Two Days in St. Petersburg and 2018 FIFA World Cup Semifinal - France 1, Belgium 0
July 11, 2018: It’s 5pm Wednesday and I'm now in Moscow, arriving this morning after a 10 hour train ride that left Saint Petersburg late last night. I'll get back to this part shortly.
As I've shared, there are people from all over the world here - never more noticeable than before the semifinal between France and Belgium. I stopped counting how many different flags fans were wearing and posing for photos in front of the spaceship looking Zenit Arena (stadium).
There's not much to say about the game...it was kind of a dead atmosphere in the stands as neither of the teams had large traveling support, and the majority of the stadium was very neutral. My seat was way up high, but it provided a great 'coaches-eye' perspective, where you could see the full field and how each team moved, or when a play was about to break open. France beat Belgium 1-0 on a goal from Samuel Umtiti a few minutes into the second half. It was score on the opposite end from me, and we only got one replay of it on the screens.
With that game I've now made it to seven straight World Cups. It's a streak I hope to keep going.
After the game I had to make a fast trek back to the train station. The organizers have arranged for free train rides for those with tickets. I got back quickly, picked up my backpack from storage and was able to get on the 12:30am train to Moscow.
I shared a cabin with large Portuguese dude and a Ugandan journalist, who was also not small. I was volunteered for the top bunk. But hey, it was a 'bed,' and after getting to sleep at 6 am Tuesday after a wild Monday night, and walking for hours the past two days, this was a luxury.
So, Monday...I started walking early, saw the outside of Hermitage museum (above), The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, a bunch of other buildings, palaces, statues and the general scene. It’s a crowded city - the sidewalks are packed. I then walked over to Saint Isaac’s cathedral, where I randomly run into a journalist from Sports Illustrated - Brian Straus - who has been here covering the tournament since the beginning. We’d crossed paths before while I was working in PR, and I’d been following his podcast and writing of this Cup for the past three weeks. We decide to hang out and climb to the church’s observation level and take more photos inside. It’s pretty cool. It's also no longer a church, but a government run museum now, as is the other 'church.'
We walk a couple miles and do a quick tour of the Peter and Paul Fort. After a few hours he heads back to cover the press conferences and I grab some pizza and continue walking.
I come across a street band playing Russian music and notice people young and old dancing and singing along. I start a conversation with a 20-something brother sister duo - using google translate. They claim I’m the first American they’ve talked with and are intrigued, as I am with them. After a bit the brother asks, ‘Do you like Putin?’ I try to avoid the question. He then asks, ‘Do you like Trump?’ At this point I try to explain that we try to avoid talking politics in fun/ social settings back home. He accepts my passing, but shares that he doesn't. 45 minutes pass and we go separate ways.
I get back to my room around 9pm, take a quick shower and go back out to eat. I settled on a small place that sells burgers and kebabs...which is what I get, with fries. My Japanese buddy Ino wants to meet up, so I find a Belgian pub - because it’s easy for him to find, and I was hoping there would be Belgian fans. (There weren’t any).
Ino then can’t make it. I join a pair of guys who speak American English. Except, one guy was Danish-German and lives in Holland, the other is Russian but lives in LA. They are long time friends who met at an American school in Budapest, Hungary and met up here to watch some games. A local Russian guy hears us talking and asks to join the convo. He’s been trying to meet as many foreigners as he can the past few weeks.
We split after a short while and outside it feels like NYC on a weekend. Tons of people on the sidewalk patios. One place is packed with Brazilians - who by 2:30 am are standing on the tables chanting away. A crowd gathered with camera phones capturing the scene. They are loud, and fun, and have two chants insulating Argentina. Two brave Argentina fans approach and flash 7 fingers - reminding them that they gave up seven goals in the semis at home in 2014. There was clearly a respect from the Brazilians that these guys didn’t just ignore them even though they were only two.
It’s 3am and since this was all outside my hotel, and I couldn’t tell when it would end, I decide to step into a small bar with like 4 people inside. A Swedish / Russian woman says to sit down - she’s clearly had a ton of drinks. An English guy is also at the bar. All traveling solo for the World Cup. The conversations were ridiculous - but I went with it, cause it was crazy. They went out to smoke a few times - and at 4:30 am we leave. Right outside we run into three Irish guys who invite us to join them...for a drink. As we walk down the sidewalk - by the way, it’s pure daylight at this point - two ladies are walking horses by us and asking if we can give them money to feed their horses. Where am I’m?
At 6 am I’m toast and head to my hotel. The Irish guys also call it, but the crazy Swedish / Russian and the English guy stay.
I had to check out of my place at noon, and meet up with Brian...we check out the inside of Spilled Blood. It’s crazy cool looking.
We meet another journalist from Canada for lunch at a typical old-school ‘soviet-era’ cafeteria / restaurant off the tourist paths. It was cheap and a neat experience, even if I basically only ate the bread. They head to the game, and I had more time to kill so I decide to learn the metro - which I would take to the game. No joke, the escalator down takes about three minutes. It feels like I’m in the center of the earth with how far down the trains are.
I get to the stadium three hours before kickoff and there were already tons of people there. I go in, grab a version of chips and some sausage link thing and chat with a South African guy who seems to know everything about European soccer. We just saw that the Ronaldo to Juventus news was official, so he was fascinated to discuss who Madrid would go after next.
France beats Belgium 1-0 in what I thought was a blah game. And now I'm in Moscow - a block away from the Kremlin - has a great, festive vibe. The English fans have taken over a pedestrian street, singing and chanting. There are a lot of Croatians, too, but they are no match - at least on this street. I'm charging my phone and heading for the stadium soon. This has the potential to be a much better game on the field and in the stands than last night.
