The kickoff is a few hours away and as football buffs world over, sporting their favourite team jerseys, wait before the screens, a lucky few are planning to watch the matches in Russia, which is hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup that begins on Thursday. For most of these Russia-bound fans, who get to cheer for their team from the gallery, this is their very first World Cup experience at the ground and excitement is high
Naveen
Naveen, a techie working in Bengaluru, started the preparations to travel to attend the World Cup a year and a half ago. “In fact, the plan started four years ago when I decided to make it to Russia this time,” says the excited Kozhikode native, who will be accompanied by his friends Safeer and Asif to Russia. Together, they charted the Plan Russia and set the budget at Rs 1.5 lakh per head. “We booked the hotels and to-and-fro air tickets one year back. The tickets cost us Rs 25,000 per head and with the match tickets, we got free inter-city train tickets free of cost, saving us Rs 5,000 per person!”
World Cup prediction: France.
Having everything planned in advance, they had no idea which matches they could watch. “Back then, the teams weren’t confirmed; only the schedules were made. Being hardcore Argentina fans, our dream was to watch our team in action. Luckily, when the list was out, the second match we were to watch is between Argentina and Nigeria,” says a happy Naveen.
Their first match is Belgium vs Tunisia and the third is yet to be known. “That might be either Portugal or Spain,” hopes the 32-year-old, who is on a 12-day leave and is planning to start from India wearing the Argentina jersey. Surprisingly, he reveals that he doesn’t want to watch the game from the gallery. “We want to be part of the Fan Fest outside the stadium. That’s where the real game spirit can be seen.” And Naveen shows the photographs of previous fan fests where soccer fans, watching the game on huge screens, splashing colours, celebrating each goal with dance, music, celebrations and hoorays.
Jithu and Neethu
Jithu J. Koshy, a Doha-based chartered accountant, is travelling all the way to Moscow to watch the third place game on July 14 with his sportsbuff wife Neethu and his one-year-old daughter Chikku. Enthusiastic about attending his first FIFA World Cup, the Kottayam native says, “We have been planning this for the past one year. We applied in the FIFA website and after a tedious procedure, finally, got the tickets.” A cricket fan, Jithu and family have been to world cup cricket matches for two years and have vowed to never miss the one happening in England next year.
The couple, diehard fans of Neymar Jr., expects Brazil to lift the cup at Russia. “We would love to watch Brazil in action. But the third place game is between the teams who lose the semi-final match and we definitely do not want Brazil there. It’s a big spot,” he lets out a nervous laugh.
For Dr Janeef, Russia is all about nostalgia. That’s where the Malappuram native did his medical course. Naturally, when the country hosted this grand global event, he decided to take a break from his government service for 10 days to watch two matches – England vs Tunisia and Brazil vs Costa Rica. Joining him are his three buddies – Dr Harris from Manjeri, Dr Shafeeq and Dr Noushad from Qatar.
A self-confessed football crazy fan, Janeef has never missed even a Premiers League match on TV. “I have travelled to watch the Spanish League, Champions League and once went all the way to Barcelona to watch Lionel Messi in action,” he laughs explaining how strong the passion is. But for FIFA 2018, his allegiance rests with England and not Argentina. “The English squad is very good and can do well in mixed culture scenario. But I think the probability of winning is higher for France though the emotional weightage is for Brazil,” says Janeef, who now regrets that he could have asked his ninth-grader son Aftab to join the Russian trip. “He has become a sort of encyclopedia about FIFA world cup. I hope to make it to Qatar World Cup next time with my family,” he says.
Hong Kong-based techie Subin Sachidanandan is first a Kerala Blasters fan and then an Argentina fan. Being part of the Manjappada fan club which famously cheered for the team at the gallery sporting white dhoti and yellow tees during the India vs Macau match in September, Subin will be joined by his friends Sacheth Premarajan and Naveen Vishnu Mampatta, who will be coming from Kerala.
“The journey to Europe and Asia is easier from Hong Kong and so, getting tickets was easy. We have got the chance to watch the Sochi quarter finals on July 7 and are looking forward to Argentina vs Spain/Portugal,” says the Kochi native, who is settled in Hong Kong with his family for the past seven years.
Subin Sachidanandan.
Recalling watching on big screen the 2014 world cup final match between Argentina and Germany, Subin says, “We were watching it in a German pub – a handful of Malayalis in Argentine jersey among the crowd of Germans. Though our team lost, that was a great ambience and experience. We want to make it more memorable this time.”The trio is planning to carry to the gallery Kerala Blasters banners and placards with Malayalam messages scribbled all over!
These hardcore fans are all set to experience those nail-biting, edge-of-the-seat moments to watch the magic boots creating history with strikes, defense and those rare divine interventions.
