Russia delivers win for Putin
ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA » What Vladimir Putin wants, Vladimir Putin tends to get.
The Russian president made it a national priority to win hosting rights for the 2018 World Cup in a fierce FIFA bidding contest seven years ago.
On Saturday, Russia marched on toward hosting football’s biggest party when the rehearsal tournament, the Confederations Cup, kicked off in the $750 million new stadium in Putin’s native St. Petersburg.
Russia’s players duly delivered a victory their head of state had all but demanded this week by beating a poor New Zealand team 2-0.
Putin even got to meet Pele at halftime.
When the Russian players — some unknown outside their home country — were given center stage, they forced an own goal from New Zealand defender Michael Boxall in the 31st minute, and forward Fyodor Smolov added a second in the 69th. But this was Putin’s show. Arriving by helicopter close to the stadium barely 20 minutes before kickoff, he was soon installed in the main grandstand making a speech to launch the tournament.
“Here, on modern football arenas there will be tough, honest, fair fight until the last minutes of the match,” Putin said in Russian, adding that the eight-team, twoweek event would “unite nations and continents, to promote the values of fair and beautiful play.”
Both teams were lined up on the pitch for an unusual pre-match protocol, looking up at the VIP boxes to hear from Russia’s leader and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, before being able to complete their preparations.
Days earlier, Putin had called for better results from the world’s 63rd-ranked team to impress the Russian public.