World Cup 2018: Victory is the only word on joyous Russia's lips - 7M sport

World Cup 2018: Victory is the only word on joyous Russia's lips



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Posted Friday, December 03, 2010 by theguardian.com

World Cup 2018: Victory is the only word on joyous Russia's lips
Russian soccer fans celebrate winningt the right to host the 2018 World Cup during CSKA Moscow's Europa League match against Lausanne.

Muscovites reacted joyously tonight to the news that Russia will host the 2018 World Cup. As temperatures outside dipped below -20C, many thousands of viewers were glued to the announcement from Zurich, shown live on Russia's national sports channel, Rossiya 2.

Ilya Kazakov, the presenter of Russia's version of Match of the Day, choked with emotion as Sepp Blatter held up the card saying Russia was the victor. "This is a great honour and a huge responsibility," he gulped. Cameras zoomed in on the billionaire tycoon Roman Abramovich embracing Alexei Sorokin, the chief executive of Russia's bid, and other members of the team.

The show quickly segued into Russia's signature clip of a great football field spreading out across the country, zipping past the Winter Palace in St Petersburg and the Christ the Saviour cathedral in Moscow. There were scenes of gambolling children and ballet dancers doing keepie-uppies. The word "Pobeda!" (Victory!) was emblazoned across the bottom of the screen.

Andrei Snetkov, 21, a fan of the army club, CSKA, who watched the result at home, told the Guardian: "For us it's a big step. At last the World Cup will come to our motherland. Let everyone come, we will show them real, distinguished Russian football. We will beat everyone and prove we are a great sporting power. This is something amazing for us: finally our lads, our fans will get to see the great stars of football. It's just great."

Shortly after the announcement the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, tweeted: "Hurrah! Victory! We will host the 2018 World Cup! Now we must get ready. And, of course, play well."

Part of Moscow's joy at winning stems from a widely held belief that the English media deliberately tried to blacken Russia's bid. The prime minister, Vladimir Putin, said yesterday that members of the Fifa executive committee had been "compromised and smeared in dirt".

Putin, who had raised hopes of an England victory by staying away from the announcement, flew to Zurich and gave a press conference this evening. He told reporters in Moscow he had never lost faith that Russia would win. "This confidence was based on the fact that Russia is in a position to host the world championship," Putin said. "You will remember that soccer was played even during the Great Patriotic War [second world war], even in besieged Leningrad. That says a lot."

The prime minister said the World Cup would help achieve infrastructure development, one of Russia's two key economic tasks alongside diversification away from dependence on oil and gas.

Russia's bid includes a huge building programme, expected to cost $4bn (£2.6bn). Of its 16 proposed stadiums only three are existing ones that will be refurbished. The rest will be built from scratch. Moscow is already committed to spending about $8bn on the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, although some estimates put the budget much higher.

There are fears that large tranches of cash could be embezzled from the two projects. Russia is 154th in the table of least corrupt countries in the world according to the watchdog, Transparency International. President Medvedev ordered prosecutors to investigate in August after officials in his administration allegedly demanded $5.7m in kickbacks from a construction company in exchange for granting Olympic building contracts in Sochi.

However, analysts say that Putin's close association with both global sporting events means they should get bludgeoned through, despite the drag of corruption. Wealthy Kremlin-loyal oligarchs such as Abramovich and Oleg Deripaska are likely to reach into their pockets to help out.

Russia's finance minister, Alexei Kudrin, said he was confident of success. "We have every opportunity to get all the infrastructure – including stadia and fans' accommodation – ready in time and at the highest level," he said.

Andrei Dvorkovich, an aide to Putin, gave a spirited defence of the World Cup victory on his Twitter feed, saying new infrastructure would bring long-term profits to the country. "We need airports, roads and hotels anyway: and we'll be making money off them long after 2018," he said.

Dmitry Simonov, an observer with the Sport Express newspaper, described Russia's victory as "a great achievement, something [that seemed] beyond the realms of possibility".

He singled out Arsenal's Andrey Arshavin, the captain of the Russia team and a member of the country's delegation in Switzerland, for special praise. "He didn't mess up and in the face of the glitzty-person, [David] Beckham, he gave a very human presentation," Simonov wrote in a dispatch from Zurich. "He was so worried, but he showed his many detractors he is also a person of flesh and blood, and with a soul. It was painful to look at him afterwards: he looked squeezed dry like a lemon."

Despite the euphoria, however, some politicians and observers remained sceptical of the benefits of tonight's result. "It's obvious that this talk of victories, championships and the like will raise the spirits of the nation and distract people from their difficulties," said Vitaly Tretyakov, a leading political commentator. "But this mania for sports is getting too much. We'd be better off spending the money on education."

 



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