WORLD CUP SHORTS
EAST and West squared up yesterday in a series of provocative military exercises to coincide with the start of the World Cup. British troops joined a force of 18,000 on Russia’s doorstop as Putin ordered his largest naval war games for ten years. The Russian President’s immense show of force, expected to continue into next week, involves 36 warships and 20 aircraft off the country’s north coast, near Norway.
Meanwhile Sabre Strike, a US-led war exercise taking place on the outskirts of the Lithuanian city of Kaunas, was designed to prepare nations near Russia for a ‘hypothetical attack’.
Both nations were clear the exercises were not meant as a provocation, but the displays were timed to coincide with the World Cup kicking off yesterday. FIVE female Russian football hooligans were placed on a banned list to stop them attending the tournament.
Described as ‘Lady Hools’ two of the quintet – Katya Sakalavichyus, 29, and Diana Ivanova, 20, – were denied access to all ‘sporting events’ by a court in Tula, over 100 miles south of Moscow, after setting off flares.
Ksenia Frolova, 27, was also excluded after a conviction for drunken behaviour, but that ban will end next Wednesday.
And 52-year-old Galina Bebeshko was banned for a year after trouble at a Moscow stadium. The fifth female on the list was Anastasia Lukomskaya, 24, but her exclusion was lifted last month. ALL eyes are on a white cat that lives in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg ...as it’s had a winning streak predicting match results. Achilles, who was born in the museum, predicted three out of four winners in the Confederation Cup in 2017. Last night he was still on form, indicating Russia would beat Saudi Arabia. How does he do it? Museum staff offer him two bowls of cat food with team flags adorning each one. Whichever food Achilles chooses is his predicted winner. THE cousin of a former Celtic star is cycling 4,250 miles to see him play for Australia at the World Cup. Frazer McKinlay decided to make the epic journey to Kazan in South-West Russia – along with pals Rory Pogson and Bill Francis – to watch ex-Bhoy Jackson Irvine.
It’s taken them ten weeks. After flying from Melbourne to Japan, they took a ferry from Osaka to Shanghai, cut across Mongolia, rode through the Gobi Desert and are finishing by using the Trans Siberian railway.
They’ll arrive on schedule to see midfielder Jackson – who also played for Ross Country and Kilmarnock – appear for the Socceroos against France tomorrow.