Diamond_Jim

While the game against France was great the atmosphere around the stadium and at the Fan Fest was relatively forced in my opinion. First the Fan Fest: I went to watch the opening match between Russia and Saudi Arabia.It was early evening and while cool it wasn't cold. Arrived 30 minutes before kick off and it was lucky to be a quarter full. It was in a park area but the grass had been covered by woodchips. There were very few seats and they were mainly at the food venues and thus a fair way from the two big screens. When Putin came on to make his opening speech there were a couple of claps but at the end of his speech there was a gentle roar. Considering the Russians won the match 5-0 they should have been delerious but in truth they were medium level only. Very few drinking or eating. At the match itself we arrived 2 hours early because there had been stories of long queues.In fact while security was tight and you go through a security check and then two ticketing checks it was relatively pain free.(For the next match we will plan to get there around 45 mins before kick off.) The stadium is great but its big surrounding concourse is concrete and the waiting crowd simply got lost in the space. They had good wandering entertainers but there was simply no buzz. Emptying the stadium took much longer than it does in Melbourne.It seemed that the exit to seat ratio was low and then there were few general exits. Parts of the stadium had been cordoned off for VIP's which also seemed to limit the natural flow. With Fifa controlling the food and beverage rights they were rather non descript. Fancy having Budweiser beer as the only beer at a Russian football stadium. What would we say if Bud bought the tap rights for the MCG. Don't get me wrong the game made up for everything but it just goes to show that atmosphere cannot be artificially generated. By the way the fan fest sits right on the river but they have put up big fences so you cannot see it.

Starting to really warm up here on the border of Asia and Europe with temps in the high twenties and even 30 degrees for Saturday. Because the sun is up so early you hit and maintain the peaks relatively early in the day. Not sure why but the temperature predicted for the socceroos afternoon match in Samara which is south of Kazan is only 19 compared to 24 here for Kazan. Samara is 500kms south of Kazan so one would naturally expect it to be warmer. Getting from Kazan to Samara has proved very difficult for most fans with the easiest being flying to Moscow and then to Samara. A great pity that one can't take a river cruise down the Volga between the two cities. I am starting to realise that the average Russian is not that well off and what we think of as reasonable prices are as a percentage of an average Russian workers wage quite high. Believe it or not chicken at the supermarket here is only $2 a kilo as compared to $4 plus in Australia. My host works in real estate but I don't think he a high flyer by any means. There is certainly a feeling that the wealth is limited to a few.

Interested to hear your experiences with the Optus streaming product. Have seen a few articles in the media saying it has some problems. Anybody getting good coverage on ADSL and how is it when you play it on a big screen .. say 70 inches. Must say at $15 you cannot complain about the price if the product is good. The TV here in my Kazan apartment is a 17inch cathode tube model which doesn't make for optimum viewing. Will head out to watch the bigger games. Our remaining games in Kazan all start at 9pm local time which will make for late nights ?

Sorry PT... there were so many wins I lost count ??

Welcome PT.... it's great to see another face on the board. Peru v Denmark... what can one say... Peru should/could have won 3-1 but they lost 1-0. Socceroos v Denmark..the game of our tournament ? Beat Denmark and who knows !!

When you get time come over to the other sports section of Demonland and join us with our soccer posts. Be great to have you. I'm lazy and staying in Kazan to watch the five Kazan games. Are you following the team. Iceland are the fairy story of this WC... a bit like Cameroon a few World Cups back.

The VAR was like a kick in the guts... At the ground you see the ref wave play on... you sigh with relief and then a minute later when the ball goes over the line for a regulation out all hell breaks loose. You see nothing on the screen until maybe 3-5 minutes later. Some rough justice with the hand ball call. We had great seats .. 10 rows from the fence (just right for seeing over the dugouts) and on about the 25 metre line. Without any running track or the like the view was fantastic. I'll post a little more about atmosphere another day. It was different perhaps from what I had expected.

It was enormous ..at least three times the French support. We had at least 10k of the 40k crowd and the Russians who made up about half the crowd were mainly behind the socceroos. A point would have been so good for the Aussies. The clock moved so slowly from that 75 minute mark. Not sure if it is the same at A league but the scoreboard does not count down the injury time so I was doing a lot of watch checking during that 5 minutes of injury time.

He often got himself into good positions but he lacked the burst of speed to go anywhere with it. Will be very interesting to see how we go in the next match.

Fantastic atmosphere at the stadium... great game. France full of individual brilliance but we played as the better team perhaps. We have avoided the opening round thrashing of the last two world cups... all in front of us now. Interested to hear from you experts as to whether you think we played differently today than we might have under Ange. Today was not the time for Tim C in my opinion.We simply didn't have enough of the supply he needs. My son is hoping for an Argentine draw with Iceland as that way the round of 16 match we are scheduled to watch could be France v Argentina. That Spain V Portugal draw has pretty well done for the other teams in that group bar some big upsets. Cheers and great to interact.

Just back from that other non MFC game in Kazan. A wonderful game and in the theme of Wiseblood we played above ourselves. The VAR penalty at the ground was almost heatbreaking but the penalty we received was somehow return justice. Believe me the VAR is miles worse than the goal review system in AFL. It's like double jepoardy as they wait until the next break in play until the review possibility is even notified. Centimetres with the last French goal would have seen us come away with an incredible draw. French team is full of individual stars but as a team they have certainly got a way to go. Robbie Kruse is a bit like Nathan Jones ... wonderful player but he lacks pace. The pace and skills of some of the French players were incredible. Of an attendance of 41k (1k sort of absolute capacity) there were probably at least 10k Australians and I think we had the support of most of the Russians. The stadium was great but the logistics of transport , ingress and egress shows how lucky we are with the MCG. Finished the afternoon with a big beer and some barbecued meats at a small Turkish style roadside stall.

My son hit the bars in the centre of town last night ET. He is a bit slow this morning but he has mentioned scenes of hundreds of Australians singing Waltzing Matilda. The vodka selection here is incredible. One complete side of a supermarket aisle filled with literally hundreds of brands. Very cheap as well. Had my first cafeteria meal yesterday. They're big in Russia. At about $2 all up I can't say it was an epicurean delight. Kazan specialises in horse meat which I am yet to try !!

Freo in Darwin is shaping as a testing game along with that last round game against GWS. Just getting ready to leave the apartment in Kazan for the big match. The town is full of Australians.. not many French. Perhaps like Hawthorn supporters they are saving their money for the finals. Sunshine and 18 degrees.

The season to date has exceeded my expectations in some ways ... the five game winning streak was more impressive as each week rolled by. Our seeming inability to gel against the powerhouse teams has been disappointing as it has been to all of us. Entering the second half of the season I am optimistic but tempered by realism. Still hoping for 6th and a finals win. On the other hand there is not a stand out team at present so who knows !!

After the two relatively dour early games the Spain v Portugal match was one for the ages. The goal by the lone Spanish player against two defenders and the keeper was astounding. Blue skies and sun here in Kazan with a match commencement temp of around 17... a perfect day for football

It's building in Kazan. Summer is coming and after a week of 14 it hits 18 tomorrow !! My son has headed for the bars of Bauman street which will be full of Australians. I just realised that although I have seen many Aussies I am yet to see a Frenchman. Perhaps they are waiting for the knock out phase a la Hawthorn supporters. Both games so far today decided almost at the death. O that own goal by Morocco(Met a lovely Moroccan couple based in Dubai while standing in the Aeroflot check in queue in Moscow... they must not be happy.) Spain v Portugal kicks off in an hour. I am becoming an expert (not) in the Russian TV commentary.

So on the what is best for the MFC train I assume we are all hoping for a big win for the Eagles. Good to see that there is finally a prime time TV game that is worth watching. Getting warmer here in Kazan ... about 16 and looking forward to the match (Australia v France) tomorrow. The stadium is almost brand new and very impressive. It has the largest LED screen in the world on its exterior. Down at the fan fest site last night watching the opening match between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Russians were a subdued crowd but they enjoyed the big win.

Wow... what can one say... Saudi Arabia thrashed by the unranked home team. KSA were so bad ... even when they were 3-0 down they couldn't get any attacking play going. Could Russia have the fairy tale of making it out of the group stage. Egypt v Uruguay tomorrow completes Group A's opening round.

Overcast in Kazan and around 16 degrees. I am staying in what they call the new city which is over the river from the old Kazan. The good thing is that it is on the same side of the river as the stadium and the fan zone which are both within walking distance. As is my norm I am doing airbnb's and the Russian apartments have proved to be interesting and different. I think it is to keep out the cold but the street doors to the apartments are dual chambered solid steel doors that one opens with a magnetic key disc. Then the apartment itself has two more doors with strange keys. Would definitely be challenging after a night of over indulgence. Went to the big supermarket this morning. Much the same as ours with some different products. Try as I might I couldn't find the margarine.What took my eye though was the entire supermarket aisle (one side) of different vodkas!! My son arrives from Melbourne tomorrow in time for the opening match in Kazan. Tonight I will go off to the fan zone to watch the opening game of Russia v Saudi Arabia. Being the opening game it may be full in which case I am sure I will find somewhere to enjoy the world's beautiful game.

Kind of understand the conflict of interest but it seems to be an over reaction. Hard to think of it as other than chest thumping. Mind you as our Ange demonstrated the coaches can be as prickly as the Associations.

As many have said I can reluctantly live with the game in the Centre but Darwin has to go. In fact I could learn to like the game in Alice... This year demonstrated that with work it can be made into a showcase game.

It will be interesting to see how the Russians behave at the World Cup. One half of the tickets were set aside for them. Their past history in this area has not been good but I suspect they have been well and truly told what is expected of them. It could be a watershed event for them.

A Night at the Bolshoi... When in Moscow one does what the Muscovites do. The Bolshoi ballet is certainly no longer the "people's ballet" with tickets at a few roubles but it was worth the money to see this wonderful company. I'm no follower of ballet so there was a lot of googling beforehand to work out what was going to happen.Even with my prior research I nearly left before it finished.How you may ask.... well after about two hours or more we got to a spot where the whole cast took a bow etc with everyone clapping etc as they do at the end of a show. Strange I thought they haven't done the "Shade dance" which this ballet is famous for. Off to pick up my backpack from the cloak room and the Russian matron said, "Not Finished". Back I went and watched the last act. It seems that as many of the dancers don't appear in the final act those not needed take their bow mid show and go home !! The ballet was called La Bayadere one which the Bolshoi made famous and the spectacle of the final act as the corps de ballet descends from shade into light is stunning. To ballet aficionados it rivals swan lake as one of "the" scenes in ballet. While the dancing was great , the theatre itself is a star. Completely renovated and re-opened in recent years it looks like when it was visited by the czars. A great night and worth the obscene price. And yes .. it went for three and a half hours!!! Arrived in Kazan today ...more on this city almost bordering Asia tomorrow.....( The Aussie training camp is behind a very high wall so no free views.)

I don't think the average westerner has any idea of the racism levels practised in Asia for example. As an aside I was at the Bolshoi ballet last night in Moscow (drop over to the soccer thread .. I will post a ballet report later). Anyway the ballet was set in Moghul India. It featured a troupe of 10-12 year olds in "brown face". Obviously no problem with that kind of thing in Russia.

Sure did ... and very good it was. My favourite however was at the Central market where they sold little dishes like Tapas and ice cold draught beer. The fresh sardines were delightful. In Moscow the Doner Kebabs are an artform and are everywhere.