FIFA AND MORE: WHY 2018 IS A VICTORY YEAR FOR PUTIN

Russia’s victory over 2010 world champion Spain on Sunday was only icing on the cake for Russian leader Vladimir Putin. With the muchhyped Donald Trump and Putin meeting now scheduled for July 16 in Helsinki, the day after the curtain closer of FIFA, the Russian leader will meet his US counterpart as one who has regained the lost glory of Russia as a sporting nation.

Putin had reportedly called Russian coach Stanislav Cherchesov hours before the match with Spain and wished the team the best. Putin had also apparently said the Russian people would respect the team for what it had already achieved regardless of the outcome of the match against Spain, a FIFA favourite.

Notwithstanding his words, there was little doubt that Putin badly wanted his team to win the match and must surely have been jubilant when it made to the quarter-finals; largely thanks to the stunning saves by Russian captain cum goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev. After all, Spain is one of the eight national teams to have won the FIFA world cup and had been back-to-back European champions.

However, one may say Russia’s greatest victory in the game against Spain came on December 2, 2010 -- the moment it beat a combined bid by Spainand Ronaldo’s Portugal to host 2018 FIFA. Russia won 13 of the 22 FIFA Executive Committee votes while Spain-portugal combine got only 7 votes. The hot favourites to win this year’s trophy, Belgium too had made a big bid along with good neighbour, the Netherlands. However, they could muster only two votes from the committee.

With 12 venues allocated for 65 matches and all going according to schedule, Russia no doubt has proven that it is once again in the league of the nations that is resourceful enough to host any global event.

Incidentally, Luzhniki stadium -- the venue of the FIFA 2018 first match and also where the finals are slated to take place -- was the main stadium of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games.

So it appears the glorious days are back and lady luck is once again shining on Russia with a larger section of the global community embracing the former socialist State, however much a section of the West is trying to vilify it as an outcast.

Politically too, the Russian days cannot be more anymore upbeat. Its role in the Syrian war has made its clout as the ace global political gambler more perceptible than ever.

While Trump is already on record that he would refer to Russian meddling in the US election, during the Helsinki summit, the most crucial item on table during the talks is likely to be an announcement of a US plan to withdraw some 2,000 US troops from Syria. For this, Trump needs an assurance from the Russian leader that his country would not attack the Us-supported troops near the Jordan border in southwest Syria. With pro-assad forces pounding the area, a truce would allow the Ustroops some breathing space to withdraw.

In return of this favour, Trump is slated to avoid making any stumbling blocks to the Russian plan to consolidate Syrian President Bashar al–assad. The move has already been condemned by US critics as a sellout; a US handing over a global victory for Putin. A victory for sure, that would be for Putin, if an unstable Trump washes his hands off the Syrian mess, for which he too has his own reasons cite.