It Is THE EVENT.

It is, of course, smeared with FIFA corruption and a shitload of other failures, not least Trump himself. But still, it remains the main sports event for humanity whether we want it or not, and venues are, actually, magnificent with the exception of ... yep--Metlife arena in New Jersey which was selected to host the final. The worst possible logistics and public accessibility. 

Seattle, however, has a hugely strong football tradition with Seattle Sounders being a cult locally and selling out all 68, 000 seats at Lumen Field often. 

Will I be watching it? When I have time. Who I will be rooting for? I generally support American boys, but my two favorite teams--Russia and Italy are not the part of it, and geopolitics still casts a long shadow over this event. I wish Iranian team all the success--they will be playing for the country in a hostile environment in the US. 

So, Mexico started with a bang at newly renovated and stunning historic Azteca today. Seattle Mexicans have been hanging out since 07-00  AM at the Barge. 

And please, let's not go into this innuendo of "bread and circuses". 

World Cup 2018.

I promised that I will be posting on this event. It was the best World Cup ever and the drama between Russians and Croatians in one of the most magnificent games ever played (yes, I remember semi-final between West Germany and France in 1982 and divine Scuadra Azzura (Juventus, wink, wink) and Enzo Bearzott from the same year, I also remember US national team of Bruce Arena robbed of semi-finals in 2002), but when you see Berlin (some of it Russian) going berserk from Russian national team, after Mario Fernandes' (the greatest Russian Brazilian who ever played the game) goal after Alan Dzagoev's serve, you have to adjust your bearings. 

I remember this 7 months ago and what happened to any Russian then:

And then Berlin going like this. Football is more important than politics, it is more important than war--it is life itself. Here is Berlin that day. 

Madness, that is how we like it. 

Ah, it is Friday, I forgot, let Natalia Oreiro take it from here:

I will, at some point of time, write about incredible US national team at WC 2002.