A crazy night: Russia wins and parts of Moscow like never before | Soccer

Judging by the way Moscow celebrated, Russia won the World Cup.

Were you there? Did you see the men hanging from the scaffolding, swaying around the support posts at 20 feet tall? This Mercedes sedan that opened her trunk to unveil screaming subwoofers to the Russian hip-hop club? The two girls are riding on a black Geländewagen street in Tverskaya Street?

Russia failed to qualify for the quarter-finals on Sunday night with its unlikely shootout win over Spain, but unleashed Moscow

Places around the Bolshoi Theater, the Kremlin, the pedestrian streets that hosted football fans during this tournament, were all badaulted for one of the most booziest, most carefree nights of Russia.

Cars honking and pbadengers pbading their heads through windows and sunroofs shouting "Ros-Si-Ya!" Police watched what must have been traffic violations with an air of indifference . No one would be fined, not for the noise, the errant conduct or the copious amounts of public drink that continued until late in the morning of Monday

It was wild stuff, the kind of night who ended up rolling on the grbad the statue of Karl Marx, clinging to a bottle of champagne and tangled inside his own Russian tricolor flag

In fact, it was just at 9pm .

The holiday suited Russia's biggest surprise the World Cup thought to participate only because the country hosts the tournament, knocking out one of the heavyweights. Russian striker Artem Dzyuba had already called it "match of a lifetime". A journalist compared him to Rocky.

After destroying the old football deities, the revolutionaries began to erect theirs. "Dzyuba is a god, Piqué is a donkey!" A song on the streets of downtown Moscow went. Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev seemed ready for the popular canonization before the end of the evening.

Russian fans knew that it was once in his life. They were convinced that the Russian team was driven by strategy and heart on a Spanish team that had more talent.

"It was not beautiful but it's not really important.We won!" Said Darya Mitrofanova, 26, who came from a suburb of Moscow after the victory for parade through the streets of the capital with three friends. "Real women love football," reads in his T-shirt.

"There are no words for what I feel, just pride for our boys," says Margarita Avakyan, 57.

Had she ever seen anything like what was happening on the streets of Moscow now? "It's the biggest [celebration] I've seen for a long time, maybe never."

"You are born to make fairy tales a reality", reads in the Russian banner deployed by the fans. He paraphrased a Soviet march that was once the anthem of anti-aircraft defense forces. Fairytale was a good guess of their chances. Dmitry Medvedev was at the match; it's always a bad sign when it comes in the place of Vladimir Putin.

The fans always came like lambs, a contingent that should not have thought that Russia could beat Spain and this was not the case. "I would be lying if I told you that," said Viktor, 63, an army retiree, who drank beers at the Luzhniki stadium with a view of the Moscow River and the iconic university. the fans were fiery. The Russians entered a sea of ​​kitsch: ushankas with falling ears despite the heat of July, striped sailors' jerseys called telnyashkas, budenovkas of the Russian civil war, tricolors, teddy bears. Many had never seen a football match, and applauded at odd moments, as when Russia took possession of their own half. Russia had not seen a knockout round since the Soviet Union. Many came to the Sunday match more for the show than for football.

There were believers. Igor, 41, who was wearing a hockey jersey, said that he had put money on Russia to win. When asked if it was a smart bet, he replied: "Spain has never won a knockout round against a side."

Even in overtime, many were preparing for a defeat.

Maxim Khorovinnikov, came with his two sons, said that he was blown away after 90 minutes by the unfolding of the match.

What if Russia lost?

"No problem amigo!" he replied, pointing to his son saying the same thing. They lived in Spain, he explained.

And yet here we are. A ripple followed by a roar went through a crowd of 78,000 spectators at Luzhniki stadium, and when Russian players stormed the pitch, the noise was so loud that it hurt.

Have you touched the teddy bear? city ​​at the moment when dawn came? Do you see this stuffed guy hugs the cop so hard that they both fall? The Muscovites continued to struggle long after sunrise. Will someone even work today?