25/06: Why Russia Should Win Euro 2008 Footbal Cup
Sports results are important for our vulnerable national feeling. You see, being Russian is tough: in order to be happy, you have to feel better than the others all the time, it is simply in our nature. Commonly we use great national sports results to feel satisfied with ourselves instead of focusing on personal achievements. However, we've never been proud of our soccer results: even though this sport is perhaps the most popular in Russia, we never succeeded in any significant tournament.
2008 © photo by The Pioneer (Detkov) @ FlickR
That's why when everybody noticed that Russia had chances at the tournament, people went crazy: over 500 000 went on the streets in Moscow alone. They'd celebrate the victory until 8am in the morning, hug and kiss each other on the street. The atmosphere was pervaded with the feeling of total love and unity: something Russia needs really badly right now.
2008 © photo by The Pioneer (Detkov) @ FlickR
It was not about the victory itself but more about an excuse to shed off all the problems and aggression and start smiling to strangers and just feel happy.
Soccer is a prime sport in Russia. Every single boy is playing soccer in the neighborhood and Championship results are nationwide news and common topic for men's conversations. There are over 2 Mln officially registered professional football players in Russia.
Unfortunately national team has been a shame for many years. We usually qualified for European and World Cups but never passed the group phase. Being a fan was a tough task, you have to believe in the team but you know deep in the heart that this team will not win — thus people got cynical and vulnerable, but still watched the games.
Something has happened during current European cup. It is all started as usual, we lost first game, won the second and had to play the third match with Sweden, which was considered to have a much stronger team. The winner in this match would get to playoff. And we won! It was strange and unusual feeling. Finally our team got to play off — Moscow city got crazy with not only fans but normal people shouting "Russia!" and hugging in the streets till 3 a.m. in the morning.
Then the quarterfinal match with The Netherlands came. 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the match the city got empty — everybody were at their TVs. I was stopped by traffic police officer for serious excessing of the speed limit and he let me go saying "I know, you are in hurry for the game, but be careful. Ok. Go." We won in that match with Holland and it was mind blowing —Russia got to semifinals. Lost friends started to call and congratulate, strangers in bars became your family, the city traffic stopped as all the people emerged in the streets shouting, singing, flourishing the banners. It was a true and happy day of national unity.
There will be the semifinal game on Thursday at 20.45. I'm not sure we will win. I'm sure that all the country will be watching the match and will be happy to see our team playing. The result does not matter — we already got our pride back. We are the best.
By Danil Perushev and Dmitry Paranyushkin
2008 © photo by The Pioneer (Detkov) @ FlickR
That's why when everybody noticed that Russia had chances at the tournament, people went crazy: over 500 000 went on the streets in Moscow alone. They'd celebrate the victory until 8am in the morning, hug and kiss each other on the street. The atmosphere was pervaded with the feeling of total love and unity: something Russia needs really badly right now.
2008 © photo by The Pioneer (Detkov) @ FlickR
It was not about the victory itself but more about an excuse to shed off all the problems and aggression and start smiling to strangers and just feel happy.
Soccer is a prime sport in Russia. Every single boy is playing soccer in the neighborhood and Championship results are nationwide news and common topic for men's conversations. There are over 2 Mln officially registered professional football players in Russia.
Unfortunately national team has been a shame for many years. We usually qualified for European and World Cups but never passed the group phase. Being a fan was a tough task, you have to believe in the team but you know deep in the heart that this team will not win — thus people got cynical and vulnerable, but still watched the games.
Something has happened during current European cup. It is all started as usual, we lost first game, won the second and had to play the third match with Sweden, which was considered to have a much stronger team. The winner in this match would get to playoff. And we won! It was strange and unusual feeling. Finally our team got to play off — Moscow city got crazy with not only fans but normal people shouting "Russia!" and hugging in the streets till 3 a.m. in the morning.
Then the quarterfinal match with The Netherlands came. 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the match the city got empty — everybody were at their TVs. I was stopped by traffic police officer for serious excessing of the speed limit and he let me go saying "I know, you are in hurry for the game, but be careful. Ok. Go." We won in that match with Holland and it was mind blowing —Russia got to semifinals. Lost friends started to call and congratulate, strangers in bars became your family, the city traffic stopped as all the people emerged in the streets shouting, singing, flourishing the banners. It was a true and happy day of national unity.
There will be the semifinal game on Thursday at 20.45. I'm not sure we will win. I'm sure that all the country will be watching the match and will be happy to see our team playing. The result does not matter — we already got our pride back. We are the best.
By Danil Perushev and Dmitry Paranyushkin
Total Votes: 2 - Rating: 5.00
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Paul wrote: