as Neymar just didn’t show up: again. Grossly overvalued in his move to PSG!
But I think this game came down to the coaches. Martinez for Belgium had his team perfectly balanced. I’m not a fan of a back three – it requires too much discipline and support from the wingbacks. But this team has it and that back three are rock solid. With Fellaini just in front of them, Hazard and Debrune creating their thing in the middle and Lukaku for once showing up in a big game, this was a really well-organized display.
On the other hand, Tite for Brazil had no plan other than to build through Neymar. Even when they were chasing the game, Brazil kept being caught 2 or 3 against 6 or 7 Belgian defenders. There was no plan B. In my opinion, Brazil is still fixated on emulating that classic 1970 free playing team built around Pele. Beautiful, beautiful football. But sometimes you got to win ugly and Brazil doesn’t know how.
And I provide this analysis with some authority. The Russians standing in front of us said we should be on the telly as our commentary was better that the professionals that were calling the game on the big screen in Russian. So there!
This Cup is Belgium’s to lose now. France will be a challenge in the semi final but I fancy Belgium to do it. And the other half of the bracket looks week. Worryingly, I feel fated to see England in the final against Belgium. So as a contingency against that event, I’ll concede that I am very impressed with England’s coach, Gareth Southgate. I hate to make the comparison, and tempt fate, but his low key, understated style reminds me of Alf Ramsey. The team play for him and he could take them all the way. Well, not all the way. I still fancy Belgium to win the final.
But what a party the Brazilians put on. If I don’t pay up, Dave will likely post the video of me bouncing around like a fool to the Black Eyed Peas with my new Brazilian mates at the end. It was worth it. Just a totally fun time. Did we mention yet that we really like the Brazilians. I think I said that 4 years ago
Tonight will be very different. We’re at the stadium to see Russia play Croatia. Walking the streets around the hotel this morning, the town is already filling up with fans heading to the game. It will be intense. No one expected Russia to get this far and even the Russian fans know it will take a miracle to win tonight. The fans also know that they are the 12th man. Russia will park-the-bus as they did against Spain and they’ll need that 12th man to stay strong. I am excited to see Luca Modric play for Croatia. He’s another one like Debruyne. Midfield maestro and yet to peak. This could be his night.
Ooooh: I got chills just thinking about it – and they are multiplying!
What! Scotland Qualified!!! 