A Feeling of Awe and Wonder: World Cup Guests in Moscow Taken Aback By the Splendor of the Games

Once more — this is our World Cup. It's a huge festival for which we've waited and prepared for.

Once more — this is our World Cup. It's a huge festival for which we've waited and prepared for.

Anton Lyadov will report more about the state of things.

This is how Moscow streets look like right now! Fans from Argentina have come here. They're all wearing national T-shirts. The atmosphere is incredible! They're all dancing together! There aren't only Argentines here but Russian fans, too! The fans from Argentina are doing something incredible! They've come here with drums, trumpets, cymbals. They don't give you a chance... You have to dance with them here! The atmosphere is unbelievable!

 

Argentines with 2-month-old babies in their arms. Mexicans are dancing to "Rospriahite, hloptsy, koni." The French are singing "Marseillaise" right in the parking lot. Egyptians are changing any song by replacing its words with the name of Salah, their legendary football player. Icelanders are waiting for the moment to yell a viking cry to the beat of a drum. It seems like there's no one left in Iceland: everyone's here. Uruguayans are wearing winter jackets in rainy Yekaterinburg but still yelling about their team with their flag in their hands.

It's hard to believe this is the same streets we walk on every day, the same restaurants the fans are having a competition of who can shout the loudest here, the same stations where Australians are wowed with touchscreens with the interactive map, the same railway stations and airports we've gotten used to.

There's an incredible atmosphere in the airport. Fans are gathering here, singing songs. They've prepared a whole pile of sombreros to support their team.

"She made my hat and costume with her own hands. I'm from Ireland".

"I've been living there for 20 years. Lucky me — today's my birthday and I'm here to support the Russia team, go Russia!"

This man has flown halfway across the world to feel the festival: he is blind. It took him 25 hours to get here. But it hasn't stopped neither him nor his son.

"Soccer is the language for all of us; it's our third World Cup. I've at two World Cups without him, but he's getting older and older. So, I did it everything that I could to take him with me".

This is how the Aeroexpress trains look like. Fans are unfolding their scarves and flags right here. Here's Colombia, here are people from Peru, Mexico is there. Russians are here as well, yes?

— Yeah!

Everyone's waiting for games of their teams.

— Was it hard to use the map?

— It was a little bit hard in the beginning but then some guys helped us and showed the way.

— Are you going to support anyone today?

— Yeah, we've got hats with Russian flag already. Want to have a look?

— Are you going to use it to support Russia?

— Yeah.

— But it's French, you know?

— Yeah, but the colors are the same, it's the only thing we could get in Israel.

Every team is being paid huge attention now. The Egyptians were visited by Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic. He personally gave a ride to the legendary Egyptian player, Mohamed Salah.

Ramzan Kadyrov: "I'll be glad to greet you in the Chechen Republic and meet you personally".

Entire families come to see Brazil's team training, which is one of the Cup favorites. As soon as the famous Neymar comes to the stands, fans reach their hands out to high-five him. The team has the wonderful spirit. On their way to Russia, they said happy birthday to their fullback Fagner right in the plane. He turned 29. Instead of the candles on board, he had to blow out a toothpick.

Another favorite of the Cup is the German team. Nine current champions are in the team. They have training at the Vatutinki military base.

Joachim Löw, German coach: "Conditions are different here. It isn't sunny all the time; the weather isn't always good but it's okay. Weather is different in Russia which has its own special charm".

Englishmen were given a bread-and-salt (and samovar) welcome. At their training session, the stadium was bursting with people

 All the attention of the Russians will be given to the game this Tuesday. Egypt will be the opponent. The team only needs to win to exit the group: they lost the first game, which means both teams will show their best. The Russia/Egypt game will be shown on Rossia 1 on Tuesday at 9:00 PM.

Anton Lyadov, Anton Gubanov, Inna Kazantseva, Philip Dubrovsky, Azat Atagonov, Igor Vologdin and Pavel Alexeev, Vesti Nedeli.