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I t was a long journey, and it is not over yet. Whatever happens now, however, fans of England who have attended every game of this World Cup think that they can return home satisfied. "Even if we go out Wednesday, we are happy," said Craig MacDonald, an Englishman. Sunderland fan who has been to all games. "We play good football, we have an excellent manager and there is a link between the team and the fans, and we have not had it for years, in the end when they are all came to applaud the fans and applaud and dance, it was great to see that. "
The trip to here was not one for those without money or money. endurance for thousands of miles of travel. He started with two victories among Volgograd midges and the heat of Nizhny Novgorod. Then comes the strange defeat of Belgium in the Kaliningrad enclave, where both countries were playing their reserve teams, then the intensely partisan atmosphere of Moscow's Spartak Stadium while a crowd Colombian acclaimed their physical team, but England imposed on penalties. Finally, Samara's strangely flat atmosphere on Saturday, while only a few thousand supporters from each team filled small pockets of a stadium primarily populated by locals bored by the mediocre quality of the match, and seats empty.
Up next: Croatia in the semifinal – and who knows? Whatever the outcome of Wednesday's game, England will play all seven games of the tournament, either the seventh or the final and a chance of glory, or the match for third place in St. Petersburg a day earlier.
The most reluctant optimists among the traveling support of England expected the team to last all the time, and there were many phone calls to loved ones, to children and Russian employers in recent days explaining that the long holidays here could become even longer.
Due to the cost, fears of hooliganism and the current political situation, an unusually low number of English supporters went to Russia for the World Cup and, if England goes to the United States, final, these will say MacDonald said that a friend had come to join their group for the quarterfinal, persuaded by the positive critics of those in Russia, and he had only hot words for the ho "Last night was one of the best nights of my life after England," he says as he recounts the long night in a Samara bar that had put English songs on karaoke for travel fans. sing with volunteer locals. "It was just a great tournament."
He said that the prospect of a semifinal between England and Russia had been worrisome, as it could have been the first potential flash point for fans. After Russia lost to Croatia on penalties, few are expecting trouble in the last week of this tournament so far.
Many fans will try to join the party at the last minute. Those wishing to travel to Moscow for the first semifinal of England since 1990 will have to be willing to pay to do so. The cheapest return flights from London to Moscow departed on Tuesday and returned Thursday to more than £ 1,000 on Sunday morning, and even an indirect route diverted via Lisbon cost £ 600.
On Sunday, tickets for the match of England was made available on the FIFA website, supposedly being conditional tickets bought by fans of Russia, who had become free after Russia were knocked out by Croatia. However, the demand for tickets was high and Sunday afternoon it was not possible to buy tickets on several attempts despite the site's availability.
Already, tickets for the game are changing hands for large sums of money. Same face value for first-clbad notes is greater than £ 500. Andrew Wordsworth, who saw England beat Columbia and watch Belgium against Brazil in Kazan, said he had paid about 2 £ 100 for a pair of semi-finals from a "lovable Australian" that he met in Kazan. Go on vacation to Ibiza
If there are any regrets among neutral supporters while the tournament is entering its last week, it's perhaps that the climax will be a European affair, after that Belgium eliminated Brazil on Friday. The vast majority of the fans who came for the tournament are gone or are going away. The South American teams and Mexico have been supported by tens of thousands of supporters in Russia, unlike most European teams. While the host country will also go into penalty kicks on Saturday night, pbadions may be rejected in the fan zones and street parties in Moscow that have emerged in the past three weeks.
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