Russia World Cup 2018

[Bett]

Anyone already pondering a trip to Russia 2018? I reckon this could be the one where the now ubiquitous World Cup scare stories will have some merit.

 

Good piece here by a colleague of mine - http://futbolgrad.com/world-cup-lessons-brazil-2014-mean-russia-2018/

 

"The distances between the different host cities are immense, for example high speed train travel only exists between Saint Petersburg and Moscow; roads and highways are often in a precarious state; while internal flights are only recommended for travellers of an adventurous disposition. Fans and media would need to budget days rather than hours to make the 1500 mile journey by land from Russia?s Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad to the edge of Asia in Yekaterinburg."

[Socrates]

All the technical stuff will work out fine, people will all fly between almost all the venues, the Russians will spend far too much money on it, and several stadiums won't be used much later. Oh, and the media will repeatedly wet their pants about how it's all going to be a disaster right up till the start of it, and then will start writing about how it's really been great once things get started. The only thing that's possibly going to be a problem is if Putin invades too many other people between now and then. As long as he keeps his occupying of other countries to bits of Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, the rest of the world won't be all that bothered.