100 days to the World Cup: Is Russia ready?

100 days to the World Cup: Is Russia ready?

In early November 2017, Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium fell into a sea of ??madness, as if the Russians were celebrating themselves The coveted ticket to the World Cup Finals. When Messi and his Argentina national team teammates stood in the middle of the green field, they faced not only the 11 members of the host Russian team, but also tens of thousands of fans holding high the banner "United We Are One". .

Although Messi did not start the game, Argentina still defeated the home team 1-0 with Aguero's goal at the end of the game. After the game, the disappointed home fans flocked to one of the three subway stations outside the stadium. It took security personnel two full hours to clear the crowd. The chaos at this moment was the result of the unorganized management of this World Cup. miniature.

However, the worries at this time are unnecessary. By the time Russia faces Saudi Arabia in the opening game, all the off-field details will be ready.

Now, with less than 100 days to go until that day, the real headaches for the organizers are still focused on the technical aspects of the competition itself. Among them, the VAR video assistant referee system is undoubtedly one of the most controversial focuses.

Pochettino, the coach of the Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur, openly criticized the VAR system in a recent FA Cup game, saying that it made the game lengthy. Indeed, the extension of game time, the lack of clear explanations of penalty results, and the overuse of some referees have all become black spots for the VAR system. In addition to the Premier League, this system has also appeared in leagues such as the Bundesliga and Serie A, as well as last year's Confederations Cup, and has received mixed results and reviews. In June of this year, the VAR system will be pushed to the stage of the World Cup finals for the first time.

Although the World Cup is the largest global football tournament, it does not represent the highest level of the sport. Football with the highest appeal is in top competitions such as the Champions League, and this is why Neymar's serious injury caused such a sensation. Because of this, once there is any interruption due to system confusion in this World Cup, the audience will immediately lose interest.

In addition, organizers also face the problem of how to attract fans to watch the game live. As of the end of January, FIFA *** had received 8.4 million ticket applications from all over the world, but only 57,957 of them came from England, a major football country. You know, England has always been one of the biggest supporters of the World Cup. This means that although Russia has tried hard to open up to the outside world this summer, it will still be difficult to change football fans' stereotypes about this country for a while. In contrast, although the United States and the Netherlands were not shortlisted for the finals of this event, there were 87,052 and 71,096 ticket applications respectively from these two countries.

In February this year, before a Europa League match between Spartak Moscow and Athletic Bilbao, fans from both sides fought, causing a Spanish policeman to die of a heart attack. Although there is no evidence that Russian fans are the instigators behind it, such an unfortunate incident cannot help but remind people of the unpleasant scene at the 2016 European Cup in France. The violent conflict between Russian and English fans in Marseille two years ago is still fresh in my mind. In order to prevent violence from disrupting the event at home, the Russian organizers have put great effort into taking measures such as strictly preventing football hooligans. In addition, ESPN understands that Russian football hooligans who have participated in violent incidents in the past also intend to lower their profile this year. A Russian football hooligan who asked not to be named confirmed this: "There will be no big events in this World Cup. Many football hooligans, including me, have been banned from entering. You will see our Russian police and How the security forces work, they react much faster than Bilbao and Marseille."

The reporter also had the same attitude among several Russian football hooligans he met at the Confederations Cup last July: We welcome all travelers and have a beer together, as long as everyone stays away from violence. This just goes to show how frightening the Russian security forces are. So far in the Russian League this season, the police have been dispatched to stop several on-field riots. But during the World Cup, the possibility of large-scale violence requiring emergency police response is slim because all fans from home and abroad need to go through strict background checks.

Just last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree severely punishing illegal sales of World Cup tickets. In his eyes, successfully hosting the World Cup at home is a major event that cannot be ignored, and ensuring safety is the top priority: "We must treat the 2018 World Cup with the highest standards, and the first and most important thing is to ensure the greatest possible safety for athletes and fans. security. It is clear that you play a key role," he said in a speech at the Ministry of Interior in late February.

"I believe that you will handle any emergencies strictly in accordance with the law during the World Cup. Your work will be directly related to the holding of this event and the image of our country." Putin said.

In addition, in response to outside criticism of racial and homosexual discrimination in Russia, the official response has been proactive.

Alexey Smerkin, a senior official in charge of anti-discrimination, said in an interview with the BBC that all concerns are unnecessary. By then, the World Cup will be held in a good atmosphere: "We It will definitely make everyone feel comfortable and safe in Russia.”

After the game starts, most fans will stay in areas under FIFA’s jurisdiction, thereby minimizing the occurrence of unpleasant incidents. In some relatively remote small cities, the prices of hotels and apartment rentals will be much higher. The Russian newspaper "Youth League Pravda" recently visited the city of Saransk and found that the rent for a former Soviet-era apartment there had risen to 1,275 pounds a night. On the one hand, the scarcity of hotels is on the other hand. On the other hand, the Portuguese team with Cristiano Ronaldo will play against Iran here, exacerbating the shortage of hotels.

This is precisely a worrying point. Once fans are forced to choose accommodation with low safety factor, there will be many more factors of uneasiness. The local government's response speed to emergencies currently seems to be average. It is hoped that they can reach a new standard when the game starts.

The city of Saransk has a brand new World Cup stadium, and the venue seems to be larger than the city itself can accommodate. During the construction process, the completion date had to be repeatedly postponed due to the huge scale of the project. The Cosmos Arena in Samara is another huge project that is still under construction and will not be completed until mid-March. The first test event will not be held at the venue until April 28, just seven weeks before the venue's first World Cup match. On top of this, there are many cities and venues facing financial and transportation difficulties. Although the Russian government has reduced the World Cup preliminaries to about 7.4 billion pounds in 2015, such a large investment is still a huge challenge for them.

Despite this, relevant parties are still confident that they will go all out to successfully host this event. "Despite the serious financial situation, this should not have a negative impact on the tournament itself," FIFA representative in Russia Dmitry Yefimov said at the time. Still, concerns persist about whether the costs are proportional to the returns.

The Russian sports world has been deeply involved in doping scandals in recent years. Although the football field has not been implicated, it is still cast a shadow. Fortunately, the Russian national team has improved under the guidance of head coach Stanislav Chechesov. At the same time, in Group A, which is generally weak, they are ranked 61st in the world and have absolute strength.

For a country like Russia that is not crazy about football, perhaps the biggest success is to have all the stadiums filled during the World Cup. Furthermore, can Russia use this event to change the world's view of them? Let's wait and see.