The Last Crusade: England v Croatia, Moscow, Russia

Sunday 15 July 2018

England v Croatia, Moscow, Russia

FIFA WC Finals 2018
Semi Final
England v Croatia
Luzhniki Stadium
Moscow, Russia
11 July 2018

It is getting serious now, It's the semi final of the world cup and we are still here. Dare to dream? Damn right!

Tickets for the semi final against Croatia were rarer than 'rocking horse shite'. Thankfully, I had secured mine via the conditional team ticket option (a snip at $285). Nevertheless hordes of ticketless English fans descended onto Moscow just for the right to say that they were there. Who could blame them, this hasn't been done since Italia 90 and there are not many English fans still going that remember that famous night against the Germans and the Tears of Turin.

2 Croatia v England 1

Attendance 78,011

The Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow is incredible. It is the largest stadium in Russia and seats 81000. It is located on the southern bend of the Moscow River, not far from the Novodevichy Monastery in the Khamovniki District.

Our digs (courtesy of AirBnB) were located in a forest to the North East of the city. The nearest town with a suburban train station was Lobnya - 'лобнуа' but this was about 8 Km from our hideout in the woods near Lugovaya 'луговая'.

Grand entrance

The Cottage in the forest

Plenty of room.....

for just the two of us...

and Mr Rabitski

Match day traffic getting from Lugovaya
to the station at Lobnya

Its going to be tight...

Good navigational skills by Craig ensured that we found the nearest bar to the 'Metro' (Universitiet Metro), the aptly named 'University Lesson bar' (урок универ)

Security getting into Luzhniki

Is it coming home?

The monument to Lenin stands proud

We are Sunderland?

Craigski and Stevski

Banya time

Anthems

Posh seats in the East Stand

The Croats unfurl a giant flag with the words
"Спасибо россия"
(Thank you Russia)

Come on England!

England start well and the gods look
like they just might be with us

It's all England in the 1st Half as Kieran Trippier bends a free kick up and over the wall to score in the top right hand corner in the 6th minute. Then later, Harry Kane is put through on goal by Jessie Lingard but he doesn't get it right and the keeper makes a good double save to keep the score at 1:1.

In the 2nd half it was a different story and Croatia really came out firing. England started to look a bit leggy and the Croats come close with Perisic hitting the post. On the 68th minute Croatia finally get their equaliser. Perisic gets in front of Kyle Walker to slot the ball across Pickford's left shoulder and into the net. England had their chances too with a powerful header from John Stones being cleared off the line.

Croatia dominate the second half

Full Time:
Croatia 1: England 1

At full time the game was 1:1 and so extra time was looming. The Croatian players, despite their two previous games ending in extra time looked the fresher of the two teams and always looked dangerous. Pickford is called into action on several occasions, most notably when he saved from Mandzukic at full pelt. With 11 minutes to go to penalties, up popped Mandzukic to out sprint John Stones and fire the ball across Pickford's to grab the winner and a place in the 2018 World Cup Final.

The players come out to a standing ovation from the England faithful. This has been an incredible adventure for the players and the fans. I for one am proud to say that I have been with the team for every step of that journey: from Volgograd to Nizhny Novgorod, Kaliningrad, Spartak Moscow, Samara and finally to the magnificent Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

Leaving the Luzhniki I pass the Lenin statue and pause for what may be my last photo of a World Cup Stadium in mother Russia.

Back to the University Lesson
following a big football lesson

Tony is going for it

In the aftermath of the Semi Final defeat we waken to bright sunshine in the forest, wondering just how our Yandex taxi had managed to find our location at 3 in the morning.