England fans head to Russia for semis
MOSCOW — An influx of England fans is expected to descend on Moscow for soccer’s World Cup semifinals, but there’s not much sign of them yet.
The Nikolskaya street near the Kremlin, elaborately decorated with hanging lights, has been the main gathering point for fans in the Russian capital.
A few dozen England fans were there on Tuesday afternoon, with those singing team songs heavily outnumbered by passersby filming them on phones.
Kevin Miles of the Football Supporters Federation expects between 5,000 and 7,000 fans for Wednesday’s semifinal between England and Croatia, but admits “a lot of people are doing it last minute, so it’s very difficult to put numbers on it.”
Airlines have offered extra places on flights to Moscow and some Russians have sold their tickets to the match after the host nation lost to Croatia in the quarter-finals. Still, Miles says high prices for flights and tickets — whether bought through FIFA or from touts — means fans can’t be as spontaneous as they’d like.
“The prices have put a lot of people off,” Miles told The Associated Press. “There’s a lot of people having that idea at home and getting online and seeing the costs and practicalities.”
England’s influx comes amid political turmoil at home over Brexit, and as British police linked the death of a British woman to the poisonings of exspy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March. The British government has blamed Russia for the earlier poisonings.
Some fans are expected to travel without tickets, partly because the FSF identified a loophole in Russia’s visa-free system for ticket holders. Russian authorities are issuing “Fan IDs,” which mean fans with tickets don’t need visas, but the application system allows them to use numbers from other people’s tickets and even tickets from old games.
“The experience so far of the first five games has been that the place has been very hospitable and very friendly,” Miles said.
“There’s plenty of opportunities to watch the match without a ticket if you want to come, so people shouldn’t feel put off at all. No doubt it’ll be a great atmosphere on final day in particular.”
England fans gathered at some bars on Nikolskaya on Tuesday, but there were far fewer fans than South American crowds that turned the street into Moscow’s party central in previous weeks. The few Croats were outnumbered by fans from Mexico’s thousands-strong army, even though the team was eliminated.
Barry Walker said he’d been at England’s two knockout games and expected fan numbers to double for the semifinals.
“I’ve loved it,” Walker said. “Russians just want to buy us drinks.”