A team officially ranked as worse than Bolivia or Burkina Faso have just swept into the last 16 on a wave of collective bewilderment. Photo / AP
A team officially ranked as worse than Bolivia or Burkina Faso have just swept into the last 16 on a wave of collective bewilderment. Photo / AP
"Moscow is the heart of Russia," wrote GK Chesterton, "even if the heart is broken".
And as a dusky half-light fell over Red Square last night, it was impossible not to feel that one had reached the molten core of this World Cup.
The Moroccans sang from cafe tables, the Argentines exchanged call-and-response songs in front of ranks of bemused policemen, and roaming bands of Peruvians gave further weight to the suspicion that there was nobody left in Lima.
Most conspicuous of all, though, were the Russians, who took to these vast acres in one of the most spontaneous displays of patriotic pride seen outside a Victory Day parade.
The cross-section was vivid: men with faces painted in white, blue and red tricolores, women resplendent in their sarafans, and children craning for a glimpse of a match 450 miles away on the BBC's screens beside St Basil's Cathedral.
They began their evening in a state of mild apprehension but ended it, three goals later, in one of utter delirium.
A team officially ranked as worse than Bolivia or Burkina Faso have just swept into the last 16 on a wave of collective bewilderment. "Stunning," said Sergei Vasiliev, in full kit outside the Zolotaya Vobla, which revels in its billing as the "people's bar" of Moscow. "At first we were all just curious to see how they would do. Nobody expected this."
Can you believe it? We thought this team had no hope. Tonight, we dare to dream.
Even some of the tourists in town could not fail to be moved. Several Moroccans, for example, paired their own traditional garb with kitschy ushanka-hats out of solidarity.
One of them, Rachid Alaoui, from Casablanca, explained that he and his friends were backing Russia in recognition of the welcome they had received after a tortuous journey to the World Cup.
Having reached the country via an elaborate northern passage, including hitchhikes across Sweden, Finland and Estonia, they were effusive about the warmth of Russian hospitality. "We are with Russia because of how they have treated us," Alaoui said. "Wonderful."
The ambience throughout Moscow, as most locals attest, is far from normal. In a capital that typically tends towards the monochrome, the visiting hordes, led by the Latin Americans, have turned even the area besides Lenin's Mausoleum into a riot of colour.
But after a 3-1 win over Egypt confirmed Russia's vault into the second round, it is the hosts who are providing a psychedelic splash.
Even on the designer boutiques dotted around Red Square, the facades were bedecked last night in messages of love for the motherland. "Can you believe it?" screamed Anna Afanasyeva, after Denis Cherysev's two goals triggered joy unconfined. "We thought this team had no hope. Tonight, we dare to dream."
When Sepp Blatter unveiled Russia's winning World Cup bid more than seven years ago, it was widely feared that it would be a forbidding, austere affair The Sbornaya's glorious emergence from left-field has reduced such preconceptions to dust.
