Latin American flavour lingers in World Cup
MOSCOW: South American nations may have had an early bath from the World Cup but not their fans.
After Peru’s early exit from the competition, Colombia and Argentina lost in the Round of 16. France scalped another South American side when they knocked Uruguay out 2-0 in the quarter-finals.
The last but the biggest giants to fall before the lastfour stage were Brazil, who suffered a 2-1 reverse at the hands of Belgium in a remarkable game in Kazan last week.
However, with many fans having already booked their tickets for the semi-finals, as well as the final in many cases, there still remains a sizeable South American presence at the World Cup.
Roberto, a Brazil fan from Sao Paolo, and five friends of his were present in St Petersburg for the France-belgium semi-final.
“We had tickets for both the semi-finals and the final and we return home on Monday (day after final), so we decided to come here and watch the game,” said Roberto.
Next night in Moscow, South Americans joined a large number of Russian fans to watch England play Croatia. “Once Argentina were out, we just wanted to stay here till the end and watch as many games we could. Russia has been great so far. We don’t want to miss out on the fun even though our team is out,” said Gabriel from Buenos Aires inside the Luzhniki Stadium complex.
Not everyone has stayed behind. “Most of the people I know have gone home. Just four of us from our group of friends have stayed,” he said.
Moscow continues to see a significant number of fans from countries whose teams are no longer part of the tournament. The number of France supporters surprisingly continues to be low ahead of the final against Croatia.